Snails Everywhere - A threat?

[piecewise]

So I have three tetras and two mollys in a 10 gallon tank (and 1 plant inside). Everything's fine.. Except yesterday I noticed a snail has shown up. Today, there are 6.

They are relatively small and dark.

Are they a threat? Don't they suck up calcium for their shells? What should I do?

 

[Wasserpest]

You could

Ignore them... they feed off uneaten food and algae, and produce poop in the course of it. They won't suck up calcium that quickly, assuming you do water changes.

Squish them... Maybe your fishies will eat them squished.

Kill them... there are a few things available, containing copper etc which hopefully won't kill your fish.

Cook them... clean out the whole tank, sterilize the gravel and tank...

Exterminate them... buy a dwarf puffer who eats them. But what about the puffer when all the snails are gone?

That's all I can think of right now

 

[kaz petts]

I don't know alot about snails but I don't think they are a threat however you don't want them in there either. As far as I know when it comes to snails you don't need a male and a female for them to breed so you can go from one to six to twelve etc etc.
I would advise killing them off somehow.
Get some sort of fish that eats these beasties.

 

[Sassygrrl]

That's why I used to have a puffer only tank. The puffer fed on the snails of the other tanks

 

[kgrehm]

Snails are nasty and you with out cleaning out your tank will never really get rid of them. (Personal experience). And like they said some fish will eat them and if you can get them out of the tank fast enough they wont be fully developed to breed together or asexually dpending of the type of snail. The best fish that I know of is clown loaches. Couple of those babies and taking out yourself should hold them back a bit.

 

[heyimeugene]

For snail removal, I posted this in section just a few hours ago. The method I used was take a few slices of cucumber... and add it to the tank before I get to bed (they float). Next morning I found a bunch of snails on the cucumber and I just picked out the slice and tossed it.

Repeat a few times and you shoulda got them out. This could also be a way to control the quantitiy of snails in your tank. I've removed a bunch and now I like the idea of having a few, so I let 3-5 in there.

And if you wanna see some fun, get a Loach... they eat the crap out of snails , but watch out they get big!

 

[angel_eyes0857]

i think snails are cool. i just added 6 snails and it makes it look more real. no, when i wake up and see like 400 then i'll probably say different but i have a problem with brown algae, i got some snails and waste control stuff... working out good so far. i have had the snails for... 4 days or so now, and no more than 6 yet haha