Snails in the tank!!

[Neon junkie]

My sister was just having a look in my tank and she shouted to me 'You've got a snail', i was surprised as i had never seen it before!! and the plants in there i got about 4weeks ago if not a bit longer. Can someone help me out as to what type of snail it is and do they carry any harmful diseases etc. as i have NO IDEA ABOUT SNAILS!!!

It about the size of a figer nail and the shell is a brown spotted colour and goes to a point at the back of it.
Do they have any beneficial effects??
Im worried it could be detrimental to my tank
At the mo i have
*5 Neon tetras
*5 Glolite tetras
*4 Pearl Danios
*1 Sucking Loach
AND NOW A SNAIL
Please excuse my ignorance

 

[nc_nutcase]

I've never heard of anything negative snails do to an aquarium except look ugly. They are actually pretty darn good at eating algae. he biggest problem with them is they breed like rabbits. There are a few fish that eat the snails, but I've found it easiest to just pick them out if they start to over run ya. You can also 'bait them out'. Drop in something they would like to eat (I hear lettuce works) and when they flock to that... just take it out and put them elsewhere...

 

[Neon junkie]

Pphhhheeewww, i was panicking for a bit there. Thanks for that, have you got any clue as to what it might be?? ive only ever heard of apple snails (as you can probably tell im still a novice )

 

[nc_nutcase]

lol, I've been keeping fish for the better half of 25 years and I don't know 'types' of snails. I just know when they show up, I tolerate them until my tank is clean then start trying to get rid of them

 

[LoachLover]

Snails just tend to multiply pretty fast and they are just ugly usually, other than that they usually just clean the glass on the tank. any botia loach will eat them up pretty darn fast. I've had a single clown loach about 3 inches long eat over 200 small snails overnight.

 

[Neon junkie]

Oh okay i will see how i get on with the little guy for a while. Wait until the tank is clean and then 'Bait' him outta there!!
Thanks
p.s There some pretty amazing tanks you've got there!!

 

[FishHeads]

Pphhhheeewww, i was panicking for a bit there. Thanks for that, have you got any clue as to what it might be?? ive only ever heard of apple snails (as you can probably tell im still a novice )

Yeah, those little snails are just an irritating niusance. They get clogged in filter media, and just look yucky and are difficult to get rid of. Botia's make quick snacks of them though.

 

[Neon junkie]

any botia loach will eat them up pretty darn fast. I've had a single clown loach about 3 inches long eat over 200 small snails overnight.

Wow thats a pretty amazing count for your loach. are the loach you mentioned okay to go in my aquarium as i already have a sucker loach? but would like to get another bottom feeder. Im off to my lfs tomorrow and hope to get a couple of fish but was still debating on what to have and that loach sound like just the thing, but then again it depends on their character and their capacity to grow etc. could you possibly give me some details on loaches please, it would be much appreciated
Thanks

 

[LoachLover]

The yoyo loach is a smaller loach that will eat snails and they do pretty good with most fish.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Neon junkie

Actually, a few snails in an aquarium are cute. It's only when they start reproducing to quickly that they turn into a problem.

The good news is that they will only increase in proportion to the food available to them. If you do a good job of cleaning the gravel and do not overfeed your fish, you can go along for years with only a handful of them in your tank.

 

[Torrean]

so a whole bunch of snail eggs suddenly appearing in my tank is a sign that i have recently been overfeeding my fish. hmm. If I cut back on the feedings will the eggs mature and hatch, if so then will they grow. I threw in some frozen brine shrimp yesterday to see what I could get my newts to eat and I think I put in too much. Thank goodness for ghost shrimp or the stuff would have sat in the tank forever (or until I cleaned the tank which would not have been long with brine shrimp globs in the bottom) Do you think this might have triggered there reproduction since there were no eggs yesterday and now there are like three goo trails of them? how big does a botia loach get and can it live in cold water. Can you think of anything else that will eat snails live in cold water and stay really small?

 

[pumaf1]

col I have just set up a tank and found about 4-6 snail in there, they seem to be growing quite quickly though (the tank is about two weeks old now)

so wot u guys are saying is to just leave them? and her they hell do they go in the day time?

 

[Torrean]

I am a newbie with snails but they may go under the substrate. Do you have sand or small gravel? basically what people are saying is to leave them in until they start irritating you then do the lettuce trick.