Snail ID?

[KTpoopenstein]

I was swapping out filters this evening (upgrading to a larger version of the same kind) and found this tiny guy on the media bag. Any idea what kind of snail he is? He's not much more than 1/8 of an inch long, but he's a fast little sucker. I dropped him back in my tank and he scooted back to the top in about a minute. I suspect he was a stowaway in either the java moss I just got from eBay or the cabomba I got from a LFS.

 

[Fishdude3233]

Looks like either a pond snail or a ramshorm snail the pond sails will eat your plants. Dont know about the ramshorm?

 

[Oohitsae]

definitely a pond snail, they are FAST and that size is about their max

 

[KTpoopenstein]

definitely a pond snail, they are FAST and that size is about their max

Are they (I'm assuming there's more than just this one guy I've found) going to decimate my plants? I'm not sure I have the heart to kill it...

 

[Goldfish loach boy]

Pond snails, no threat to plants, but will soon take over if the problem is not taken care of, they are just annoying

 

[jwh0818]

definitely a pond snail, they are FAST and that size is about their max

Yup definitely pond snails. They do actually get bigger but not huge. They wont harm anything but yes, they will take over your tank

 

[Oohitsae]

They are mostly scavengers.
As long as you dont overfeed and keep the tank clean they won't overpopulate. At least I've never had a problem with them.
If you want to get rid of them and don't have any other inverts (snails/shrimp) in the tank that you want to keep you can use an algae killer or copper based medication to kill them off. Otherwise you can put a piece of lettuce, cucumber, or other veggie in the tank overnight and in the morning you should have snails on it to remove and toss. Keep doing that till to see no more snails, but try for a couple days if you don't see any right away, sometimes they take a while to get the hint.

 

[plantedtankman]

You could also add some Assassin Snails.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

They are mostly scavengers.
As long as you dont overfeed and keep the tank clean they won't overpopulate. At least I've never had a problem with them.
If you want to get rid of them and don't have any other inverts (snails/shrimp) in the tank that you want to keep you can use an algae killer or copper based medication to kill them off. Otherwise you can put a piece of lettuce, cucumber, or other veggie in the tank overnight and in the morning you should have snails on it to remove and toss. Keep doing that till to see no more snails, but try for a couple days if you don't see any right away, sometimes they take a while to get the hint.

I JUST got in a shipment of nerite snails yesterday, so no meds to kill them. I guess I'll just wait and see how things go. I'm kinda loving watching my new snails scoot around the tank so a few more for now won't bother me. I'll revisit the idea if things get out of hand.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

You could also add some Assassin Snails.

Do assassin snails kill all types of snails? I just got in some nerites that I want to keep!

 

[plantedtankman]

Do assassin snails kill all types of snails? I just got in some nerites that I want to keep!

Yeah they will kill most types of snails so I'd avoid them then.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

I'd there anything (other than assassin snails) that will eat small snails, but not larger ones that would be ok in a 15g tall tank? The one pond snail I saw last night is at the very least 5, and I'm sure there are more than that where I can't see them!

 

[Oohitsae]

I'd there anything (other than assassin snails) that will eat small snails, but not larger ones that would be ok in a 15g tall tank? The one pond snail I saw last night is at the very least 5, and I'm sure there are more than that where I can't see them!

Spixi snails would be your only other option, they only eat snails without trapdoors, and will scavenge for other stuff when they run out of snails unlike assasins but I believe that nerites don't have trapdoors, I'd have to check mine, so they may not be an option.

What you could do is remove the nerites into their own container temporarily while you treat the tank and then put them back in after you do enough water changes to remove most of the chemicals, or till all the snails are gone and you can pull your assassins/spixi's.

The lettuce trick is probably your best option right now since you do want to keep the nerites safe and you wouldn't have to remove them then.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

Spixi snails would be your only other option, they only eat snails without trapdoors, and will scavenge for other stuff when they run out of snails unlike assasins but I believe that nerites don't have trapdoors, I'd have to check mine, so they may not be an option.

What you could do is remove the nerites into their own container temporarily while you treat the tank and then put them back in after you do enough water changes to remove most of the chemicals, or till all the snails are gone and you can pull your assassins/spixi's.

The lettuce trick is probably your best option right now since you do want to keep the nerites safe and you wouldn't have to remove them then.

That's kind of what I'm thinking. It definitely doesn't look like the nerites have trapdoors...I just got them Wednesday and had to slide them off their bag one by one when they arrived and there was no evidence of them closing up.

What about a freshwater puffer? I know they can be aggressive, but it sounds like its more with multiple males in the same tank. They're so stinkin cute too! I just saw some at one of my LFSs yesterday so I could definitely get one.

