Snails

[caudelfin]

I have had my tank up and running for 6 months and have added no fish, plants or anything to my tank, except of course regular water changes using my tap water treated with Prime and yesterday I pulled two snails off the tank wall. Where did they come from? How did they get in there???
caudelfin

 

[Zagz]

Since you didn't add anything that is a bit of a mystery. Have you fed any live foods lately? If I were you I would remove them as they will soon be several not just 2.

 

[nitrous]

hmm did you add anything from any other tanks such as maybe a filter pad or sponge?

 

[noncentric]

I had something slightly similar happen, but assumed the snail (pond snail) came from the plants I purchased from someone...but that person has never had pond snails (just MTS's).

Another possibility that was mentioned was the gravel. Not sure how this could've happened, since the gravel was a brand new bag though...I suppose anything's possible.

Luckily for me, the pond snail never developed into pond snailS, despite the tank (with plants) having been up-and-running for more than 2 weeks.

 

[Jchillin]

That is interesting...snail eggs don't take 6 months to hatch out (if it were to have come from a mystery snail egg or two surviving somewhere in the tank).

My guess is that you had this snail all along but it kept itself well hidden. That's if it were an asexual snail like a ramshorn.

 

[caudelfin]

Nothing has been added from another tank, no gravel has been added in 6 months nothing and the other tank does not have any snails. I started searching for them in the other tank and found nothing. Both snails looked very young, but I am not sure. The largest was almost 1/2 inch long and perhaps a quarter of an inch thick and the smaller was about 1/4 inch long and perhaps an 1/8 of an inch wide at the mouth of the shell. The shells were solid black and I do not know what kind of snails have black shells. No live foods have been fed but I feed some frozen dried foods, do you suppose the eggs could have been frozen and then hatched when they hit the aquarium?? Yes I do feed some of the frozen dried food (red worms) to both tank inhabitants.
Ed

 

[Zagz]

Frozen foods will not have snails. I'd be inclined to agree with Jchillin at this point since you have had no introduction of anything new.

 

[Jchillin]

As a wise man once said: "Once you eliminate all the logical explanations, the illogical...no matter how improbable, must be true".

I've never heard of it happening but it must be possible considering all the information you've supplied.

 

[caudelfin]

The other possibility is that it came in with the tap water. Ugh! Ugly thought, so what else is in the tap water.

I know there is no ammonia or chlorine in the water. Ugly things grow in it in the showers and shower heads. I have had the people in charge out several times, for several years they claimed that I was not measuring all the chlorine, that is the part that kills bacteria and other things in the water. When I next proved that I was measuring the entire content of chlorine and ammonia in the incoming water they then claimed that it was because I am so far down the line from the injection point.

I told them the State does require that each home receive a minimum amount and got no where. We stopped drinking or using the water except for bathing, washing the clothes and dishes. I still use it to add to the fish tanks and I do add Prime just in case they might add some chlorine at some point.
caudelfin

 

[Zagz]

The other possibility is that it came in with the tap water. Ugh! Ugly thought, so what else is in the tap water.

I'm not sure how snails could possibly come in with the tap water. I would think that the filtration systems of most cities would kill any snails or snail eggs.