Snails..good Thing Or Bad Thing?

[keeleyb]

Hi folks

2 weeks ago bought new plant from LFS, thought I had inspected it really well and washed it but within a week noticed 7 little snails. Now 2 weeks old and growing really fast. I understand that they breed like flies but they are busy working their way up and down the tank glass. My questions are:
1.Are they good or bad for the tank?
2.Can they harm the fish ie infection?
3. Should I put a stop to them now?

I only have a small tank 38lts with 3 adult platy and 5 2 month old fry.

many thanks as always for any advice
(sorry I cannot supply a picture of said snails as I have no digital camera)

regards
Keeley

 

[Underwurlde]

Bad. With a capital 'B'. But then again I hate pest snails so that, of course, is just MY opinion.

1) I'm indifferent to their presence. They are good clean-up crew, but having said that produce an awful lot of waste themselves.
2) Yes & No. If they get to large enough numbers, they will effect your fish due to increased bio-load.
3) If I were you, YES.

Pinned topic ‘Dealing with pest snails': http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41473
Identification of snails in general see: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=75554
For future reference: Sanitizing New Plants: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=167686


I'll wind my neck back in now....

Andy

 

[SouthernCross]

If I were you, I'd get rid of them.

A few weeks ago I posted a practically identical topic - I'd found a hitchhiker snail in my tank after I'd bought new plants maybe 3 weeks earlier. Thinking it was cute at first I couldn't bring myself to kill it - but I wish I had. From leaving just that one alone - everyday now I'm picking out anywhere from 3-10 of the pesky little things (That's only when they're near the top and I can grab em easily!). When I do a water change and get right in the tank I get more. I'm pretty sure the'yre common pond snails.

Some of the people on the board (snail lovers I'm suspecting ) told me they'd be okay if I left them alone but clearly it can get out of control. One or two looks ok (which I'd hope mine would stay at) but an infestation can look very unsightly and hard to control.

Just if you do decide to get rid of them, someone recommended to me to wait until they're OUT of the tank before you smoosh them, as apparently the smooshing can release loads of eggs into the water.

 

[noshybabs]

There good, if you dont over feed they should never become a problem. They can act like kind of an indicator

 

[kniesh]

Snails can bring a number of things to your tank. In my opinion they do no harm at all so long as you look after them in a proper manner. If you dont overfeed your fish then you are not going to get hundreds like people are saying. You can even use their numbers as an indicator as to whether you are feeding your fish too much, i.e. if the population of the snails is rising too big then you are feeding too much and can adjust , which in turn should actually make your water better quality through less pollutants.

They are also very good cleaning crews. Algae on the glass and left over foods falling to the bottom.

 

[chishnfips]

snails aren't bad for your tank, there are more like pests, I dont mind them at all they can break down the left over food in the tank and also churn up the substrate (if you have sand). Just keep a check on how many there are.

 

[loachman]

Snails can bring a number of things to your tank. In my opinion they do no harm at all so long as you look after them in a proper manner. If you dont overfeed your fish then you are not going to get hundreds like people are saying. You can even use their numbers as an indicator as to whether you are feeding your fish too much, i.e. if the population of the snails is rising too big then you are feeding too much and can adjust , which in turn should actually make your water better quality through less pollutants.

They are also very good cleaning crews. Algae on the glass and left over foods falling to the bottom.

It also depends on how many live plants you have. They can/do munch on plant leaves (depending on snail species...common pond snails do), so using them as a metric of overfeeding is not really easy since there's an extra food source the snails use that the fish don't.

I find them mostly a pest, although in a loach tank their population is pretty well controlled.

They do a decent job of cleaning the tank, but the common ones that are contaminants on live plants are reproductive machines. If you want a cleaning snail, you're generally 100x better off getting a single large snail that can't reproduce asexually. They look better and can't reproduce without a partner like the pond snails.

I pick up a couple (maybe 6-10) every so often from a local shop that is overrun with them for live treats for my fish. Even though they're quickly hunted down and devoured, they can reproduce fast enough that I can still find one or two after weeks.

 

[noshybabs]

Thats a good point, I have 2 clown loaches that love nothing more than munching on snails. Better than any chemical deterant

 

[Underwurlde]

....but only if you are currently understocked AND have a large enough tank to accomodate them.....

 

[rdd1952]

I hate snails and would love it if all my tanks were snail free but with live plants, that will never happen. After the battle I fought with trumpet snails once, I dont want anything to do with them.

 

[proton]

Well I have about 20-50 in my small tank and no one to clean it up. It doesn't bother me at the moment, I tried to get my big tank populated, but the clown loaches seem to eat them all. I have one that is getting quite big now... I was considering getting three dwarf puffers to deal with them... but not sure if they will eat my fry first though

 

[karmagl]

I had the same problem when I bought a plant. I started throwing like 20 outside each day and they just kept comming. Finally I bought a yoyo loach, but he couldn't keep up. Then I bought 2 clown loaches haven't seen a snail since. I find a lot of shells when I clean the rocks but they are empty. Yes they do keep your tank clean but they are a pain. They multiply like no other and I had a weird problem they were crawling out onto my walls behind the tank. It was gross thats when I said enough and got the loaches.

 

[Underwurlde]

If I've said this a million times....

If you wanna get rid of snails PERIOD in ANY kind of setup without having to buy more fish using a SAFE method, read my 2nd post in the pinned article I have linked to above.

It worked 100% for me.

Andy