Nerite snails (Algae)

Bought some nerite snails (3) for my 10 gallon tank. Hoping they will help with my algae problem. They just been hanging out above the water line

Hey there
From time to time mine go for a stroll.... they roam around for a while, while feeding then just stop for a few days. This may be the case so in a day he will be up and "running" again. I never lost my Nerite from their strolls.

Hi Be28ans,

I think you'll love having nerites. They will absolutely help clean up your tank. I have two 9 gallon bow fronts, each with a single betta and three nerites. Your new snails could just be experiencing some new tank "shock" and are acclimatizing. What type of tank and fish have you put them in with?

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AppraisingGal said:

Hi Be28ans,

I think you'll love having nerites. They will absolutely help clean up your tank. I have two 9 gallon bow fronts, each with a single betta and three nerites. Your new snails could just be experiencing some new tank "shock" and are acclimatizing. What type of tank and fish have you put them in with?

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Hello, I have 3 snails in a 10 gallon planted waterbox. No fish yet. Wanna get rid of algae first

Nerites can help with certain types of algae on the margins, but if you have significant algae problems, you need to address the cause, which is usually a lighting, nutrient, water quality issue.

Avel1896 said:

Hey there
From time to time mine go for a stroll.... they roam around for a while, while feeding then just stop for a few days. This may be the case so in a day he will be up and "running" again. I never lost my Nerite from their strolls.

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Nerites...love them and they drive me crazy at the same time. They'll help with algae as long as there's not something more tempting, like driftwood, and I can't keep them off my manzanita. Get a blade to scrape their alien-like calcified eggs off of EVERYTHING. Keep track of them once they hit 12 months or so and are aging - be prepared for the offensive smell! Getting gulps of air above the water line is totally normal, but if you do see one upside down on the bottom, give it a hand. If it doesn't move in several hours, see offensive warning above.

Ended up getting my hands dirty and I cleaned up most of the algae on rock and dead carpet, ill another water change in 7 days. The nerites seemed to be moving around the tank now, there was one that was upside down I helped it out, that part is alil annoying.

The dark green stuff that looks like algae in the first picture, is blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria). It is a bacteria that photosynthesises like a plant. Snails won't normally touch the stuff and if there is too much Cyanobacteria in the tank, it can poison fish, shrimp, snails or other organisms that that come in contact with it, or live in close proximity to it.