Help! Snails!

[pmdonnelly]

I just noticed that there are snails in my tank. I remember when we went to a store that an employee had mentioned that there was possibly a snail in the bag, but thought that she got it out... she was wrong and it must have accidentally got into the tank. Should I be concerned? I am going to remove them, but should I be doing something else?

 

[jsoong]

What kind of snails? What is in your tank? Planted?

Some snails are good - eg MTS, Nerites.

Some are ornamental - ie Apples

Some are pests - eg pond snails

Some will eat your plants - ie canas.

For the most part, you can keep snails population in check by not overfeeding. I just leave mine alone & I see them occasionally, but I don't ever get a population explosion. I would remove the snails if you have a plant eater in a planted tank. <Canas can devastate a planted tank (or a pond) in no time .... they are considered pests & banned in most places.... but I still got some sold to me as Apple snails (Brigs) ...>

 

[DragonFish71]

And you can get a few ghost shrimp. Ours keep the snail population in check. It's brutal the way they do it, but very effective.

 

[Drayven]

I ran into a snail problem a while back. Ghost shrimp didn't eat them. I got a few assassin snails and that seemed to help but the problem snails had too big of a head start. I ended up adding some yoyo loaches in and they're really putting a dent in the population. You probably don't want to add any fish in there just to combat snails though, if you picked them out just keep an eye on it and yank out any you see.

 

[7Enigma]

Dragonfish71, can you give a bit more detail? I know they will eat snail eggs, but it sounds to me like they are actively hunting them by your wording?

 

[joy13]

Ghost shrimp actually will eat snails.
I consider snails good indicator how well the tank is doing, if you have a population explosion you are over feeding. MTS will be active during the day and trying to crawl out if there is something wrong with your water such as ammonia. Pond snails will try to crawl out if there is ammonia as well but the are active during the day. Most snails help keep the tank clean.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Loaches will wipe out your snail problems and it's not that ghost shrimp are brutal it's just they eat the snails in the same fashion loaches do. I found a snail in my tank and just discarded it because I have plants I don't want the damage.