strange little snails?

[dudeofrude]

Just found around 6 tiny snails in my tank but I haven't a clue how they got there? I've tried to take out as many as possible. They were on a few mm big and had black shells. Any ideas anyone?

 

[neilanh]

Without pics it'll be hard to say what they are.

 

[dudeofrude]

I tried taking pics but they were that small that my camera couldn't focus on them properly. These are the best I could do. If I see any more ill try with a better camera.

 

[BigJim]

Still hard to tell, but they're most likely pond snails.

 

[MelissaMB40]

I agree with Jim, look like common pond snails, and probably hitched a ride on some plants. They are prolific breeders, and can quickly over-populate a tank. Adding an empty cleaned out baby food jar with a piece of parboiled zuchinni will help capture them, just leave it in over night, and pick them out in the morning...or... get some assassin snails, and let them go after the pond snails. Seems assassin snails have a taste for escargot.

 

[dudeofrude]

Well I'm not keen on having any snails really so I'll try the baby jar thing, thanks for the tip

 

[James_in_MN]

I happened across one of these snails after I added a couple of live plants to my tank yesterday. Should I assume that where this is one, there is 5 more waiting to multiply like tribbles?

 

[dudeofrude]

Yeah is take a close look, I added the plants over 2 weeks ago and only noticed the snail today coz it was on the glass.

 

[warthog76za]

I had the same problem when I started out...only noticed it when the tank was in its fishless cycle phase. I guess they came along with the FW plants. I was guilty of the snails getting easy meals with me overfeeding the fish when the tank was stocked. But got tips here on the forum and started rationing feeding, then taking what I see out and ofcourse I also have 5 Assassin snails, 2 of them are bad to the bone, mornings you just see empty shells on the floor, where theyve been spending time.

 

[tyspot1000]

Looks like pond snails.

The population of the snails depends on how much you feed your tank. Any leftovers could spring the population up, but feeding your tank less could bring the chances to low. MTS can live just fine in aquarium without over populating.

If the populations just keeps growing, like said, a assassin snail or two and they should do the job

 

[Thelynchfamily]

Clown loaches like to eat snails too. And they look cool!

 

[dkpate]

But they get huge.
Assassin snails or a snail trap (like the baby jar) are the way to go.

 

[James_in_MN]

I keep reading posts from people claiming that ghost shrimp will kill off pond snails also. Since I already have ghost shrimp, that would be great for me, but can anyone confirm or deny?

At least the ghost shrimp would compete for food, which would help keep the population of pond snails down, along with not overfeeding.

 

[dudeofrude]

Yeah id like some clown loach but I only have a 26gallon tank plus I've heard they are a bit aggressive. I haven't seen any more snails since yesterday but I'm still going to set a trap just incase

 

[warthog76za]

Only thing my amano shrimps do to snails are cleaning them lol!

 

[Thelynchfamily]

Our clown loach is 2 years old and is only about 3 inches long so it takes awhile for them to get huge. We had him with tetra and goldfish and never had a problem with aggression but he did have a cave he liked to get in and I feel like that helped him mellow out. They are really cool pets and great extermiators! He took care of my snails in a matter of days!

 

[dudeofrude]

I've tried everything now(aside from over fish) but just can't seen to rid my tank of these snails. The lfs has recommended some pesticides but I'm uncertain I want to put chemicals in my tank, especially with all the fry I've got at the min. What do u guys think?

 

[dkpate]

If they try to give you something with copper in it, you will never be able to have snails.
Why don't you try getting some assassin snails?

 

[TomStav]

I had the same problem once in a planted aquarium, and my clown loach couldn't handle the amount, finally I gave in the the chemicals and used one called 'had a snail'. Not sure if they sell it in the UK but it worked and had no negative affects on any of my fish or plants, though you may want to make sure it doesn't affect any of your particular livestock. It's a last resort but it worked for me. Just be sure to do frequent partial water changes after if you decide to go that route.

Sent from my iPad using Aquarium

 

[dudeofrude]

Cheers ill take a look at that. I don't want any snails, even assassin ones