Snails In My Tank

[benthyer]

Hey All,
 
So I was just sat down the other day admiring my tank and noticed a dark blotch on the inside of the glass which I thought was a build up of dirt, but when I looked closer I discovered that it was actually snails and I also found one or two more amongst my gravel.
 
I'm going to guess they got a ride into my tank with the new plants I bought about a month ago but I have only just noticed them. 
 
What should I do? Should I just leave them and see what happens or try and remove them?
 
 

 

[KirkyArcher]

You leave them you get lots more snails, control or eradication are your options, control options are to pin a/several leaves of lettuce to gravel let snails find them and munch on them, and while you have a leaf full of snails remove it and throw it and snails collected in the bin, or you can buy assassin snails that will eat them, then there is chemical erradication using treatment such as Esha Gastroplex or you can tear down your tank wash and remove all you can find and start again.

 

[frapadoodle]

I recommend the lettuce method, or assasin snails.
Just keep at it. Snails lay a lot of eggs!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yup, assassin snails are quite interesting snails actually, they will keep your common snail population under control given time.
 
Lettuce method works as well, just keep doing the lettuce method until no more snails is found on lettuce. 
 
Or add chemical method to kill them all as KirkyArchers said but sometimes can be difficult to take out the chemicals once added to your tank even using carbon filters, leftover chemical treatments can kill shrimps if you decide to have them at a later date.
 
A few options you can do so far.
 
You don't say what size your tank is, some people say to use loaches but that requires a BIG tank to keep a group of loaches.
(minimum 180cm length tank)
But I certainly would not recommend that method though.

 

[benthyer]

I think I will do the lettuce leaf suggestion for a while as I don't like the idea of adding chemicals to the water just incase of any other effects it may have beside the desired one.
 
I have been thinking about an assassin snail. Am I right in thinking that snails are great at keeping the tank clean?
 
My tank is only about 130cm wide so loaches would be out of the question.