Snails out of no where

[Mlrust1816]

So I went to turn off the light for my 20 gallon tank and I noticed that there was a little snail on the bottom, which suprised me because i have never put any snails into my tank.

I have heard that this can happen, how exactly does it happen?

Since this did happen what does it say about my tank's health?

 

[Meredith]

have you put any plants into your tank recently? Even if there were no snails in or on the plants, there could have been snail eggs. And I can tell you from experience, that soaking plants with snail eggs on them in bleach water for 3 min, will not kill the eggs. Pesky little things.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Snails don't appear out of thin air. It had to have hitchiked off of something. Maybe a plant or piece of driftwood from the lfs.

 

[Hyrules]

I had the same problem and found out they where coming from my plants i bought at my LFS. There are a couple of way to get rid of them. The choice is yours. I prefer to buy clown loaches theses little fellow are crazy about snails and will get rid of them quite easily.

 

[ace]

I'd do that as well 'cause I think clown loaches are really nice looking fish. You can also put a piece of cabbage, cucumber, or zuchini and the snail(s) will go for them. All you have to do is pick up the veggie.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Considering it is a 20 gal tank, the loach would not be a good option. You may want to try the lettuce trick though.

 

[Zagz]

Lettuce or an algae wafer in a small container will attract the snails. Clown loaches will get way too big for that tank.