Snails

[bennyplevin]

HI, JUST DOING MY DAILY CHECK ON FISH WHEN I NOTICED A SMALL KIND OF SNAIL, WHERE THE HELL HAS IT COME FROM? OR WHAT THE HECK DOES IT MEAN? I AM STILL NEW TO THE GAME, I HAVE HAD THE TANK 4 ABOUT 6/7 WEEKS AND HAVE A FEW HARDY FISH IN THERE, CAN SOMEBODY TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS SNIAL? THANKS...........

 

[Esfa]

probably a pest snail... it would have come in on plants.

just squish it lol.

you'll probably have 100s more that you havnt seen. just squish them, too lol

 

[bennyplevin]

HAVEN'T HAD ANY PLANTS I HAVE STILL THE SAME ARTIFICIAL PLANTS IN AS WHEN I BROUGHT THE TANK FROM NEW, ALSO HAVE NOTICED BROWN PATCHES OVER PLANTS AND DECOR.

 

[Esfa]

Must have come on on something else then.

The brown patches are algae... just wipe it off.

also, no offence, but the caps lock key os to the left of your keyboard.

it looks like you are constantly shouting.

 

[bennyplevin]

SORRY, upps i ment sorry! thanks.

 

[Corleone]

Could well be a pond snail. Their eggs can get into a lot of things and be brought into the tank. Try putting a leaf of lettuce in the bottom of the tank (just set a rock on it to hold it down) overnight, and seeing what you get in the morning. It'll probably be crawling with them, and you can just take it out and throw the lot away. You might not get rid of all of them, but you can control their numbers.

I'd advise against using a chemical treatment to wipe them out, since even if it works, you'll risk an ammonia spike from all the decaying snails buried in your gravel. Depending on your stocking, a loach or two may help (Beware clown loaches - they're sold as a snail solution, but they get too big for most tanks and need very large housing).

How often do you feed? The snails do have to eat something, so if you end up getting a lot of them, its usually a sign of overfeeding.

 

[bennyplevin]

ok thanks! i feed them twice a day, this is quite a small snail but moves very quickley i'll try the lettuce tonight thanks!!!!!!

 

[racegoer]

ok thanks! i feed them twice a day, this is quite a small snail but moves very quickley i'll try the lettuce tonight thanks!!!!!!

Hi
I'm sure you only need to feed once a day.
Our pest snails came in with the first fish but were under control quite quickly. When you are gravel/sand cleaning you may suck up a few tiny ones as well.

Cheers

 

[Fandango]

I'm just reading the post to see about my snail colony..I have about 40-50,

They happily plod around the tank, should I get rid of them, they tend to
keep everything clean but now seem to be gaining in numbers ready for
the big push to take over ?

Any thoughts ?

 

[Corleone]

Put some lettuce, cucumber, or zucchini in the tank overnight. You should be able to remove a good chunk of snails all at once this way, without removing them all. As long as they're under control, it's really not worth wiping them out, as they do keep things clean like you said - no fish and few shrimp can match a nice population of snails for cleanup duty.

 

[snakequeen]

I thought snails were helpful to tanks, i have hundreds in my tanks and they keep it lovely and clean.
What the difference between a pest snail and a normal one then?

 

[Esfa]

I thought snails were helpful to tanks, i have hundreds in my tanks and they keep it lovely and clean.
What the difference between a pest snail and a normal one then?

there isnt really one.. but pest snails usually are prolific breeders that can take over a tank.

 

[snakequeen]

Thats probably what i have in my tanks then.
I have hundreds of tiny babies at the moment and eggs every where in one of my tanks.
but im keeping them under control

 

[Sarette]

I'm still cycling my tank, but after adding 2 live plants last week, I spotted 2 snails a couple of days later. I saw 4 this morning. I'm not putting any food in, but there is a little brown algae on the decorations, is that what they are eating? 3 of them have grown quite nicely!

It's so nice to have something living in the tank!!

 

[Corleone]

I thought snails were helpful to tanks, i have hundreds in my tanks and they keep it lovely and clean.
What the difference between a pest snail and a normal one then?

there isnt really one.. but pest snails usually are prolific breeders that can take over a tank.

Also depends on if they damage live plants, and also just on personal preference - snails have a bit of a bad rep for infesting tanks, and some people hunt even the most benign species out of their tanks (hence the popularity of products like Had-A-Snail)