dorcy

I got some plants a little while ago from the pet store near my apartment. it's a local store, run by a family, not a huge corp...and I prefer to buy my stuff from there to support them....but...it seems that I got some stowaway snails with my plants the last time I bought some. should I be worried? i've asked some friends who have tanks and some of have told me to get rid of them, others have told me not to worry. I'd appreciate some help.

angelfish220

Depends on the type of snail, some like pond snails are bad, then others like MTS are good.

joy613

I really don't get excited about having snails. One thing a snail explosion is a sign you are feeding to much. I know bettas love to eat snail eggs and small snails. If I see MTS out during the day I know I really need to check my water usually it is a little off. I have regular pond snails. MTS and I hope a couple of rams if my betta hasn't eaten them I haven't seen them in a couple of days. The snails don't eat live healthy plants usually and only eat the dieing and dead leaves. One very bad thing is they are poop machines so if you have a small tank you will notice. If you decide to get rid of them try to catch them with lettuce or zucchini it is much healthier than snail killer products.

sp33drhno

i don't mind some snails cause they help clean the glass. whenever i can spot more than 10, i'll remove half of them. those guys get to meet mr. hammer.

dorcy

so just put a small piece of lettuce or zucchini right in my tank to catch them? for now, we've been manually catching them when we can see them...so far we've removed about 6 - 8 since we first noticed them. they are small (0.5cm or so is the largest we've caught), have round brown shells. sorry I can't give you the actual name, this is very new to me.

angelfish220

My pond snails become either pufferfish snacks or Turtle munchies.

dorcy

another newbie question...some of you have used the term "MTS"....what type of snail is that? (I know from other posts that it could mean "multiple tank syndrome"...but I don't see how that applies to snails!! LOL)

angelfish220

Malaysian Trumpet Snails, They are most usefull in aqariums with sand, because they keep the sand all stired up.

dorcy

do you know where I could find pictures of different snails so that I can see what kind I have?

COBettaCouple

I recommend a 'quarantine' for plants, same as fish but not as long. It's pretty common to get some snails on plants and I'll dump my plants into a 15 liter rubbermaid container about 2/3 full of treated tap water. This lets me go through the plants and pick out any snails or snail eggs. Occasionally a snail slips by but gets caught in the weekly tank cleaning. The snails you're finding are definitely pond snails.

GothicCandle

I have two snails(and a few of their children, i think maybe five babys, not sure) and they are not a problem. I think they are apple snails or something like that, not sure, but I bought them, they didn't stowaway.

dsenk

I just noticed a couple of days ago a few small snails in my tank. I don't have any live plants in my tank. Where did they come from and why? Are they dangerous for my fish? Can anyone help me with this. Thanks

COBettaCouple

Sometimes they can even hitchhike in fish bags.. have you gotten any new fish lately?

dsenk

I got a few a couple of weeks ago.

COBettaCouple

Yea, there could have been some eggs in the bag or really tiny snails.

dsenk

Are they harmful to my tank?

haddaj04

Snails in moderation aren't harmful to your tank. Depends some people like to have a few snails in the tank to help with clean-up and other people loathe them. The only problem is they multiply quickly and before you know it you could be over run by snails. I personally like having a few snails in my tank, be it MTS or the common mystery snail. I just keep the population down by picking off the eggs and young during my weekly tank maintenance and don't overfeed my fish.

Steve113

I had the stowaway problem when I was first starting out - the snails appeared on mass one day during my fishless cycle - I panicjed and started looking around for the best "cure" - although, as soon as I put fish in, they vanished - now I haven't seen one in months!

I'd say leave it be and just see what happens if there arent too many.

Think of them as free fish food - Live food is good for your fish.

Also, some people say that only loaches eat snails - this is true to some extent but if you see them on the glass or lid, pick them off and squeeze them between your fingers - As well as being very satisfying, you can drop the squished beasties in the tank and anything will eat it!

As I said - mine dissappeared on it's own.

I then missed them and went and bought 2 snails.

I have 1 zebra snail and an Apple Snail.

The apples are quite cool looking with their coiled shell and their little trapdoor flap thing!
(those of you that have apples can probably relate!)