Pond snails...good or evil?

[JPA]

One way or another, my tank has become host to some snails (I think they are pond snails, but not 100%). I have been trying to destroy their egg sacks when I see them, but I noticed today a large number of baby snails crawling on the glass of my tank.

I've found some conflicting information from other websites, so I thought I would ask here: are pond snails a problem for a planted aquarium? Will they eat healthy plants or only dead plants? And if they are bad, what is the best way to get rid of them?

Thanks for the help!

 

[mfdrookie516]

they wont eat living plants, but will actually help in getting rid of dead leaves and such... they are a pain to look at though, as i have about 576894592049857245789204502934875 in my 10g tank and that is all i see... but im slowly sucking them out with the python

 

[flippergonzo]

Wow. That's a lot.

 

[bs6749]

Some common pond snails will eat plants and some will not. I'm pretty sure that the majority of them do eat plants. Snails are generally not bad to have in a tank, though they can be host to parasites and planaria which can be unsitely in a tank. The absolute best way to remove them is to remove whatever you can by hand and then introduce several yo-yo loaches. They are the best eaters of small to medium sized snails and egg clutches. If you have larger snails then go with clown loaches, but be aware that they can easily get 10" long. If it were me I'd go with 2-3 of the yo-yo's.

 

[kemosabe]

I bought a yo-yo specifically for that purpose. After he grew a little bit, he did great job on the snails. But then as he got larger, he got a little more aggressive toward all the small fish in the 20-gal tank. So, I've moved him to my new 30-gal tank. No snails there, but he seems to be doing fine. Plus, yo-yos are so much fun to watch with all their burrowing antics

 

[JPA]

My lfs had an assassin snail for sale, and I couldn't resist buying it. So we'll see how it does in controlling the snail population. I'm hoping by getting this assassin early on it will stop the pond snail bloom before it even begins.

 

[Afternoon Snack]

Pond snails are an eye-sore. Mine never ate my plants, but if you leave them uncontrolled they will multiply at a ridiculous pace. I have a friend whose tank floor is literally covered with their shells, you cannot see the substrate at all. Before I took care of mine I had problems with them getting jammed in my biowheel and preventing it from rotating. I would recommend a natural solution like yoyos clowns or the assassin you bought.

 

[Etunes]

Ya, they will take over. If they are apple snails they will eat your plants. If you really hate them a small school of yoyos will take care of them. I did not read the posts on this thread already made so excuse me if i just repeated.