Snails in my troughs!!

[john vosseller]

Hello and Help!!

I am an AP newbie and am "bobbing and weaving" my way thru to a successful 1st crop of lettuce.  The learning curve has been a bit tough but I aim to persevere!

My Current issue is that I have little black snails in my troughs that appear to be eating the roots of my lettuce plants.  I have researched snails a bit on the net but don't see much info regarding aquatic snails.   What leads me to believe that the snails are a problem, is the lack of color in my lettuce plants.  I don't believe it is an iron deficiency because I added iron just about two weeks ago.  It seems that the snails are simply depleting my plants of precious nutrients.

Can anyone advise me on what to do now?

The only two options (not great ones!) that I can see at this point are to:

1. add catfish to my troughs cause I'm led to believe that the fish won't eat my plant roots but they will eat the snails.

2. my other option is to dump and sterilize my system and start all over...

It would be greatly appreciated if someone has a better solution.

thanks to all,

John

San Diego