Help! I've got snails!

[FrankCheez]

Looking at my tank just now, I see that I have about 20 or so little tiny snails, in conical shells. I have NO IDEA how they got there! I have no live plants in my tank and never have. I have not added any new fish, plants, decor, etc. in about a year now. I added water several days ago, but the water came out of my sink, which doesn't have snails in it. The only 'new' thing I have added to my tank is a little 3-day feeder tablet from when I was gone over the weekend, and 'live snails' or 'snail eggs' is NOT one of the ingredients (I checked). It appears these snails have manifested out of nowhere, and I am at a complete loss as to how they got there.

Any ideas? Aliens, maybe?

I don't particularly want snails in my tank, but I'm concerned there are eggs in there and that they will continue to appear. Suggestions? Help? Will they bother my fish? Should I just leave them? What do they eat?

I am soooo confused!!

 

[alter40]

Its hard telling where these snails came from. Sounds like malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) to me. They won't bother your fish at all. If you do decide to put in live plants then these will help stir up the substrate for you and keeps the substrate nutrients mixed up.

If these are MTS they don't actually lay eggs, but they are instead live-bearers. They eat pretty much whatever extra food falls to the bottom. If you over feed your tank too much then they will multiple faster and you will have tons of them in there.

 

[charls]

If they are trumpet snails then i would say that's a good thing. I have about 200-400 in my 20g and they're great. They don't even eat your plants! And as an added bennifit they eat some of the algae off your tank. Anyways....they are hard to find if you want to get rid of them because they are usually underground.....Except for night time. So if you want to get rid of them turn off the tank light at night, then wait for about an hour and collect them all. There will be some still left over but you made a dent. Anyways good luck with the snails wheather you decide to keep them or get rid of them.

 

[nrstype]

It is possible that you've had MTS for a while, and not known about it I'm bettin'... MTS are diggers. If you didn't see them, it's probably because they were roaming through your substrate. As charls stated, they are good for the substrate to keep it churned up, eat the debris etc. You don't need to feed them anything, they'll find something to munch on in the gravel that you don't want there anyways.

However, if you just do not like them, follow charls regime to get rid of them, eventually, you will make the "dent" he describes in their numbers. But you may be picking for a while. They are beneficial to the tank. If someone recommends loaches (scaleless type of fish that eat the fleshy part of the snail).. they may not eat MTS.. so I wouldn't recommend them. (Loaches usually enjoy pond & rams horn type of snails.)

I have them in one planted tank, and they do not harm the plants, or anything else. But I do understand why you may not want them in your system, for aesthetic purposes. I used to pull them out of one tank, and give them away. Lots of people do like them, some do not.

Good luck, and keep watchin' for them aliens that may have landed

 

[FrankCheez]

Thanks for all the info, folks.

I do have a loach. Do you think they will be a problem for him? They really are teeny-tiny little snails, like an 8th of a inch long. I'd hate for him to try to eat them and hurt himself or something.

I'm such a worrisome fish mom.

Here's a pic of the snails (attached)

 

[charls]

OH YA!! Those are deffinitivly trumpet snails. They will grow to 1" at the most. But no your loach should be able to just suck them right up, i know mine did. At least you got those snails and not one's that eat your plants or harm your tank. Hope i helped. May your fish swim in peace.

 

[tom91970]

I'd leave them in there to help control food waste and algae. I bought about a dozen from MissFishie about four months ago and now I have hundreds of them. I collect a few out of the original tank they were in and put them in my others.

 

[<>< Sesheru ><>]

if you want to get rid of snails take a lettuce leaf and weigh it down to keep it at the bottom of the tank and leave it over night in the morning alot of snails should be craling on it and just take it out. if you want to keep them just leave it in there it should last them awile. and to answer your other question snails will not bother your fish but when they get to big they can make your tank dirty and if they die you need to take the dead ones out or they will spred disease and kill your fish