Snails

[Murk&Harry]

I have spotted two very small, very fast snails in my new tank! I've never had snails before and can only point the finger of blame at the live plants!

I've had a quick butchers at snail types etc and it appears that they might not be anything to worry about, they are either the common pond snail or a pouch snail (they are still a bit small to tell properly but I'm leaning towards pouch). I'm not too concerned (my boyfriend has even named them Dave and Dave's mate - imaginative!) but as I have very akaline water in my area I'm worried about them becoming too prevalent. Plus on close examination there seems to be a whitish jelly like coating on the suckers for the filter qnd heater, eggs

Can you keep a natural snail preditor in a coldwater tank? Such as a loach etc? It's a 220l cycling so therefore currently empty tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Snails are quite harmless and healthy in terms of your eventual fish, so there is no imperative to get them out or worry about them from that standpoint. They are, however, commonly thought of by most aquarists as a pest in terms of how your tank looks and how hard they can be to get rid of. I believe most experienced aquarists will tell you that its best to just establish a "maintenance" attitude toward them. In your own case, you may enjoy having the pair as entertainment in the empty tank for a while, but of course they will eventually be laying eggs and no doubt more eggs are there (clear jelly like) on the plants that brought them in and perhaps on other surfaces.

So once you decide they are a pest and you want to get rid of all or most of them you should just use all of several different means, at your own leisure: Once you have fish its popular to crush them with your thumb (etc.) (watch out for getting cut if they are bigger) and feed them to the fish or just let the fish come and get them. Among the most popular removal methods for larger infestations is to place a lettuce leaf or potentially other veggies on a small saucer plate and let it sit on the substrate overnight. Hopefully a lot of snails will be feeding on the veggie in the morning and you can slowly lift the plate out of the tank. The plate part is there to catch the snails whose defense is to drop off the leaf! Be aware not to put these in the household garbage or they'll crawl out and around the room -- they should go outside. Another method of course is to simply make it a habit to pluck them out of the tank when they are easily reachable and chuck them out the window. Lastly, there are fish and killer snails that will go after them but these approaches have their own problems in that you may not particularly want these other things on your stocking list. Others can no doubt inform you of these species if you like but often they are less effective than the straightforward things mentioned above.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[kelly528]

Weather loaches should work, but don't buy it simply for the purpose of eating a few snails. The problem can be fixed quite easily without the burden of an extra fish.

Thay are pond snails (I thought pond and pouch were nicknames for the same snail).

The jelly is an egg case.

If you don't want snails, squish them ASAP and remove the egg case. They will not explode if you are not overfeeding your fish, but they will multiply.

 

[Murk&Harry]

Thanks for you quick replies!

I don't think I could bring myself to squash them, and as you point out, they add a little interest (they're really bordering on the cute side!)

I will clear out the eggs sacks ASAP and will be adding the fish in shortly, they will hopefully stave them out if nothing else.

I was leaning to a mix of fish in this tank eventually so a couple of weather loaches would be most welcome. Providing they are friendly to my slow moving round bodied Ryukins of course.

 

[kelly528]

They're a pretty popular bottom-feeder in coldwater tanks. Quite good looking too. I'd check them out in the coldwater section to see if they're right for your tank.

 

[Murk&Harry]

Thanks, I will!

It appears they are fairly hardy too, thinking they can go in to the new tank first now it's looking cycled - the snails certainly like it!. Apparently they can with stand pretty poor conditions (not that'd I'd leave them to suffer it out of course!)

 

[B13]

I've got a rather healthy snail population in my tank and was toying with the idea of adding some assassin snails.

Are these fellas a good idea to help keep the snail population down (as well as making sure I'm not over-feeding!!)?

 

[aly_starh]

I've got a rather healthy snail population in my tank and was toying with the idea of adding some assassin snails.

Are these fellas a good idea to help keep the snail population down (as well as making sure I'm not over-feeding!!)?

yeh defos!! They eat them that quick that people start buying some pest snails to feed them once they have run out