Long "spirally" Snails

[Ludwig Venter]

a Very, very long time ago, I was pestered by these snails digging under the gravel and causing an unsightly mess in my tanks.

They have a spirally long shell & from the looks, I assume they may be what you all call "Trumpet" snails.... I managed to get rid of them, & for at least the last 15 years I've not seen any.

Suddenly, my one tank is once again infested with them, and I did not get any new plants or anything from a pet store in the last 8 months.

Are they like brine shrimp where the eggs lay dormant for a while and then hatch when exposed to water???.... & how do I get rid of them again??

 

[Gilli]

I would keep them. they are very good for the tank not only in clearing up uneaten food and rotting vegetation but they also turn over the substrate preventing poisonous gases from forming and its good for your plants! As you only see them at night if you see an entire herd of these or any other snails headed for the top during the day, you have a severe water quality problem. Or your filter system has shut down.

If you get too many its an indication you are overfeeding your fish. To get rid of some squish them and feed them to your fish!

 

[Truck]

turn over the substrate preventing poisonous gases from forming!

anaerobic pockets are not poisonous!!! as soon as the gas that leaves the pocket hits oxygen it is safe, there is oxygen in aquarium water and it instantly becomes harmless, this is a myth!!!

 

[Ludwig Venter]

I would keep them. they are very good for the tank not only in clearing up uneaten food but they also turn over the substrate preventing poisonous gases from forming! If you get too many squish them and feed them to your fish!

They are unsightly, and their shells are harder than your average snail.... can only be squished with a metal object.... But, where are they from??

 

[three-fingers]

Unless you added new plants or ornaments from another tank, they have probably always been there and have only recently started to fin enough food to breed in numbers.
They do no harm though, can be used in combination with plants to avoid having to clean the gravel, acting like earthworms.

They give birth to live young, and you only need one to start off a colony (hermaphrodites and can reproduce photogenically).

I like them.

 

[locker]

Sorry for changing the subject but do you use fish from your ponds in the tank?

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Yes, I do, as I do not like to sell directly from the pond, I keep fish from the ponds in tanks in the garage for at least a month before I offer them for sale to the general public.

 

[drobbyb]

Without a picture, I would guess that the snails are Malysian Trumpet snails. If you are having a problem with the snail population numbers in that tank, you probably are overfeeding a bit and they are thriving on the leftovers. Cut back feeding and remove as many as you can.

 

[Darkerwhite2]

Too bad you have them and i don't anymore lol. I miss the little buggers. Was quite a while back but i bought a shoal of clown loaches. They did the trick to rid the tank of them. I miss the MTS now. turns out though i needed to do more research before buying the loaches though. Silly me.

If your tank has sufficient space for them give them a try. Correct me if I'm wrong but I have heard of another type of snail that eats snails? Assassin snails? Please someone confirm of deny this.

 

[Night61]

I would keep them. they are very good for the tank not only in clearing up uneaten food and rotting vegetation but they also turn over the substrate preventing poisonous gases from forming and its good for your plants! As you only see them at night if you see an entire herd of these or any other snails headed for the top during the day, you have a severe water quality problem. Or your filter system has shut down.

If you get too many its an indication you are overfeeding your fish. To get rid of some squish them and feed them to your fish!

sorry to disagree with you but no good can come from snails that suddenly appear.
don't get me wrong i do love snails, just not the randomly appear in you tank and take 20 years to successfully remove snails.

 

[Bert]

I like my snails. But I can only get them to stay in my 10 gallon betta tank. The cichlids eat em all

 

[Ludwig Venter]

These are pics of the invaders that I'm talking about.......

Looking at the gravel, all the brown spot are they!!

This is another nuisance snail in one of my other tanks.

 

[Truck]

personally i like trumpet snails, but if you dont have shrimps you could try a copper based solution to kill them all.

 

[shelaghfishface]

ooh i have those in a tank where some fish died and i havent emptied it yet,was a guppie then a few days later a neon.. but that was about 3 weeks ag o and i noticed the snail handgliding down the middle of the tank 2 days ago.... my daft son is watcing me type this and asking did the snail have a parachute.. so for his benefit no.. he was a daring lil bugga he did it without

 

[Darkerwhite2]

Ya the top are malasian trumpet snails, not sure if i spelled that right. A good sized MTS too if i might add.

MTS snail mostly come out at night and should go to the jar. Will get a bunch out each night after couple hours. At night place a peice of cucumber or similar in a jar at the bottom of the tank.

And the bottom i cant really see but possibly a ramshorn snail?
Give it a try, worked for me before i got the clown loaches

OH and the snail in my new sig is a Ramshorn if that helps any