Are all plant hitchhiking snails bad?

[RightTurnClyde]

Help, I just discovered a very tiny snail on a leaf on my Anubias. I recently got some water sprite and some brazilian pennywort, so one of those must have had some eggs on it.

Are all snails that hitch rides on plants bad, or is there a chance that it's a friendly, algae eating snail? I can't get a good picture right now because it's in a bad spot and it's so small, I can't get the camera to focus on it.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

No one?

After looking at pictures online, I'm pretty sure it's a common pond snail. It started to work its way under the rhizome of my Anubias, so I tried to reach in and grab him with my plant tweezers. But couldn't manage it. He either moved very quickly or I managed to smash him. It's like he disappeared. We'll see if he or any others pop up, I guess.

 

[BBradbury]

Snails

Help, I just discovered a very tiny snail on a leaf on my Anubias. I recently got some water sprite and some brazilian pennywort, so one of those must have had some eggs on it.

Are all snails that hitch rides on plants bad, or is there a chance that it's a friendly, algae eating snail? I can't get a good picture right now because it's in a bad spot and it's so small, I can't get the camera to focus on it.

Hello Right...

I had some Ramshorn snails on some plants I bought from the local pet store several years ago and they've been a great addition to my tanks. I keep large numbers of them in my planted tanks. They clean up all the dead plant and fish material and never grow larger than dime size. They hybridize and now I have several colors.

B

 

[Bigzmey]

Typically, you would get ramshorns and common pond snails with plants. I always had them in my planted tanks and believe they are beneficial. They eat fish food leftovers, decaying plant meter and even dead fish (if you did not manage to find it in time). As long as you don't overfeed you will not get your fish tank overrun by snails. Also, my fiddler crab and some of fish like to eat them, so added benefit there as well.

 

[Autumnsky]

Pond snails are kinda pretty when they grow up. They are excellent cleaners. I think since there are different kinds they could adapt to different tank parameters, but about half of the year my city water is around 6.4 and the other half it is 7.2- 7.4 pH, I don't know if that makes any difference, but although I have some pond snails, I don't ever have too many.

I am even an over feeder at times and don't have too many, though there seem to be more of them when I am over feeding. I don't use flaked food almost ever, which I think spreads out all over the place more as it disintegrates. Thinking that snails could eat more of that.

It seems they prefer harder water or don't like soft water. I keep Cuttlebone in the tanks for the inverts and feed Crab Cuisine which is good for shells of my intended inverts but that doesn't seem to matter as in causing over population.

Over feeding will for sure encourage more. I keep Ramshorn snails which I absolutely love. Here is one of my first ones I ever had in my signature.

Trumpet snails (substrate dwellers mostly), many are commonly known as Malaysian Trumpet snails or MTS, I guess I can say I have in great abundance. I have native North American trumpet snails and MTS.

Partially it is personal preference, if they are good or bad. Some varieties will eat plants and if you keep plants. Not pond snails, Mystery snails or Ramshorns, only the decaying parts which is a big benefit.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Pond snails are kinda pretty when they grow up. They are excellent cleaners.

Partially it is personal preference, if they are good or bad. Some varieties will eat plants and if you keep plants. Not pond snails, Mystery snails or Ramshorns, only the decaying parts which is a big benefit.

Good to know! Thanks! Kinda wish I didn't try to smash him now. Haven't seen any others yet. However, I noticed my Silver Molly "kissing" the leaves of my Anubias last night, presumably trying to get some algae. So I got that going for me, which is nice.

 

[Autumnsky]

No worries, there are always more where that came from, so if it was the only one and now it is gone, you can get more at almost any lfs, lol, or from members here.

 

[Krogman]

I recently had some hitchhikers come in on some plants. For now they are just a bunch if white spots on the glass, some of them getting large enough to see darkness in the white/semitransparent spot.
I had three tiger nerite snails in the past and they were poop machines. Are the ramshorn or mts great depositors as well?

 

[trennamw]

I initially tried to kill pond snails that came on the media I used to cycle my tank, then decided to let some stay as loach food. But now some are too big for the loaches to eat, and I don't have the loaches yet.

But wow my substrate is clean!! I have white sand and at first was ready to change it out because it always looked dirty. Now even with a fully stocked tank I haven't seen reason to gravel vac in several weeks.

After researching more I purposely asked the pet store if I could have some of their "pest" MTSes. It looks like between adding dwarf loaches and not over feeding I shouldn't get overrun.

Apparently they don't exactly eat fish poop but they do sift through it and they eat missed food, breaking everything down into even tinier particles the bacteria can handle. Not only is there little to vacuum, there's nothing much in my filter.

(Switching food to new life spectrum has helped too, there's less waste, less poop, and the inverts to crazy trying to pull crumbs from the cracks).

 

[Fisherman Eddy]

The place I normally get my plants from is littered with them.

In the past I have placed the plants in without rinsing them in cold water and leaving them for a while. This has meant that after a few weeks I have an invasion of the critters. No harm in having them but they multiply at an alarming rate. Yes they clean and pesky green algae but I don't believe in "cleaning the tank" with something that produces waste and multipys at such a rate.

Up to you bud if you keep them but be aware they are rapid at repopulation.

Cheers Eddy