Baffled about MTS

[Zagz]

Ok before I moved in my discus tank there were no MTS whatsoever. The tank was torn down, and moved. No items from the tank were housed in with any other tanks, or items from any other tanks. No new anything plants incl, were added. I have now got tons of baby MTS. The only thing I can think of is they were living in the cannister filter and I never saw them, perhaps in the sponges? They weren't in the sand as we removed the substrate to move the tank. Baffling I tell you. Any other ideas?

 

[Jarred Darque]

If you have not added anything new to the tank (plants mainly) and the contents did not come in contact at all with anything in any other tanks, then I would have to say they were probably stuck i nteh filter, and somehow made it out

 

[fish_4_all]

What few I got to breed were so small it might have been almost impossible to distinguish them from larger grains of sand. Others have said that it will seem like thereare very few but with the right/wrong conditions they come out and number in the hundreds somtimes thousands.

I want them and can't keep them alive so I am jealous!

 

[toddnbecka]

Spontaneous snail generation? 8O Escapees from an aquatic alien nanospaceship? Maybe they just like you.

 

[7Enigma]

Agreed they were probably in your filter. I have seen some pond and MTS that are so small I was sure they were not really snails at all. I've recently been breeding pond and MTS in my 10gallon QT tank, and the way I've been transferring them from the main tank to the QT is to take my HOB filter inserts out and dig through the gunk to find these little ones. The smallest of the groups are grain of sand sized and could easily be missed.

During my PWC's I now let the water sit in the bucket for a couple of minutes and then slowly drain off the water. I normally find 10-15 tiny snails attached to the bucket that normally would have been flushed if I didn't let the water sit so they can attach to the sides. This is a great way to seed another tank, and its also an easy way to unintentionally seed another tank with small snails.

 

[lmw80]

They were either in the filter or the babies were so small you couldn't see them. Plus, they are hardy little guys, and survive a lot of harsh conditions.

 

[SCFatz]

This can be strange...more than a little strange.

When I kicked off my daughters ten I added an cartridge from my 29 to seed.

A few fish later she announces she has snails..which I had never had in the 29....I mean not one not ever...and the only thing that had been added to the 29 in monthes was food and water.But there they were..a few baby mts.

I assumed someone in the 29 was eating the babies after I saw that,because only the filter pad was added to the ten ...and fish...so it must have been the media.

But the thing is,the population in the 29 is as it was...and the snails are everywhere in there now lol.

You guys figure it out lol.

None in the 29...transfer media to the 10, add nothing new to the 29, get snails in both.

 

[Toirtis]

Even water from another tank could have carried free-swimming babies.

 

[toddnbecka]

Snails don't swim, even tiny ones.

 

[Toirtis]

Snails don't swim, even tiny ones.

Apparently you are unfamiliar with the life-cycle of Malayan livebearing snails,...the newly born snails are free within the water column.

 

[toddnbecka]

That is a new one on me. I've never seen one give birth, but assumed the young were similar to egglaying snails, with some sort of shell to start with.

 

[fish_4_all]

THIS is the only site I found with any information about the life cycle and it supports the live birth of a miniature version of the adult. The babies are born with 2 rings of the shell already developed, according to the site. I will look deeper and see if I can find anything for certain that supports either claim.

Source 2

 

[krap101]

i've heard this about shrimp, but not about snails. but freshwater mollusks are freeswimming, and their somewhat similar so it makes sense. but i also always assumed the mts layed eggs, though i never saw them. (mts related to mls?)

 

[toddnbecka]

Freshwater mussels produce free-swimming young because the larvae are parasitic on fish. Snails don't have a larval stage.

 

[Toirtis]

That is a new one on me. I've never seen one give birth, but assumed the young were similar to egglaying snails, with some sort of shell to start with.

They are, but they are small and light enough that they ride through the water column, usually at the surface.

 

[Zagz]

I'm betting on the filter. Toirtis you are right but I never exchange any water, plants or ornaments to the discus tank. Too paranoid about what might get brought in. I'm betting when I first put the plants in they hid in the cannisters. On my other tanks the cannisters have snail clutches from pond and ramshorn snails that eventually show up in the tank.