Where Has My Snail Appeared From ?

[Charlieboy]

Hi, Im just wondering if anyone can help to solve where a mysterious snail has come from. I have a 30 litre tank that I am using at the moment for my pregnant guppies. I put a few handfuls of new gravel in today and some natural fern that was bought from the pet shop and in a sealed packet. Suddenly a very small snail has appeared on the glass. Any ideas where it may have come from? How they appear? and what should i do with it?

 

[mwood2]

Well sealed or not thats seems like the most likely place the snail came from. Now you can keep the snail if you like otherwise you have a few options to rid yourself of it. Use your finger and crush it against the glass and your fish can eat it if its small enough or you can pick it off the glass and despose of it elsewhere. Snails arnt that bad, I have a few dozen small ones I keep in my 10 gallon to breed to DP buuut i have been to lazy to feed them to him for awhile.

 

[Charlieboy]

Well sealed or not thats seems like the most likely place the snail came from. Now you can keep the snail if you like otherwise you have a few options to rid yourself of it. Use your finger and crush it against the glass and your fish can eat it if its small enough or you can pick it off the glass and despose of it elsewhere. Snails arnt that bad, I have a few dozen small ones I keep in my 10 gallon to breed to DP buuut i have been to lazy to feed them to him for awhile.

Thanks for that. I have decided to dispose of it as I got unexpected fry and looks like more on the way so I decided to do without the snails especially as I found 2!

 

[jonnyf84]

through your gravel probably. Don't stress, i love snails and i dont see why people have a problem with them, they rarely get out of control unless your a lazy sod, they do a great job of cleaning plant leaves and left over food and algae - how can that be a bad thing!

 

[Gilli]

Chances are if you foound 2 there will be more! Dont panick - they do more good than harm and if they get out of control just crush them and feed them to the fish - they love them!

 

[Charlieboy]

I have 2 apple snails in my main tank but i thought these ones were the little sods that people moan about! Oh well i'll just have to keep my eyes open for more now and this time i'll keep them. Thanks for the advice

 

[Underwurlde]

Yes, these will be the little sods that everyone moans about. If left in, the population will explode. They produce a lot of waste (hence polluting the tank) and carry diseases. You are quite right to get them out of the tank. They would've hitched a ride on the plants, guaranteed.

Andy

 

[Charlieboy]

Yes, these will be the little sods that everyone moans about. If left in, the population will explode. They produce a lot of waste (hence polluting the tank) and carry diseases. You are quite right to get them out of the tank. They would've hitched a ride on the plants, guaranteed.

Andy

Oh, i dont feel so cruel now then lol. Is that the same for apple snails too ? Do they pollute and carry disease?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

If left in, the population will explode.

Assuming you overfeed or have severe algae issues(which is often cause by overfeeding). Even if they do have a population spike, it's a boom and bust situation and they'll drop down to an acceptable level after a while.

They produce a lot of waste (hence polluting the tank)

What?
Unless you're specifically feeding them, their food source is the left overs from your fish, and the algae in the tank that grows using the unused nutrients(from what the fish don't assimilate or any fertilizers used) in the water. They merely take the existing material in the tank and recycle it.

and carry diseases.

SO can plants, fish, and even decorations from another tank.

You are quite right to get them out of the tank.

As you can see, I disagree with you.

 

[Underwurlde]

Grrrrrr! DON'T GET ME STARTED ON BL00DY SNAILS!!!!

OUTSIDE, NOW.

....breath in....
....breath out....
....Count to to 10...
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

phew... Sorry. What was that you were saying about snails?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

I like them and think they should be added to tanks from the beginning.

 

[Underwurlde]

That's it. Where do you live boyo? Rolling my sleeves up now...

Anyway, in MY defence, even William, the OWNER of this great forum saw fit to create a PINNED topic on how to get rid of them:
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41473

So there. I win. Period. End of story.

Andy

 

[Charlieboy]

lol thanks for all of that but can anyone now let me know about the apple snails ?

 

[TylerFerretLord]

Apple snails are great. Get big, won't touch plants(assuming we're talking about Pomacea bridgesii), and can be quite colorful and interesting additions to a tank. They have separate sexes and thus won't breed if you only have one or several of the same gender.

That's it. Where do you live boyo? Rolling my sleeves up now...

Anyway, in MY defence, even William, the OWNER of this great forum saw fit to create a PINNED topic on how to get rid of them:
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41473"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=41473[/URL]

So there. I win. Period. End of story.

Andy

I posit that William has no higher standing and thus cannot be considered an authority on fishkeeping.

 

[Charlieboy]

And there was me worrying about 1-2 ramshorn(?) snails that appeared in my fry tank and I wake up this morning to two big clusters in my main tank from my apple snails !!! Now what do I do ???. Dont even know if i have a male and female in the tank