cicatriz

hi all,

just wondering how hardy larger ornamental snails (such as a mystery snail) are when it comes to cycling a tank? has anyone tried this? are there any reasons i shouldn't?

thanks!

Isabella

Apparently snails will survive the cycle, so I guess they should also help the cycle if you have more of them. I've had snails in a cycling 1.5 week old tank, and they're getting bigger by the day. No signs of any cycle effects on them whatsoever!

atmmachine816

Sometimes they don't like ammonia spikes but overall should be ok like Isabella said

Butterfly

They have such a light bioLoad it would take a long time to cycle a tank using just snails (or have I misunderstood your question )
Carol

griffin

i think mystery snails would have a heavy enough bioload if they were fed, but i doubt pond/pest snails would really work too well (bioload too small)

i used to have some mystery (apple) snails, and they were pretty much pooping machines! :P

cicatriz

ok cool,

so i have a tank about 6 days into the cycle and already have nitrates showing up, the ammonia is gone and the nitrites are almost gone... should i throw my snail in the tank or will it throw things out of wack?

griffin

well, i would think that if you've got nitrates, with nitrites/ammonia gone, you're finished cycling

hehe, i just read your signature, it looks like you already put them in just a warning though, they're probably too big for dwarf puffers to eat the whole thing unless they're about less than a week or so old.

gl with your tanks!

griffin

cool! glad to hear he's doing better :P

Eskielvr

I have 1 Mystery Snail and 1 pond snail in my 5 gallon, which I'm still waiting on to finish cycling. My ammonia levels are now up to 4 PPM and they don't even seem to notice! They're thriving just the same. (But I do hope it cycles soon.)