Help snails!

[Fishies4Ever]

Hi everyone it’s been a little while since I have asked a question. This morning I was looking in my tank and I noticed this little clear thing i at first though maybe it was an egg but then I looked at it from a different angle and I realized it was a tiny little snail. I then sought another one in the back. I’m not sure what kind they are, or if I should keep them. I can’t find any right now but when I do I’ll put some pictures up. They were kind of clear with some brown like maybe what they had eaten. I got some plants a few weeks ago and I’m thinking they could have come on those. If I should get ride of them how should I go about doing that? Thank you fellow fish keepers for all your advice!!

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Sounds like a pond snail, they're harmless and will eat algae, dead plant matter and left over food. They can quickly become many if there's enough to sustain them and for that reason many will dispose of them. I've squished them against the glass for the fish to come and eat, I've also left them before now to do their thing.. so it's up to you

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Snails are great cleaners, but won't eat any waste material from the fish. A lot of snails will add to the bioload in the tank. In other words, they poop a lot and add to the dissolved toxins in the tank water. A lot of snails typically means you're feeding the fish too much. But, I love the Rams Horn type and am more than willing to change out a lot of water every week to keep the tank water close to nitrogen free as possible, so I can keep a lot of these snails.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I generally leave snails alone as long as they aren't causing problems. As the others have already said, they usually don't cause problems unless you overfeed.

 

[sharkweek178]

Snails are actually a great bellwether. If you have a lot of them, they you're probably doing something wrong. Overfeeding is a big one. Or maybe algae needs controlled. They populate up to the level of sustainability for them.
I wouldn't worry about them. One thing I would strongly advise against is buying a fish specifically to eat the snails. Never get a fish to do tank maintenance for you. If you must, you could add assassin snails to control the population. But keep in mind that assassin snails will actually prefer to eat leftover fish food to other snails. So if overfeeding is an issue, then assassins won't help much. If nothing else, you can pull them out of the tank yourself and squish them.

 

[Fishies4Ever]

Thank you everyone for all your advice. At the moment they are small and I don’t really see them much so I’ll probably just leave them in there to eat so leftover food and algae.