The confusing bio load of Nerite snails.

[Irksome]

Hello. I have a couple of nerites in my tank and I always assumed that their bio load would be low. However they produce more poop than all the fish put together. I’m having some trouble keeping my water quality stable and I wondered if anyone could advise me on snail bio load from experience. I also have 3 assassin snails and what I assume is an extinct population of ramshorns but they didn’t produce much visible waste.

 

[seangee]

Can you be more specific about the problems?
We need numbers (and units) for the parameters as well as tank size, stock levels and maintenance routine as well as how long the tank has been running. Without this info we can only guess.

 

[Irksome]

My tank is 10us gallons, it has 8 male guppies (likely soon to be 7 as one is poorly) is planted and cycled, it has been running for 4 months. I run an interpret pf1 power filter and a sponge filter. My ammonia rises to 0.5 ppm before my twice weekly water change and clean. Nitrite stays at 0 and nitrate rises to 15ppm. The nerite snail leave large piles of poop every where they go.

 

[FallenPepper]

Might just be overfeeding. Have you tried cutting back on food for them? If your putting in algae wafers maybe cut back the amount you put in for em.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I feed my nerite 1 algae wafer every week. He eats left over food and actual algae just like the rest of my snails. Try limiting him to 1 algae wafer per week.

 

[Irksome]

Maybe they are getting over nourished from fish food, although I don’t feed them. Do your nerites poop a lot or is it just mine?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Mine don't poop a lot. Maybe its just yours.

 

[Irksome]

Mine don't poop a lot. Maybe its just yours.

I’m starting to think that might be the case...

 

[seangee]

Maybe they are getting over nourished from fish food, although I don’t feed them. Do your nerites poop a lot or is it just mine?

Mine does. Your tank has quite a lot of stock for a 10G. The fact that the nitrate rises suggests that it is cycled, but you may be close to the maximum bio load it can handle. Cutting down feeding will help. Adding fast growing floating plants will also help. frogbit and water sprite are both good choices. These will "feed" on the ammonia and use it for growth - so no nitrite or nitrate gets produced.

 

[Irksome]

Mine does. Your tank has quite a lot of stock for a 10G. The fact that the nitrate rises suggests that it is cycled, but you may be close to the maximum bio load it can handle. Cutting down feeding will help. Adding fast growing floating plants will also help. frogbit and water sprite are both good choices. These will "feed" on the ammonia and use it for growth - so no nitrite or nitrate gets produced.

I initially stocked for a 50litre as I got the tank cheap on eBay and didn’t double check, I just took the sellers word on it. I have Frogbit and just bought some water sprite for a new tank I’m setting up, I thought it would need more light than this tank has but I’ll chuck some in anyway. Ive got hornwort and anackaris on order as I know they grow fast. My poorly guppy didn’t survive the morning so the bio load will be slightly reduced.

 

[Essjay]

My nerites also poop a lot, there is usually a lot under the pieces of wood in the tank. Since the nerites do seem to graze on the biofilm on the wood, they could be also rasping the wood surface and wood shavings that have passed through a snail do make a mess.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Weird, my nerite doesn't poop that much at all. It does lay a lot of eggs though.

 

[Irksome]

Weird, my nerite doesn't poop that much at all. It does lay a lot of eggs though.

Mine does that too. For a clean up crew my pair sure do make a lot of mess. Piles of poop and about 5 eggs every day.... i like them but I should have stick with the ramshorns i think

 

[seangee]

Ha mines a male . No algae, no eggs and plenty of poop. But the MTS take care of that. Like @essjay I have wood in my tank and some of it is quite old.