I think I hate snails

[AbbeysDad]

Mulm, and Algae, and Snails, Oh My

 

[letssetup]

I put my snails in today and I love them, I used too have apple snails in my goldfish tank but they are now banned in the UK

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Is there a different species of pest snail I don't know about? Like I said, look like ramshorns, with the round spiral shell, but absolutely tiny, and somehow reproducing without there being a large adult sized snail in there.

I have BRH snails in all of my tanks - they are pretty, decent sized, and do a good job cleaning. Sure, they over populate, if you overfeed.

 

[Essjay]

But the ones in my dad's 55 gallon drive me nuts. I assume they're ramshorns, they're that shape, but these ones are super, super tiny. Have never seen an adult sized ramshorn in there, yet these tiny ones are being produced in the hundreds somehow.

There are different species of ramshorn. Some grow no bigger than a few mm, others grow quite large. The tiny ones are usually referred to as being one of the species of pest snail

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

There are different species of ramshorn. Some grow no bigger than a few mm, others grow quite large. The tiny ones are usually referred to as being one of the species of pest snail

Ah, that makes sense of these then! I got confused since everywhere I read said ramshorns get to a certain size, and these certainly don't, yet are reproducing. That makes sense of it, thank you!

 

[Essjay]

I have the tiny ramshorns in my tanks, they came in with my first attempt at live plants.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I have the tiny ramshorns in my tanks, they came in with my first attempt at live plants.

Do they drive you a little batty too? It would be easier to control the population if I was in charge of feeding that tank I'm sure, but my dad feeds them, I just have to try to clear up after them... and these teeny tiny ones are annoyingly difficult to bait.

 

[Essjay]

I don't really notice them now to be honest. But I do have the advantage of being the person who feeds the fish so I can make sure there is not too much food.

 

[CassCats]

I like my snails, even in larger numbers.
But when I've got fish that eat the same food source and outcompetes the snails, they started eating my plants.

I removed a bunch over several days, gave away to local hobbyists for food, pets, whatever, and got a trio of assassin snails. I dont see too many snails left anymore and I only see the assassins at night time. They burrow in the sand like MTS do.

Personally I'd love me some MTS, theyre good for sand

My other tanks got snails. My 55 had a major population drop as ive dosed with flubendozole a couple times recently and its not a snail friendly medication.

 

[seangee]

For whatever reason i cant keep MTS alive in my current tank. Ive had MTS in the past as they are beneficial for plants as they aerate the substrate much like a worm does with soil but 3 separate times ive plopped a few in and had them die within days.

You must be doing something truly horrendous
Mine have survived malachite green and copper sulphate (at the same time), ammonia at 8ppm for a week (no fish in the tank I wanted to see what would happen), being dunked in a bucket of scalding water (as hot as the tap goes, not boiling) and a bucket overnight in sub zero temps. Most but not all of the water froze.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I have to put my hand up to vote that I like snails, pond snails, MTS, ramshorns and assassin snails I’ve kept them all in all my tanks over the years.

Snails are mostly a natural addition to any tank, they give the benefit of cleaning algae off the glass, once I had a 3 foot planted tank without snails side by side with a 2.5 foot planted tank with snails, the 2.5 was way cleaner than the 3 foot, honestly I spent ages cleaning algae on tank glass on the 3 foot until I decided to add a handful of MTS and pond snails and hey presto, within a week or so, nice clear glass with minimal effort!

Also as already mentioned, MTS are great for substrate, I call them the gardeners of the fish planted tanks, turns over the soil, get rid of potentially bad AOB air pockets, and eat leftover foods and plant debris and in turn over time creates mulm in the substrate which is great for plants.

I found that feeding just enough food for the normal fish livestock helps maintain snail numbers, it’s over feeding the tank and sometimes poor tank maintenance that usually causes snail population explosions.

So you can keep snail population to a limit with careful feeding and good tank keeping practices.

Also, always had shrimps, usually RCS, as well as part of the clean up crew alongside snails.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

You must be doing something truly horrendous
Mine have survived malachite green and copper sulphate (at the same time), ammonia at 8ppm for a week (no fish in the tank I wanted to see what would happen), being dunked in a bucket of scalding water (as hot as the tap goes, not boiling) and a bucket overnight in sub zero temps. Most but not all of the water froze.

Are you absolutely sure you don't hate snails?

 

[LostBear]

I don't have any snails that produce young, only Nerites (zebra and tiger). I have one lone Malaysian Trumpet Snail (I think) that I have no idea how it got in my tank. I hadn't put any new fish or plants in for over 3 months. I love my Nerites, they clean all the diatomatic algae off of my glass and have neat little pellet poos that are easy to gravel vac up. Nerites only reproduce in very selective environments that are impossible for people to accidentally set up. Brackish, egg, pure marine, hatch, unshelled stage (which I forget the name of), feed a rare microorganism, back to brackish, acclimate to freshwater.

Same here - this is the way to go. Keep snails that can't breed in fresh water.

I have two Nerites (Bob and Terry) and recently a teeny tiny snail appeared (must have been an egg on plants, I think). She started off as Zoom, because she had a turn of speed on her, but ended up as Thelma (to go with Bob and Terry - Brits of a certain generation will recognise the names).

Sadly, Thelma seems to have disappeared and we are all very upset. She was so pretty and delicate, and very small.

 

[LostBear]

I also notice the difference in the substrate as it is sand but they just seems to be hundreds of them lately. I would like to keep quite a few for their beneficial ways but not that many. In saying that, I was just at my tank with my phone torch checking something and found heaps on my java moss throughout the tank. I might do a light out run and just get them down to a reasonable amount. Thank you As for the MS I’m not sure what to do with them, maybe just let them live there life out and eliminate them that way I’m not sure.

TBH this is why I was reluctant to introduce snails into my tank again - I've had previous Bad Experiences . . . .

 

[Circus]

I was thinking about getting a mystery snail to put in with Jaws in my 3 gallon tank. They look very pretty, but will they do any damage to the marimo moss balls I have in there?