Tons Of Nerite Eggs On Driftwood!

[NeonBlueLeon]

Hey folks,
 
I've got a freshwater tank with two nerites in it, and they have been laying eggs like mad on my driftwood.  I know they aren't viable in freshwater, so I was wondering if I need to take them off the driftwood myself, or will nature take care of it. 
They have been around for almost three weeks now.  I don't want any decaying biomass in the tank.
 
Thanks for any help!  Here's a pic of the biggest piece of driftwood, since I know ya'll love pics.
 

 

[SarahR]

Neither- you don't need to remove them and nature won't (very quickly) either.  I think nerite eggs must have a half life of about 10,000 years.  They generally don't hatch in freshwater but they don't decay or disappear any too soon either.  I wouldn't worry about water quality issues but if you don't like the look you have to manually remove them.  
A young Peruvian Angel with nerite eggs on the driftwood, plant leaves, stems, etc.....

 

[Essjay]

They are not that easy to remove from wood without taking chunks of the wood as well. They are hard enough to get off rigid plastic ornaments which can be scrubbed with no damage. I've just learned to live with them. My nerites prefer wood for laying eggs. There are far more on that than anything else.

 

[KirkyArcher]

I have the same issue, I bought some Nerites to do additional "housework" for me, having been informed that I wouldn't get infested with lots of little nerite snails. So I buried my deep down dislike of gastrapods and introduced them to my aquariums thinking it was a win win situation. I'm now of the belief that I've made a mistake, Any algae issues that I had experienced and disliked fade in to insignificance to having these diamond hard, bright white eggs stuck to everything, Most of which need to be scraped off with either a very rough scourer pad or stiff brush and on the bog wood usually requiring being individually picked off with the point of a knife.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Wow! That's good to know. My GF wants Horned Nerite Snails for her little Nano tank.

So may have expect these little tough eggs on bogwood and plants as well as on tank glass presumably.

Is there no alternative at all apart from scraping, picking and cursing at these eggs to be removed easily?

 

[KirkyArcher]

No alternative other than accepting them, or manual removal, they are apparently Hermaphrodites so keeping one won't even resolve the issue other than reducing the quantities of eggs laid, I think they can lay eggs and fertilise the eggs of other snails but they can't fertilise their own eggs.

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

It strange because these aren't the first nerites I've owned, by a long shot.  I've had nerites in various betta tanks and guppy tanks and I've never seen them lay eggs.  The nerites that laid the eggs in the pics have only been in the tank for a few weeks, and they have only just started feeling comfortable enough to come out and eat during the day.