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Londoneel

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Dear all,

We have a new 125 litre tank (total n00bs) which we are currently cycling ahead of sticking in a first few hardy little fish in a few weeks. Today, we planted up a bit of greenery (again, very simple and hardy plants...) and we seem to have picked up a little stowaway.

From my poking about, it is a Malaysian Trumpet Snail (photo attached) . Any thoughts? Views on them seem to vary from poisoning them as soon as possible keeping them as an algae eater. They aren't pretty, but I wouldn't mind one or two pottering about on the glass and burrowing in the sand.

Any thoughts?
 

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i found pest snails take over, if you wanta see one or 2 snails in there get assassins there slower breaders and will kill the pest snails they also look nice
 
I had issues with pest snails when I first added plants and before I got the lighting situation squared away. They stuck around and kept popping up. Then when I got a BN pleco, it ate up all the algae in the tank, and the snails disappeared... I think the BN might have eaten the snail eggs, in addition to outcompeting the snails.


I'd not worry about the MTS. Keep your feedings small and the numbers will remain in check. If they don't just clip some lettuce to the tank side at night. And then remove the lettuce in the morning, snails and all.
 
(we have contained the MTS peril for now, so no need to hurry. Having a 125l tank with all the trimmings for a single snail was funny, though.)
 
There is no such thing as one or two mts, they breed at a ridiculous speed with ample food (plant matter included) and no predators. If you want snails, get one or two assassins as they breed slowly and eat pests but if you see mts in your tank, take it out and squidge it!
 
I would never trust even a lone MTS they are the devil to get out of gravel in tanks and I find the benefits of them cleaning through the substrate is out weighed by their prolific breeding. I have an almost pure sand substrate tank for mostly corydoras catffish and within seconds of dropping in some catfish wafers the MTS are emerging like zombie hordes to totally cover the food.
 
I recently had to completely break down a tank to get rid of the little blighters - I dredged the substrate and took the wood out and dried and scrubbed it - and still the odd one pops up! I can't seem to embed a photo on the ipad but here is a before photo, bearing in mind this was mid afternoon and it's at it's worst forst thing in the morning when you turn the lights on.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8204/8190103877_46c98cf53e.jpg
 
So we have not reintroduced our little friend. Tonight, he sleeps with the fishes (just not mine). Have kept an eye. Will try leaving out some lettuce to see if he is a lone scout or the vanguard of an invasion force...

Thanks for all your help. At some point, our fish tank might be more than a box of water. Am sure I will pester more then...!
 
Please do!
 
We went to get our water tested at our local shop, and our cycle is not quite done. So, to keep the cycle trundling along, we got a bit of flake food to drop into the tank. Dropped it in.... and four more MTS emerged. We are keeping an eye.

On another issue, we have fine fuzz on some of our plants. I assume it is algae that, in the long run, an ancistrus will take care of it. The cycling not being complete must mean the water is a bit ripe for algae too now. But not totally clear what to do in the meantime. Should we just wait? It isn't blocking off light.

Just wondering of our first fish will care...
 
Algae doesn't bother fish, its normal. Some fish will actually graze on the algae, some fish require a bit of it. The algae is an indicator of an issue for us as the fishkeeper of a potential problem (in addition to being unsightly).


Algae happens during cycles. Nothing to worry about. If you blocked off all light, it will die. But, its fine to leave it as well.
 
I would definitely recommend assasin snails, they will soon find the snails who hide away until you tempt them out with food. I had a bit of an issue with pest snails (not MTS though), dropped a few assassins in and they seemed to clean up nicely. Nice things to look at too :)
 
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