Ramshorn snails Q

[sallyjano]

Based on my research, I thought these snails would only get out of control if you over feed and don't clean the thank regularly?

I feed light - only enough to eat in maybe 1 min or so usually once sometimes twice a day. 40% PWC weekly and when I do I vacuum around the plants (though I worry that I am sucking out the root tabs nutrients....?).

I just noticed all these tiny little white things all over the glass and drift wood and I know exactly what they are!! Babies. Looks like hundreds of them.

Why do I have so many when I feed light? What am I missing? Is it that many of them will die because I feed light and won't make it to maturity?

I have read about the ways to remove them so don't need advice there but just curious as to why you guys think I have so many all of a sudden when I thought by feeding light and good maintenance they would be controlled.

Thanks

 

[Mebbid]

It sounds more like freshwater limpets. They feed on bio film rather than unbeaten food so there really isn't much you can do for easy population control.

 

[sallyjano]

It sounds more like freshwater limpets. They feed on bio film rather than unbeaten food so there really isn't much you can do for easy population control.

Oh yes!!! That's it. I just looked them up. Ugk didn't know there was such a thing. They are everywhere.

OK thanks Mebbid. I will read up about them.

 

[BBradbury]

Ramshorn Snails

Hello sal...

Feeding the fish daily isn't really cutting back. Aquarium fish are tiny with very tiny stomachs. It takes next to nothing to sustain the fish. There is always uneaten food in the tank, more if you feed every day. I feed a little of a variety, about 2 to 3 times a week. The fish spend a lot of time foraging for leftovers, so the tank stays much cleaner, so there's not much to sustain a large snail population.

A 40 percent water change weekly is pretty good, half the tank's volume weekly is better. I change about 60 percent every week or so. Large water changes remove dissolved food, so there's not much for the snails.

Reduce the food and increase the water change. Your snail population will decrease in time.

B

 

[sallyjano]

Hello sal...

Feeding the fish daily isn't really cutting back. Aquarium fish are tiny with very tiny stomachs. It takes next to nothing to sustain the fish. There is always uneaten food in the tank, more if you feed every day. I feed a little of a variety, about 2 to 3 times a week. The fish spend a lot of time foraging for leftovers, so the tank stays much cleaner, so there's not much to sustain a large snail population.

A 40 percent water change weekly is pretty good, half the tank's volume weekly is better. I change about 60 percent every week or so. Large water changes remove dissolved food, so there's not much for the snails.

Reduce the food and increase the water change. Your snail population will decrease in time.

B

Gotcha OK thanks BBradbury! That said, Mebbid is right. I just looked up images online and they aren't baby snails - it's worse, they are FW limpets. Trying to read up on how to get rid of them right now but not found anything yet! Any ideas?

 

[BBradbury]

Limpets

Hello sal...

Limpets are a type of freshwater snail. They'll react to reducing their food source the way everything else does. They won't reproduce. Keep the tank water pure with large, frequent water changes and don't feed the fish very often and you'll reduce your snail population.

B

 

[Mebbid]

Hello sal...

Limpets are a type of freshwater snail. They'll react to reducing their food source the way everything else does. They won't reproduce. Keep the tank water pure with large, frequent water changes and don't feed the fish very often and you'll reduce your snail population.

B

Except that fresh water limpets don't feed off of food but instead feed off of Bio film. I have a 2.5g tank with limpets in it that's been fishless and foodless for close to a month now and yet they are still breeding. Decreasing feeding times and starving fish is not the answer to limpets.

 

[sallyjano]

Hello sal...

Limpets are a type of freshwater snail. They'll react to reducing their food source the way everything else does. They won't reproduce. Keep the tank water pure with large, frequent water changes and don't feed the fish very often and you'll reduce your snail population.

B

OK thanks. Though a bit confused - if they don't reproduce why do I have so many? There are hundred of these tiny little shells all over the glass and driftwood and they weren't there just a few days ago (at least not visible to the eye...).