I might have a snail problem

[BrianJR]

About 5 weeks ago, I bought a clump of plants from the LF. When I got home and unwrapped them, I found out I had also got a hitchhiker. The snail was about 3/4 inch and cone shaped. I though to myself 'neat, now I have a snail for my tank' and I put him in.

Then he disappeared. I thought maybe he had died in the gravel and I would eventually find him during my next gravel vacuum. So I was surprised when last week I saw him again! Whew! It's nice to have a bit of variety in my tank, even if I only see him every few weeks.

Well, the other night I was looking at my tank (in the dark) and I thought I saw some specks on my driftwood. So, I went and got a flashlight for a closer inspection. Low and behold, I had 2 baby snails! "Oh how neat!" I thought to myself. Then I inspected the tank more thoroughly. I counted at least 12 snails! 8O Sizes range from little specks to 1/4 inch.

So, I've read that it is normal for snails to multiply rather quickly. My question is...what should I do? Will they (or rather food supply) control their own population, or do I need to thin them out? I've noticed my tank has less algae recently, so I guess that is what they are eating. But if they keep on reproducing at this rate, I'm going to have hundreds of snails, which might start rotting and polluting my water.

Ahhhhh!!!

 

[Zagz]

They will eat algae and whether you keep them or not is a personal preference. As the food supply diminishes the snails will thin out. You could always keep them and if they start getting out of control, start manually removing some. I personally get rid of snails as they multiply so fast and it is a pain for me. Several people here keep snails quite happily.

 

[BrianJR]

Thanks Zagz! I'm actually very happy to have snails, I think they're kinda neat. My only concern was as you mentioned, as food supply diminishes and they thin out, will they start to rot and ruin my water quality?

 

[lovemybarbs]

Why aren't your fish eating them?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Not all fish eat snails.

Ask your LFS if they will buy the snails (you have trumpet snails, btw) from you. They may atleast give you store credit for them. Also, you can ask if there are people in your area who might want them to feed to other fish. Puffers, goldies, loaches, bettas etc. will all eat snails, but aren't an option for your tank.

Otherwise, manual removal is best, like Zagz said. They will keep multiplying, and multiplying...and multiplying.

 

[Billsgate]

The cone shaped snails sound like Malaysian trumpet snails to me, and they are not eaten because their shell is too hard for most fish. Don't know which fish do eat them though.

 

[BrianJR]

Yep, I Googled the Malaysian trumpet snails and its them. I think I'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks. If their population get out of control (ie bottom of tank gets covered) then I'll started removing them. Otherwise, I'd like to keep them around...they're doing a lovely job of eating my algae.

 

[mr funktastic]

wow is there any way u could send me some? i have been looking for these for my cichlid tank because they stir up the sand. just put a leaf of lettuce in the tank and in the mornig before u turn on the light just pull out the lettuce and u should have a large chunk of them. shipping shouldnt be to bad becase u are in canada. if u find out how much it is i am more than willing to pay it. i cant find them anywhere around me.