Snails...snails everywhere!!!

[Andrewz00]

ok.. so i believe they are Malaysian trumpet snails... I THINK... ill have to get some pictures...

i found one MONTHS ago as a hitchhiker.. he was TINY!! didnt think much of it.. then he disappeared, never to be seen again... or so i thought!!

i moved to a new house about a month ago and when i was draining the tank i found him!! OMG HES HUGE!! (well compared to what he was when first spotted) ... he was about an 1/8 of an inch when first seen... when i found him again he was just over an inch... NOW THERE ARE 3 more babies!! WTFrench toast??


ok so the question... are they dangerous to my plants???

[taylorodw]

No, MTS are plant-friendly (one of the few ones).

If you have only 3 babies after months of having MTS, then you have a system that is very near balanced. If you don't change feeding habits, you won't have an explosion.

[Andrewz00]

just an update to include a pic...

[dkpate]

Oh yeah, mts. I have thousands, and I will never have another tank without them. They are SUPER good cleaners. If you want to make their shells nice, you can grind up some cuttle bone and sprinkle it in there.
Also, they don't lay eggs, they just have babies LOL.

[Andrewz00]

PHEW!! ok i feel better now....

how quickly do these things reproduce? they reproduce asexually? because i only had 1 to start....

[BigJim]

Definitely an MTS. I started with literally one and now I have thousands. They are livebearing snails, so no eggs. I'm willing to bet you have a lot more than four. It's not a bad thing. They do a good job of cleaning the tank.

[Andrewz00]

ive literally spent a few hours just staring at the gravel....the original one came to me in the roots of one of my plants... he used to cruise around the glass... then vanished.

i spotted 3 babies last night... wonder if i can mark their shells so i dont have to keep recounting them....

Darby: whats cuttle bone, where do i get it, and what will it make their shells look like?

[BigJim]

MTS burrow through the substrate. I use them to aerate my sand. That's why yours disappears.

If you're careful, you could use a bit of nail polish to mark shells. You'd have to let it dry before putting the snails back. I think it'd be a waste of time and effort though.

Cuttle bone is something for birds to chew on. It provides calcium for bird beaks, or in this case, snail shells. MTS shells should be relatively smooth and shiny and range in color from almost black to a lighter brown with black checks. It depends on the snail.

[FishEggs]

use a flashlight a little while after lights go out and take a look. you'll probably see a lot more than 4.

[Andrewz00]

Originally Posted by FishEggs

use a flashlight a little while after lights go out and take a look. you'll probably see a lot more than 4.

ill def have to do this tonight!!

[Deenalove]

I love trumpet snails, they multiply like nuts though lol. I agree with others after having a 10g infested lol, there are most likely more than 4 lol. They are all hidden in the gravel. I started off with about 3 cuz i thought they were cute lol. I ended up with the walls of my tank almost black from them being on it at once lol. But I liked it

[dkpate]

The cuttle bone works wonders (and super cheap too)! I break it in half, run half under water, put in a bowl, and use the end of a wooden or plastic spoon to break small pieces off and then smush those into a powder. You can also just bury half of it under the gravel if you want, instead of sprinkling.
All of my smaller MTS come out about 5 minutes after feeding. I don't see the big ones too much, as they stay in the sand.
I have assassin snails to help me control the population.

[JohnPaul]

Originally Posted by FishEggs

use a flashlight a little while after lights go out and take a look. you'll probably see a lot more than 4.

Even better than that...

Blanch (i.e. boil for 1 minute or so) a piece of spinach or a slice of zucchini, or really virtually any vegetable. Put that on the bottom of the tank (weight it down if necessary). Then wait until about an hour after light's out, and go and take a look. Virtually every snail in your tank will be on it!

P.S. -- This is also a great way to remove snails from your tank without adding additional fish (like loaches) or using any artificial chemicals.