Tiny snails in brackish tank

[mjdodson04]

Somebody please help! I have had a 55 gal brackish tank for 6 years now. I have a 2 ft. Dragon goby, Columbian shark, a figure 8 puffer, and several guppies. For the past month or 2 I have had an outbreak of thousands of tiny green cone shaped snails. They are EXTREMELY tiny and are covering my white sand in my tank...very few of them are on the sides or top of the glass. They mainly stay in the sand. I cannot find any help as to what they are. They are not near the size of a regular pest snail. I do have 4 nerites in the tank but have had them for years....can anybody please help me?!

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[mjdodson04]

This is a pic of a couple of em...it's hard 2 get a photo bcuz they are so small!

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[Autumnsky]

Did you add in any plants or rocks or things from a pond or lfs around that time or before that? I can't see in the pic, but it sounds like Malaysian Trumpet Snails aka MTS or the equivalent. I have some American ones from a river, and they are basically the same thing.

 

[shellyx]

Agree with Autumn, they look like Malaysian trumpet snail's.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
16 gallon vampire shrimp, green lace shrimp and snails.

 

[mjdodson04]

No I haven't added anything in atleast 8 months...I have no live plants and haven't added any new decorations... I do have bumblebee gobies and they eat frozen blood worms and brine shrimp..I don't know if that could be where they came from...over a year ago I added 2 assassin snails for a pond snail problem but I'm pretty sure the assassin snails died...I'm to the point of thinking of removing all the sand and replacing it with new...i don't know what else to do.

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[shellyx]

Have you tried putting in a piece of lettuce and leaving it in overnight? Remove it in the morning and hopefully you'll get some off them.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
16 gallon vampire shrimp, green lace shrimp and snails.

 

[mjdodson04]

They all gather together on the sand in a big clump like this...but they don't seem to be getting any bigger (the pic is upside down, not that it matters..lol)

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[mjdodson04]

I will try the lettuce but it's hard to keep anything anchored down with a territorial 2 ft dragon goby..lol..

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[shellyx]

I usually just pick mine out when I see them, I have loads in my shrimp tank

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
16 gallon vampire shrimp, green lace shrimp and snails.

 

[mjdodson04]

But 95% of them stay on the sand...very few of them get on the glass...I have a figure 8...do they eat those kinds of snails?

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[Autumnsky]

Usually population will increase with over feeding. I understand the puffers prefer the softer shelled snails and will eat these if they can, being so small they might not feel it is worth the effort.

The MTS don't go on the glass as often as pond snails, they like sifting through the sands/gravel.

 

[shellyx]

I don't know much about figure 8s so I can't help you with that.
Try the lettuce and hopefully it will work, have you anything heavy you can sit on it too hold it down? Maybe a rock?

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
16 gallon vampire shrimp, green lace shrimp and snails.

 

[mjdodson04]

Okay thanks guys!

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[lindenthaler.9]

The MTS aren't considered a good diet for puffers, aside from the dwarf puffers.
The Figure 8s might snack on them when they get larger, but for the most part will probably just ignore them because of their shells.
I'd recommend moving the Nerites temporarily to another tank and getting some Assassin snails. I don't know how they'll stand up against the Figure 8s but they would probably make a considerable debt at least.