Into A Fishless Cycle And Notice There Are Snails In My Tank!

[Basil Fawlty]

I'm a novice, as you will be able to tell....

I'm 2 doses of ammonia into a fishless cycle after our 3 male guppies died in our new tank (bad advice given re starting the tank up, long story)

I've never knowingly put snails in there, but today I switched the lamp on and there is a rather sweet little snail romping around the inside of the tank. It's teeny, about 1.5 cm long.

My nitrites are through the roof (that's what killed the fish I think) and now I'm adding ammonia. I don't want to kill the little fellow, what should I do with him? I don't want to abandon the cycling either....

And I'm baffled as to where he has appeared from!!!

 

[fluttermoth]

Nearly everyone gets snails eventually; they come in on plants, or as tiny things in with fish sometimes. Take it out and pop it in a jar with some pond weed and it'll be fine.

It may well already have laid eggs in the tank though...

 

[basboi85]

ive never put snails in my tank and ive had them for about a year and my god do they breed like crazy about 2 months ago i did a massive over haul and i pulled them out all 60!!! thats the ones i found andi even boil washed the gravel and now ive got at least 20 again mainly tiny ones thing is i dont want them so if anyone has any ideas how to get rid of them with out harming my fish im all ears

bear in mind i have
4tetras
16 mollies
5 guppies

 

[basboi85]

Here's how small some of mine are

And they are driving me mad

 

[Basil Fawlty]

Very similar to mine..... I'm hoping this doesn't turn out to be yet another problem.... I've not even got a fish yet and this tank is already proving hard work!!!!!!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

lol well basiboi appears to have Malaysian Trumpet snails which are actually really beneficial and don't multiply as fast as "pest snails" do unless you're overfeeding (which I admit I am guilty of, so I have lots of babies in my tank hehe). They help to keep your substrate fresh by burrowing around in it and churning it up. And since they are nocturnal you never really see them because they come out after lights out and disappear back into your substrate by the time they come back on

If snails are a problem in your tank though, get some assassin snails and they will eat them but not reproduce

Oh and your cycling tank won't kill them, they are nearly indestructable lol

 

[FishBlast]

My ramshorn snail population has faced a decline lately... I saw many shells on the sand. I don't know what happened to them. At least I have 5 others roaming the tank. Only the biggest and coolest looking ones die

 

[basboi85]

lol well basiboi appears to have Malaysian Trumpet snails which are actually really beneficial and don't multiply as fast as "pest snails" do unless you're overfeeding (which I admit I am guilty of, so I have lots of babies in my tank hehe). They help to keep your substrate fresh by burrowing around in it and churning it up. And since they are nocturnal you never really see them because they come out after lights out and disappear back into your substrate by the time they come back on

If snails are a problem in your tank though, get some assassin snails and they will eat them but not reproduce

Oh and your cycling tank won't kill them, they are nearly indestructable lol

I must be guilty of over feeding as that pic wa took within minutes of putting on here so day light is no issue and even with my tank light in they are still out in force. I've got a couple at least 4 cm long I'll get the tape measure out to see how big they are when I find them and now you've said they are good ill leave them be to a certain extent thanks for letting me know what type they was as I thought they was a pest snail

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

The baby ones are more active during the day, I think because they are trying to eat a lot and grow fast so they don't get eaten. All my my adult MTS stay under the sand until lights out

You may have a mix of both but if they are long and cone shaped they are def MTS

 

[TwoTankAmin]

If snails are a problem in your tank though, get some assassin snails and they will eat them but not reproduce

Oh yes they do. I started with about 10 assassins, I have well over 100 now and have given away a few along the way..

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Wow I thought the eggs had to be in brackish water for them to hatch, or am I getting confused with something else?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes; it's nerites that need brackish. Assassins certainly breed less slowly than the pest snails and, of course, you can get rid of assassins easily!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Ah ha! Good to know!

 

[Bugdozer]

Malaysian trumpet snails can reproduce through parthenogenesis if no males are present, so even one female snail can refill your tank! Assassin snails have two sexes and cannot reproduce this way, common pond snail is hermaphroditic and needs to mate also.

 

[basboi85]

The baby ones are more active during the day, I think because they are trying to eat a lot and grow fast so they don't get eaten. All my my adult MTS stay under the sand until lights out

You may have a mix of both but if they are long and cone shaped they are def MTS

Yea they grow into long cone shape biggest I've had was 1inch and not knowing what they was they soon come out