Whats This! Snails In My Cycling Tank, Ahhh

[pdludbrooke]

I noticed some black specs moving around in my cycling tank, I put some plants in there 2 weeks ago left over from a batch I bought for my other tank. (please see photos)
What ae they, should I get rid of them ???
They seem to be feeding on the algae that is builing up on the glass, will they start on my plants when they are bigger, are they safe ?
Many thanks!

 

[Staxx]

i got some plants from P@H and now my tanks full of snails. starts off as one but i read they can reproduce alone..

i also have an apple snail or two brought in from plants aswell.

 

[pdludbrooke]

i got some plants from P@H and now my tanks full of snails. starts off as one but i read they can reproduce alone..

i also have an apple snail or two brought in from plants aswell.

Are they safe ?

 

[Staxx]

i got some plants from P@H and now my tanks full of snails. starts off as one but i read they can reproduce alone..

i also have an apple snail or two brought in from plants aswell.

Are they safe ?

the ones i have dont seem to be doing any harm to my tank. theyve been in there for almost 2 months now aswell.

 

[BlueDragon]

Yes they're perfectly safe. And they do eat algae. They live on the live plants and then eggs hatch when you bring them home.

I like them being around, but a word of warning... they breed, and very well! You may end up with an overrun tank if your not careful, so look out for the eggs and get rid of them if you don't want them. The eggs look like a tiny little clear blob with little 'spots' inside. A bit like the worlds smallest Frog spawn. They'll stick the eggs to the glass and to the gravel and plants. So just keep an eye out.

My Fish actually do a fair job in keeping the numbers down 'cause they like to eat the eggs. So I don't have to that much of a clean up myself.

 

[Staxx]

i got my platys cuz of the snail problem when i first got the tank. LFS said they eat the snails but now they dont touch um lol

 

[Peter C]

Iv been over run with the little b******s

Started with 2 or 3, fished them out and threw them in the garden, each day I come and they've increased ten fold

Now I dare say I've got over 60 in the tank ranging from the size of a pin head to the size of a pea

Sick to death of them as they are everywhere

Tried the snail killer liquids, no such luck

So iv just been an ought 4 assassin snails this morning,


hope yas are hungry fellas coz uv got a feast ahead of ya!

 

[Gilli]

Snails shouldnt be a problem unless you are overfeeding - as long as you dont overfeed a few in your tank are no problem.

 

[ninjacheesefish]

Either you can manually remove them or you can by a snail killer which will help get rid of them. However, some of them kill shrimps in the tank, so if you have shrimps its not a good idea to use something like that.
Otherwise you could leave them, they'r great at eating algae and excess food, just make sure that they don't breed like crazy and take over the tank.

 

[Peter C]

Either you can manually remove them or you can by a snail killer which will help get rid of them. However, some of them kill shrimps in the tank, so if you have shrimps its not a good idea to use something like that.
Otherwise you could leave them, they'r great at eating algae and excess food, just make sure that they don't breed like crazy and take over the tank.

Iv found the snail killers were useless, waste of money. If anything it increased breeding lol

 

[Aqua Tom]

Wiegh down a piece of lettuce witha small stone & leave in your tank overnight. Remove it in the morning & it will be covered in snails, get rid of them however you see fit & repeat with a frsh bit of lettuce.

Do this for 3 or 4 nights & you will make a huge dent in the snail population.


Tom

 

[OldMan47]

Snails can be irritating and the common snails like in your picture can reproduce rather too well. They do clean up a bit of algae and do not harm the fish but I do my best to control their numbers. If I don't they reproduce to where it gets hard to see past them to view the fish.

 

[FishBlast]

Whoa! My favorite shell-type snails... Why can't I get those? -.- All I have are tiny ramshorns...

 

[Martha689]

bumps