Snails

[milba]

i have recently found a snail habitat in my tank

by this i mean that a couple days ago there were 2 or 3 of these guys and now there are like 15 roaming around my tank

i was wondering if they were in any way harmful to my set up and if there were any fish that like to chow down on snails as i seen to have an abundance of them they are approximately a quater inch in diametre and seem to be multiplying exponentially. any help would be appreciated

these are some pics of them:

much help would be appreciated

 

[wwestar2000]

Ummm. They will eat your plants. If you consider that harmful to your set-up. They do produce alot of waste so I think that it will be best for you to some how get rid of most of them. I heard louches eat snails but thats all I know. Hopefully someone will give you more detail. Good luck.
P.S. If there small enough you could just squish them.

 

[Spyderdf]

They may or may not be harmful (I.E. Eating plants ect.) depending on what kind of snail it is. I ahve never had a snail like that that came with plants and ate them, so im guessing chances are it does not eat plants. But they do reproduce like their no tommorow.

 

[Teelie]

I've got a bunch of them in my Cory tank and they do not produce a lot of waste though they do breed like rabbits. I don't know if they eat live plants though.

 

[debiasir]

i must have a thousan in my tank. The havent seemed to eat any plants

I pick them out as and when i see them and also when i feed my plec cucmber after he has finished the snails go for it so i just lift it out snails attached.

get rid of them while you can

 

[wwestar2000]

You guys are lucky then cause my snails will eat a plant in 2 days. Entirely. Teelie how do you know the snails don't produce much waste? Everywhere i have read said they produce huge amounts of waste compared to there size.

 

[abstract]

again with the reading and assuming it is fact ...i have at least 20 of these in each of my planted tanks...they do nibble on plants but there is no way they will take down an entire *healthy* plant in 2 days unless it is dying and rotting away...they do poop quite a bit but if you look at a snail poop compared to fish poop, it is minimal (large apple snails over 2" are a whole nother story though)...just keep the populatin in check by
1) feeding your fish less - an outbreak of snails is a good indication that you are overfeeding
2) puttin in a piece of lettuce at night and removing to crush/throw out the snails

You guys are lucky then cause my snails will eat a plant in 2 days. Entirely. Teelie how do you know the snails don't produce much waste? Everywhere i have read said they produce huge amounts of waste compared to there size.

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[Teelie]

I check the water parameters and given the number in there, including fish and other snails, if there was a large amount of waste, I'd see it either visually or with test results. Neither of them show any levels of ammonia, nitrite or even high nitrates which of course are all signs of waste or over feeding.

 

[wwestar2000]

again with the reading and assuming it is fact

You guys are lucky then cause my snails will eat a plant in 2 days. Entirely. Teelie how do you know the snails don't produce much waste? Everywhere i have read said they produce huge amounts of waste compared to there size.

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How am i assuming i have gone to petco bought plants and in two days the plant is literally a stem. Thats with 1 less than an inch snail.

 

[mandi]

I have tons of snails that look identical to your photos in a couple of my tanks. They don't seem to bother much. I go ahead and let them breed in there and every so often pluck some out of my community tanks and toss them into my puffer tank for a snack. Other than being somewhat annoying-looking, I've really never experienced any problems with them though.

 

[abstract]

How am i assuming i have gone to petco bought plants and in two days the plant is literally a stem. Thats with 1 less than an inch snail.

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Everywhere i have read said they produce huge amounts of waste compared to there size.

you didn't say you read that they ate plants, you said that you read they produce a ton of waste...obviously thats what i was talking about..

what kind of plant did you buy from petco and how is your lighting? i would have to guess the plant was dying if less than a 1 inch snail could plow it over in 2 days

 

[wwestar2000]

Nope it was those plants that come in bundles. I don't know what there called but they dont have roots at first and are supposed to grow them eventially in your gravel. I bought the 2 bulbs from petco that were for the plants. And my less than one inch applesnail ate the 3 plants in the bundle and lft the 3 stems. 2 days later.

 

[abstract]

well, apple snails are notorious for eating plants...the original poster's snails aren't apple snails...so yea.......

 

[wwestar2000]

You could barely see the snail! All i see is that the shell is covered in alge. I have bought plants with little apple and ivory snails in them.

 

[abstract]

are you talking about the snail in the original post? i can def. see that it isn't an apple snail...i don't know what you are arguing about...

You could barely see the snail! All i see is that the shell is covered in alge. I have bought plants with little apple and ivory snails in them.

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