vulture9

I'm fairly new to the "Aquarium World". I aquired a 29 Gal tank and with it came some community fish and two snails. I don't know what kind of snails they are. The diameter is just over 1 1/2" and they are brown and yellowish striped. My questions are what kind are they, will they reproduce, and most of all, are they the culprits making a mess of my tankbottom? The other fish in the tank are 7 zebra danios, 10 neon tetras, and two "suckerfish". thanks

Butterfly

You can go here and try to identify your snails
http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=14
or here
http://www.applesnail.net/
Now what do you mean by the mess in the bottom of your tank? Knowing that will help us pinpoint the culprit
Carol

vulture9

The mess, I assume is "droppings". But, well, how do I say this delicately, all the fish are pretty small and I ("ahem") have watched them do their business, and they usually leave behing "little strings"! Lately, I noticed some rather long "droppings" that are at least 3-4 inches long and just kind of float on the bottom or get hung up in the plants. Is this usual? I have fished them out with a scraper as best as I could to minimize the mess for the filter. Are my snails leaving these "strings" behind?

Butterfly

Nope I would say it's the 2 sucker fish. They sound like plecostomous of some kind and they are soooo messy. If they are the usual pleco sold in stores they can get really large. If I'm not mistaken I think Gunnie has one in her 100 Gallon tank that is 12 inches long.
They tend to leave "ropes" laying around Vacuuming the gravel is the only soluttion I have found.
Carol

vulture9

Oh, wow! That's it! I have one silvery pleco that is about 2" long and smoothbodied and another one that it much larger. "He" black, approx. 4" long with huge "butterfly-type" fins. My kids call him "Dragon"! I would have never suspected them being the messmakers. And I almost got rid of my snails.
Thanks so much for the info!

Now, I've got a different question. I have a pregnant guppy and I noticed this morning that she has a white ring around her belly. That is, it's right behind the belly and it is approx. 4mm wide. It's not spotty or blistery looking lick ick, but a smooth, solid white ring. She is eating normally and doesn't act sick - yet!

Any ideas?

Thanks again

Butterfly

If your curious what kind of pleco you have you can go to www.planetcatfish.com and search.
As for the guppy don't really know unless she's right ready to deliver maybe.
Carol

gmann21193

i recently set up a 5 gallon tank with ywo live plants and some driftwood and i just added a gold inca/mystery/apple snail.he is the only living thing in the tank besides the plants. He seems to be always pooping and leaves little strings of poop on the glass and subtrate. they are like an inch long. so I would have to say... yes...your snail is doing that. i dont know the easiest way to clean up these strings though. what has worked for you the best?

Butterfly

Vacuuming the substrate is about the only way to remove the "fertilizer"
Carol

tan.b

my plecs leave very long "strings" around too! at least i know they're getting enough to eat judging by the amount that's coming out!! tan