Is it possible to clean a snail without harm?

[MurfQ]

I was thinking about getting a golden apple snail. They're quite beautiful IMO, at least until they get covered with green algae, which is inevitable in my tank. So, I was wondering, is there anyway to clean the algae off of a golden apple snail (or any snail for that matter) without stressing or harming the snail? Anybody ever try it before? Or am I doomed to a green snail?

i would think using just a clean, soft baby toothbrush would be ok. I wouldnt use any cleaners or chemicals.

[joannde]

If you get a second snail they'll clean each other LOL

[MurfQ]

Oh I wouldn't dream of using cleaners or chemicals. I guess an algae pad would be too abrasive, you think?

[talloulou]

Personally I wouldn't recommend trying to "clean" the snails shell. Most likely a gentle cleaning wouldn't be effective and the amount of pressure you would need to apply to be effective might actually damage the shell. It's more important to make sure your water is hard enough and that you are feeding calcium rich foods like kale.

Getting more than one snail in the hopes that they'll clean each other sounds like a better plan that trying to scrub the algae off the shell.

[MurfQ]

I can't recall what the general hardness of my water is, but I think it's slighly hard. My water out of the tap has little to no kH, but I keep it up using ph stabalizer/kh booster.

Can I just feed them kale from the supermarket?

I really doubt two snails cleaning each other will work. The last time I was at the lfs, they had a a tank of golden apple snails and they were all covered in algae

[JDogg]

Originally Posted by MurfQ

I can't recall what the general hardness of my water is, but I think it's slighly hard. My water out of the tap has little to no kH, but I keep it up using ph stabalizer/kh booster.

Can I just feed them kale from the supermarket?

I really doubt two snails cleaning each other will work. The last time I was at the lfs, they had a a tank of golden apple snails and they were all covered in algae

i caught my pleco cleaning my ram snail once

[MurfQ]

Originally Posted by JDogg

i caught my pleco cleaning my ram snail once

That's cute! I'd love to get a pleco for my tank, but unfortunately, the only thing anybody seems to carry around here is the common pleco and the last thing I need to do is add another fish that's going to get way too big for my tank...

[Jchillin]

My ABN (albino bristlenose pleco) is constantly cleaning my large Golden Apple's snail to the point where it sparkles. In the meantime, it is not a good idea to clean your snails shell manually. Their shells were not constructed to have large hands applying pressure to it. I would doubt if your snail would look anything like the snails at your LFS...there are way too many issues in theirs that would not occur in yours.

[dskidmore]

I have smaller snails, and the babies are always climbing on the larger snails and cleaning the shells.

The pet store was probably overstocking/overfeeding the tank and nitrates were sky high. The algae would grow faster than the snails could keep up, besides the fact that they were full of lettuce, or whatever they were overfed.

[jsoong]

May be I am just ignorant about the whole thing, but I have cleaned my golden apple snails - very gently scrubbing with a small algae pad. I have soft green algae so these comes off pretty easily, plus I am careful to stay away from the shell opening.

So far, so good. But maybe this is just plain luck?

[7Enigma]

You could always temporarily remove them from the tank (in heated tank water of course) and do a blackout with just them and some food for a couple days...

[joannde]

I still like the two snail idea My snails have no algae on them - they're always hitching rides on each other (not mating, just cleaning and eating LOL).

Yes, you can feed them kale from the grocery store. Actually they like most veggies. I put mine in the microwave with a few drops of water for 15 - 30 seconds to soften them up a bit - I find the snails like their veggies much better this way. Broccoli is another high calcium food source - use the stems and soften them (as above) for a few minutes either in the microwave or some boiling water.

[GodOSoot]

I would even think a fingernail is a good tool as long as you can stand cleaning the algea out from under them afterwards.

You really have to apply a lot of pressure to break a shell...so you shouldn't even be near that to just scrub off some algea.