Tiny Brown Snails

[weejen]

hi just check my tank this morning and found bout 5 or 6 tiny brown coloured snails. i havnt added anything new to my tank, do i need to try and get rid of them?

 

[snork-maiden]

I have the same problem! My daughter spotter a fat snail happily munching on the plants. In addition, I have counted about 9 or 10 tiny ones (size of a pea). I have googled but the opinion seems divided. I read that, as they reproduce so quickly and in such numbers, the population can easily become a problem. I know where mine have come from - I bought some new live plants about two weeks ago. I rinsed them through thoroughly before putting in the tank but I must have missed something... a tip I read today suggested soaking plants in salt water for a few minutes to kill off any eggs? Assuming they are rinsed really well before going into the tank, is this really safe??

Dilemma is... to keep or not to keep the snails!?

Will they live in cold water? My mother-in-law has a massive cold water aquarium and I know she has complained about a lot of algae on her rocks, etc. Would they survive going from tropical to cold water?

 

[Fisses]

As far as im aware, the snails actually eat the algae, but the problem is they are a same sex snail so they mate with themselves and can lay 100 eggs or more at a time.

i dont mind a few snails but i try to keep on top of them by crushing them but i then drop them on the surface of the water and the fish love eating them.

you can buy a chemical which kills the snails off, but problem is, if they can kill the snails, they could kill the fish too

 

[ROSSCO22]

Sounds like Ramshorns or MTS snails

 

[snork-maiden]

I just read some of the other threads and a common piece of advice is to cut back on feeding so I will give that a try.

I'd feel a bit bad about crushing them , but I did use my siphon thingy to clear up some debris at the bottom of the tank and disturb the gravel a bit to see how many were lurking under there. I clumsily squashed a couple and as bits floated to the top, the danios were in like a shot! They loved it!

I have a betta, who I thought would have been excited but he couldnt have cared less!

 

[Fisses]

my guppies absoluitely love the snails once crushed them

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Have a look at this topic to identify what species they are

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=75554

this will also tell you if the snails will do any damage to plants etc, the vast majority of them are harmless but they can take over the tank.

the single most important thing to remember with snail population control is that the population will only grow if there is food for them to eat. so in line with this the single most common reason people have a snail problem is that they are overfeeding and there's lots of food left over so the population of snails grows.

if you're struggling with snails then cut back on your feeding and the population will reduce in line with this.

if you want to remove snails from the tank some people suggest putting a slice of cucmber or a lettuce leaf into the tank and leaving it overnight, in the morning it'll be covered with snails and you can then remove it and the snails with it. it doesn't always work but it's certainly worth a try. if you've got a lot of snails you can do this a few nights running to make a dent into them.

if you have fish in the tank then you can crush the snails against the glass with your finger and the fish will go crazy for a nice meaty treat of snail!

steer clear of shop bought snail remedies, most of them just knock the snails out and you have to pick them out manually (why bothed knocking them out, you can just pick them out manually anyway for free?!) and the ones that do kill the snails contain copper which will also kill off any other inverts in the tank such as shrimp.

 

[Fisses]

out of all them snails mine is the second one....

you think youve got rid of them all, then 5 minutes later you spot another 5 or so so hand in the water yet again.

although mine havent affected the plants yet but hopefully keep ontop of them and keep them down to bare minimum

 

[snork-maiden]

I can't find any now to check species! I thought it looked most like MTS - and, as they seem to have all gone to ground, it matches the behaviour on that thread. I did think that they had been attacking one of the plants though - I've never seen any of my fish eating the plants and it looks like it has been gnawed down to the base (sorry dont know species of plant - it's like a long grass).

Does anyone know if MTS would survive in cold water? The only thing I could find is that they won't reproduce as much if water is colder.

 

[Inchworm]

While there are some nice snails, most of them turn out to be pests that can quickly overrun the tank. It's usually best to pick them out by hand or crush them for your fish to eat. Sometimes you can attract them by leaving a piece of zucchini or lettuce in the tank overnight, but this doesn't always work.

Take great care to avoid overfeeding your fish because the snails will feed on the leftovers and get themselves in prime breeding condition.

This is a picture of my bristlenose pleco grow out tank. The young fish eat the zucchini and I collect at least this many snails every day.

 

[Night61]

i have a firm rule when it comes to snails. if they suddenly apper they are more then likely pest snails.
if you go out and purchase the snail then it is a desirable snail.