 

[Oohitsae]

Puffers will eat nerites and so will loaches..so both of those are out

Edit: depending on size of puffer and size of nerites.. They won't eat them if the nerites are too big, but most will eventually grow large enough to eat them anyways.

This is when multiple tank syndrome comes in really handy! Lol in my fishroom if one tank gets snail infested I can move snails I want to keep out and move whatever I want to use to eat them into it.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

Puffers will eat nerites and so will loaches..so both of those are out

Edit: depending on size of puffer and size of nerites.. They won't eat them if the nerites are too big, but most will eventually grow large enough to eat them anyways.

This is when multiple tank syndrome comes in really handy! Lol in my fishroom if one tank gets snail infested I can move snails I want to keep out and move whatever I want to use to eat them into it.

Yeah there's an empty tank in my brother's garage that I've been itching to set back up but I'll have to find new homes for a number of things on my dresser to have a place to put it! Plus I don't have a regular income so funds are decidedly limited, especially for doing what I want to do with it!

As for the puffers, the ones I saw I think were malabar dwarf puffers, which appear to top out at just over an inch; 5 of my nerites are probably big enough to not get eaten but 3 are the horned variety and are much smaller, although the smallest is still twice the size of the pond snails I've been finding.

 

[Oohitsae]

Yeah there's an empty tank in my brother's garage that I've been itching to set back up but I'll have to find new homes for a number of things on my dresser to have a place to put it! Plus I don't have a regular income so funds are decidedly limited, especially for doing what I want to do with it!

As for the puffers, the ones I saw I think were malabar dwarf puffers, which appear to top out at just over an inch; 5 of my nerites are probably big enough to not get eaten but 3 are the horned variety and are much smaller, although the smallest is still twice the size of the pond snails I've been finding.

I'm in the same boat. I'm a student so I work very limited hours. Most of my income comes from breeding and selling fish currently, which isn't very much, so I know it's tough.
I've never heard of malabar dwarfs, but from what I know about puffers, all will go after snails, and if they can't crush them then they'll go for just the meaty parts, so I personally wouldn't risk it even if it does stay that small.
Basically, you're pretty much stuck with using lettuce or handpicking them unless you remove the nerites somewhere else for a while, but even then if you got another fish/snail to eat them you'd have to rehome one or the other after the population is in control unless you set up another permanent tank. At least from everything I've researched about it that's what I understand.

But, as long as you do not overfeed I doubt you'll have a snail takeover in your tank. In my tanks I've only ever seen a couple at a time, and lately haven't seen any, even in the tanks that I don't keep anything that could possibly eat snails.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

I'm in the same boat. I'm a student so I work very limited hours. Most of my income comes from breeding and selling fish currently, which isn't very much, so I know it's tough.
I've never heard of malabar dwarfs, but from what I know about puffers, all will go after snails, and if they can't crush them then they'll go for just the meaty parts, so I personally wouldn't risk it even if it does stay that small.
Basically, you're pretty much stuck with using lettuce or handpicking them unless you remove the nerites somewhere else for a while, but even then if you got another fish/snail to eat them you'd have to rehome one or the other after the population is in control unless you set up another permanent tank. At least from everything I've researched about it that's what I understand.

But, as long as you do not overfeed I doubt you'll have a snail takeover in your tank. In my tanks I've only ever seen a couple at a time, and lately haven't seen any, even in the tanks that I don't keep anything that could possibly eat snails.

Yeah I'm a student too (again) and my only income is babysitting, which sometimes is very fruitful, and others, not so much!

I'm pretty sure the puffers I saw at the LFS were these guys http://www.thatpetplace.com/Carinotetraodon-travancoricus-malabar-dwarf-puffer-213657 looked very much like them and the name sounds familiar (and I've never looked at puffers before).

Yeah I definitely need to cut back on the feeding I think. Most of the time my fish are voracious eaters and go nuts as soon as food hits the water, but every once in a while they just hang out in the plants and no one comes to eat. Weirdos! As for the snails, I've got quite a few already...I found the first one yesterday and I keep finding more every time I look at the tank! Hopefully cutting back on feeding will keep them in check. Otherwise I'll have to take more extreme measures!

 

[Sow3r]

Sorry to jack your thread but I found this snail in my tank about 8 months ago(he was small back then so i let him live) and now I got about 15 little ones plus this big one and probably many more. I just like to know if its a pond snail too, it looks very similar to the OP's pictures but I need more opinions.

 

[Oohitsae]

Yes that is a pond/bladder snail as well