Oh look, snails. Pros and cons?

[IceH2O]

Overfeeding is the biggest reason for population explosions. If you don't overfeed there is nothing for the snails to eat.

I've actually killed ramshorn snails in a tank because I wasn't feeding enough. I thought I'd have a breeding colony to feed my loaches. I never could get them to reproduce, then I noticed they were dying. After I added my convicts the snail population increased, because I was adding more food.

In my other tanks the population stays stable as the fish only get enough to feed themselves plus a little for the snails.

My biggest population of snails are MTS but the more the merrier I say. Keeps the sand stirred, the dead plant matter down and any algae in control.

 

[WaterPond]

my ramshorns have even addapted to thrive in my brackish tank, i thought the salt would have killed them.

 

[Resurgent]

I have two that have never reproduced, I still can't figure out why any ideas?

 

[Musket]

These snails lay eggs sacs on the walls, you can easily push it off with a fingertip or squash it. No more eggs, no more snails. They sound like you have baby baby snails. They are very tiny when the hatch. They do not lay eggs until they are almost pea sized (at least that is my experience). Easy to remove eggs, good benefits from having them. Send some off to wanting people, keep the rest and do snail birth control with the eggs. Just my opinion. I hate killing anything.. Except fleas and mosquitoes.

 

[DarylF2]

If you have an undergravel filter, snails will get in there and breed, too! I actually kind of like it, as its keeps a small but ready supply of snails available for my loaches.

 

[bman]

What a wealth of information.

Still, I wonder what impact the snails will have on the bioload of the tank. I would still prefer fish over the snails any day, especially since there are about fifteen of these miniscule snails basking on the rock in the middle of my tank.

The other main concern I have still is that my plants are starting to go down hill quite rapidly, and the only thing I can find responsible is the sudden population boom in the snails. I have even thinned out some of the older plants in hopes the younger ones will thrive, but they continue to go south. What is happening is the ends of the wisteria and now even my dwarf sags, are turning transparent and starting to flake off. Whole older leaves are falling off and blowing around the tank like tumble weeds. New growth still looks good and green.

Yesterday, to top this all of, my lights died. Currently I have a standard fluorescent bulb in one, and a backup reptisun 5.0 in the other. I will probably get replacements for the bulbs tomorrow. This is probably NOT the cause of the plant failure, because the bulbs are less than four months old.

I'm stumped.