Snails help, no fish yet

[mayoshow]

I planted my first tank on Friday, I have 6 gal Fluval edge, no fish, but today I saw about 7 snails. Since I have no fish, can anyone suggest the most appropriate/effective method of getting rid of them? They are too small for me to tell anything about them as far as shape.

Thanks!



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[Coursair]

Put a rinsed piece of lettuce, or zucchini in after lights out. Go back in an hour and pick it up with all the snails.


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[mayoshow]

Thanks, trying that now.


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[Nils]

What kind are they? There are 3 main kinds of snails we commonly get as hitch hikers: pond snails, ramshorn snails and malaysian trumpet snails. Pond snails are IMO the only ones that can do real damage. Snails really aren't bad, just a personal preference really as to how many you like in the tank. Lots of fish also eat them.

 

[mayoshow]

I've not got a positive ID on these snails yet because they are so small.
Will MTS snail live in an aquarium with no fish being fed and no visible algae? In the absence of fish, can I safely use a chemical to rid them from the tank?
I have anubias nana, Java fern, temple compacta, moneywort, DHG and some mystery stem plant that could all possibly be consumed by pond snails I assume. I don't want to take any chances with these plants because the tank was particularly hard to plant and although I may remove some hardscape, I'm pretty happy with how it looks. Would be a major setback to lose my plants!


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[Laeris]

If they're kind of oval with a spiral butt, they're bladder snails. If they look like unicorn horns, they're MTS-which, IMO/E are great for planted tanks. If they're a curlicue like a cinnamon bun, they're ramshorn and its up to you whether you want to tolerate them or not. From the silhouette of the largish one on the glass, I'm going to go with bladder snail.

I did food in a jar, lettuce, crying for mommy and what I'm ending up with is picking them out, crushing them mercilessly when I see them and assassin snails. I have eight assassins who are almost done cleaning up a 20gal for us. Good luck and don't give up!

 

[Sk3lly]

Im curious as to what damage pond snails do?


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[Laeris]

They put holes in plants. If they breed prolifically, you might wind up with snails everywhere. That only happens in cases of prolonged over feeding

 

[mayoshow]

Since I don't have fish yet, there's no food. I put lettuce in tank last night and got nothing. But I saw a snail or 2 today. Is it possible they just die out?

Thanks everyone.


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[mayoshow]

That one spot on front of my tank pic is a bubble. These snails are very very small. Like the size of my betta's eyeball.


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[Laeris]

Aaah. Good news is the babies are really just miniatures of their parents. All identifying markers are still there. I wouldn't count on them dying out on their own. Most things are more capable than humans for going without food a goodly while, and these have your plants to nibble on.

 

[Sk3lly]

They only eat decomposing leaves actually but nevermind. If you have pinholes you should be looking at a different culprit


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[Laeris]

Fair enough, I'm not very fastidious about trimming plants YMMV