General Care Discussion :: Snails?

[MenTalTerYn]

Okay, received a very odd question from my mom today, asking if i put snails in the tank, and i didnt. Well she says she saw a little snail crawling along the inside of the tank, how it got their i have no idea, the only idea i can think of is that an egg was attached to the amazon sword when i baught it and it hatched inside the tank. Also, i have some very weird growth going on inside my tank, mainly near the filter, and it looks like...egg sacks :/

So first question:
Are snails harmful?

Second question:
How do they breed (how do they give birth)?

Final question:
How would i go about removing them if needed?

Thanks for your time!

P.S. will try to get pictures of these "sacks" ASAP

[MenTalTerYn]

Got some pictures...




Not to mention, i did find something, not 100% their snails either, i think they might be slugs, but i dont know for sure. Saw several baby ones within the filter, but im having issues opening it, heh.

I'll check back in later to saw what i found.

[mikedpirone]

some snails are asexual and reproduce without needing a mate. if thats the case its gunna be hard to get rid of them

[MenTalTerYn]

Found the little bastards...
Maybe you can identify, excuse the loosy focus, camera sucks..

[marisa]

Does it have a shell? Snails have shells (and antennae)...

[adammaxis]

Those are snails. The best way to get rid of them in my experience is a RES. My turtle shreds these little suckers apart. My friends all have a snail problem in their fish tanks, so I always offer my tank as a solution to get rid of them. They collect them with their hands, or a cucumber slice (put cucumber slice in your tank and remove it the next day as snails will collect on it) and then place them in my tank. My RES Toby eats them right away.

[daredevilgirl013]

Well they are good to keep in your tank, they do a nice job cleaning. Especially when they get bigger. I have three in my tank right now, two small ones, and one very large one. They do a wonderful job eating alge and stuff.

[mikedpirone]

the only thing with some species of snails is that the replicate faster than the turtles can eat them. i had a friend who put 2 small snails in his fish tank to help keep things clean. the next thing he knew he was fishing out an average of 20-30 a day until he finally cleaned out the tank extremely well and still had a few popup every so often. the feeder fish i put in my tank every so often do a pretty good job cleaning up the waste in the tank. they don't get any food because....they are the food so they wind up eating anything in the tank that they can which usually winds up being the turtles waiste.

[missibsu]

Those are trumpet snails, aka cornucopia snails, etc. They go by many different names. Some lay eggs, some give live birth. I recently aquired some from the pet store for free for the purpose of cleaning my tank (as well as turtle treats). They do multiply fast and by the dozens and can be hard to get rid of. The good news is, they don't harm your live plants, they are easy to keep, and they clean up a crap load of everything else floating in the tank. Most people consider them pests, it's up to you to decide that. I do know that I am breeding them in my guppy tank and the guppies eat the eggs and help cut back on the number that are actually born. Pet stores don't sell them, and most hitch rides from location to location on plants...probably how you got yours.

[marisa]

Anachris is great for bringing snails into the tank.

[MattandLaura]

Funny you mention Anachris. I have found that Snail eggs are in the Anachris that we got from the pet store. We had at least 100 snails but I used a shop vac to remove all contents of the tank out rock and sand. Washed the gravel using a screen from my window to seperate gravel from everything else. And now I wash the Anachris in my kithen sink before putting in my tank. Have had no snails ever since. about a year ago.
A couple of snails is ok but too much is too much.

[Spookster]

We just ran into this same situation. Went to clean the tank and filter the other day and discovered there were several hundred baby snails and just as many egg sacks throughout the tank and filter. I did a full tank cleaning and sucked out the last bit with a wet/dry vac. It was a major infestation. I haven't put anacharis in the tanks in months. I wonder what they could have come from. Maybe the leafy vegetables from the grocery store?

[missibsu]

Depending on the amount of cleaning to your filter, they could be breeding there. I find them in my xp3 when I clean, and I don't breed them in that tank. All it takes is one making it through the intake tube, and you can have a real mess on your hands.

[z-chic]

copper (product like coppersafe) kills them in a regular fishtank. I would check to see if that would be harmful for a turtle though. I was the fish manager for a local shop and I hated those little creeps. We would scoop them out and give them away to people that wanted them. They infest the plant tanks.