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Hello, I found a very small snail in my tank today. I have never added any and am trying to figure out how it got in. I have not added anything to my tank in the last couple months that would have brought in any. I added 2 plants to the tank about 2 months ago but they did not have snails in the tanks that the plants were in at the store. Any ideas how it might have gotten in. I didn't see any on the plants when I bought them. Could I have got a baby when I added fish about 3 months ago and it is just growing now. It is small and a dark brown almost black color. It is mabye 1/8 of an inch in lenght. Any ideas how it may have got in and what kind of snail it might be would be great. I just kept it in the tank for now.

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Hi, newbie here Funny you say you found a snail cause I did too.... thing is, sounds like you gave yourself the answer, you will never realy no for sure unless you take atrip back to the LFS. Got there somehow and I would guess that it was from the plants.
I looked up snails on this site and found most come with shipments with plants..I myself have never had a planted tank.. bought some last week and yesterday and found the snail today.. didnt even think twice about looking at the plants before putting them in..always check before putting in tank
Have you loaches(CL) they will clean them up, and Im guessing keeping then under control.and asuming other loaches would be no different.
snails are good with planted tanks..I was worried at first but not now.
FAQ at the top and go to snails..should find the answer there..cant remember the name..and you can add something to rid them..Im not big on meds at all..thats just me..

might just be a reason to buy more fish..loaches are cool..

Sue

I have had this happen to me to. and What is happening is that the snails are laying eggs in the plants and you only find them later as small snails. You don't see them usually because their small but sometimes if you do see them they look like little black dots. I don'[t know what species they are though

-Vincent

there's no way to avoid them but to sterilize every new plant before introducing that to the tank

I don't think I could add a CL as I only have a 20g and it has 6 pepper cories, 4 X-rays and 2 bleeding hearts. WHat else could I use to get rid of the snails as I don't really care to have them?

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If they are not is huge numnber, the best way is to pull it out manually as soon as you see one. Alternatively some medications are available to het rid of pest snails but they do have bad effects on fish. If you have spare tanks, move the fish out before treating and then move them back after some good water changes.Your LFS should be having those meds.

I dont care to have them in my tank either, ive picked 3 out so far and have been searching for them ever since...
only to find fry from my pot belly mollies I just got last week..
good suggestion ,yes set a tank up if you have one and clean everything out, lots of work and really a pain but it might help you out..

Sue

Hello again, I am rethinking the idea of having snails in my tank. I still have no idea of the type that are in my tank but am just thinking about something new. Are snails really helpful to a tank. I only have a problem with brown algae, which I belive is really something else but don't know the name. I have so far found 3 very small snails in the tank and was only able to get one out so far. I fed it to a Blue Acara and they downed it pretty quick. What are your opions on having snails in a tank. I have the following in the tank with snails...

Gold Barbs
Guppy
X-Ray Tetra
Dwarf Gouramis
H Rasboras

Will any of these really eat them? I found a picture of a snail and it looks alot like the ones I have been finding. Below is a link to the page that I found it on.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=1078

Not sure if that is what I have but it looks alot like it. They very small though maybe an eigth of an inch. Another thing is they have more brown color to them. The end of it's shell is black but the middle area is brown. Thanks


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In my opinion I dislike them. They tear up your plants and multiply fast.

-Vincent

Hmm, puzzle has just arisen ...

I have snails with a shell that shape. Tiny they are too. Never seem to find any that are bigger than about 5mm. Mine are light coloured, in fact they're practically translucent. They don't attack my plants (at least they haven't been seen to cause any damage in the 3 years they've been around) and they seem to be a good cleanup crew. Additionally, if I have cyanobacteria in an aquarium, they seem to eat it, or at least suppress its growth. Absolutely NO idea what they are, and I suspect I'd have to send some off to the Natural History Museum in London to obtain a definitive identification.

Funny part is Maidenhead Aquatics has Apple Snails in stock, but theirs are bright orange and the shells are golf ball sized! So I don't think I have Pomacea bridgesi or whatever the Apple Snail happens to be.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I agree, as stated mine are also very small. I also have not seen them around any plants. I saw 2 of them climbing up the backside of my tank. They then stayed at the top for a bit and started to head back down. Another one I found on a peice of decor. I have managed to pull 2 of them out tonight and put them in a small container for the time being. The other I found and fed it away a day or so ago.

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The applesnail is not limited to pomacea bridgessi. In fact generally the name is not even limited to the pomacea genera but refers to all snails in the family ampullariidae. That includes somewhere around 120 different species. Majority sold in the aquarium trade are from the pomacea genera but there is also the marisa or giant ramshorn. However chances are your snails are not applesnails unless you have a rather uncommon species. The closest snail in looks to an applesnail are vivs(Viviparidae) but most sites list their size as being 1-2". If they have operculums(doors on the opening to their shell) they could be from the family Thiaridae which includes the malaysian trumpet snails but most of the common species have much more pointed shells than the applesnail. A few though are a bit more rounded and being so small I suppose could look something like an applesnails shell. They are great survivalists and will eat just about anything they come across so munching on a bit of cyano would not really surprise me. You'll probably never figure out exactly what they are and not for lack of available information on snails but mostly because there are just so many species with sometimes very limited differences in appearance. Usually I'm quite happy if I narrow them down to the genera.


Aside from breeding tanks(snails love fish eggs) all my tanks have snails added. Mostly malaysian trumpet snails but also applesnails and fancy ramshorns. They make excellent clean up crews, substrate stirrers, and some add lots of color. Only some species of snail eat plants and most prefer to eat only dying plants. It can be very hard though to tell plant eaters from the ones that will leave them alone. Among the applesnails there are carnivorous snails that would much prefer a fish or fish food to plant matter and herbivorous snails that will devour the heaviest planted tanks over night. The only differences between some of them being adult size and angle of the shell whorls. Planorbids(ramshorns) are much the same with several safe species and several plant eating species and very little to tell them apart.

Most gouramis have a fairly high chance of at least picking on snails and can be useful for keeping some populations in check. Larger gourami species tend to be less likely to go after them than smaller gouramis.