snail ID

[Trainer_Ruby_]

these guys showed up about a month or so ago and I've just been ignoring them. What kind are they? In a 55g brackish tank the only other snails are nerite snails and no plants have been added. Salinity is 1.013 temp is 78


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Autumnsky]

Check on Malaysian Trumpet Snails.

They are little they will get up to over half inch.
they are a hassle sometimes, on the benefit side they move substrate around, (you are probably over feeding you can do more cleaning on your substrate,) and if there is a poor water quality in your tank they will all rush (not too fast because they are a snail - lol) up the side of the tank towards the top.

They can be like an alarm. When my big Blue Mystery Snail died in my shrimp tank, I didn't notice but the next day they snails were everywhere heading to the top. Because its dead body was fouling up the water. I found the problem and took it out and did big
pwc.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Do you know of any way to help control the population? I feed the tank every other day with just enough that the flakes barely reach the bottom and my dragon goby sifts the sand every night cleaning up scraps.


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Autumnsky]

No kidding here - Assassin Snail.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Would they survive in the brackish water? I always thought snails died to salt


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Autumnsky]

They seem to be fairly adaptable. I don't know the answer how much salt they can stand.

On a side note, Nerite snails are great brackish and can breed in brackish water.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

I added 4 of my assassin snails at about 3pm est and so far they don't seem to want to come out of their shells. I'll keep and eye on them and see if anything changes in the morning


Keep calm and drum on

 

[Autumnsky]

Providing that you actually got live creatures, often they will take some time to get used to the new environment (could be days). Did you acclimate them to your water? After the lights are out they may well disappear into the substrate.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

I added 4 of my assassin snails at about 3pm est and so far they don't seem to want to come out of their shells. I'll keep and eye on them and see if anything changes in the morning


Keep calm and drum on

Why are we sending the assassins after them again? Malaysian Trumpet Snails are nothing but beneficial for tanks. They don't eat plants, they aerate the substrate, and if your parameters are correct you will hardly notice them. They only become active truly at night and spend the day hours burrowed under the substrate. Also, as previously mentioned, they act as a barometer for if something is wrong with the tank (if you see them heading for the roof especially during daylight). If they ever become a population problem, the root cause is inappropriate feeding (overfeeding or maybe a need for target feeding as to not have so much waste).

Sorry, I guess I just think snails tend to get a bad rap around here and people tend to jump to "kill 'em all" when most every snail is actually beneficial. Even Pond Snails have their benefits.


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[sinibotia]

I agree with adam. I like snails in my tanks!

Then again, for some reason they never seem to get out of control in my tanks

 

[johnblaid]

I have these snails in my tank. I often see the water filled with short white "strings" about the diameter of a human hair. The float about and often churn around in a spiral to drive themselves forward. It appears that these are actually "live born" snails. They eventually attach themselves to the tank walls and crawl about.

Are they live baby snails or something else.

 

[Nils]

I have these snails in my tank. I often see the water filled with short white "strings" about the diameter of a human hair. The float about and often churn around in a spiral to drive themselves forward. It appears that these are actually "live born" snails. They eventually attach themselves to the tank walls and crawl about.

Are they live baby snails or something else.

Hate to break it to you but those aren't snails.....

Don't know what they are except that they're caused by over feeding, had them in my tank for a while. Cut down on feeding and they should gradually go away.

 

[johnblaid]

Wow. They are living things unquestionably. Wonder what they are. I hope they are not some kind of parasite.

 

[Trainer_Ruby_]

Wow. They are living things unquestionably. Wonder what they are. I hope they are not some kind of parasite.

Do they look similar to little white worms? If so I've seen those things before and would recommend getting them out as soon as you can. Not sure if there an insect larva or parasite but whenever they get eaten the fish that eats them turns up dead not too long after. Not sure if it's a coincidence or if they cause it but it's happened to me twice and I don't trust them in my tank


Keep calm and drum on

 

[johnblaid]

been seeing them for 6 months. I have one betta in the tank and he's doing fine.

 

[bigsea]

I have these snails in my tank. I often see the water filled with short white "strings" about the diameter of a human hair. The float about and often churn around in a spiral to drive themselves forward. It appears that these are actually "live born" snails. They eventually attach themselves to the tank walls and crawl about.

Are they live baby snails or something else.

Those little white things that youre talking about are called hydra.


- St Charles Almendras Geraldizo

 

[Laeris]

Hail hydra! Bladder snails are def egg layers. They're pretty insidious about it, though. Instead of large colorful patches, they make small nearly invisible ones.

 

[johnblaid]

looked a google pics of hydra. mine do not have 5 heads on one end. they are just strings

 

[bigsea]

looked a google pics of hydra. mine do not have 5 heads on one end. they are just strings

Do they not look like this?


If not then youre probably talking about this



- St Charles Almendras Geraldizo

 

[johnblaid]

no,they look line ONE of those 6 threads on the head.

Guess nobody knows.