Are snail infestations bad?

[NicL]

so there's snails in my tank that hitched a ride with the plants i bought. pretty sure theyre pond snails. i didnt know they were there until about a month later, they hid until they grew pretty big and started laying lots of eggs. but they must be the reason my tank cycled super fast (its my first aquarium, i used bottled bacteria but didnt have established filter media or anything), and hasnt had any algae issues or anything. i like that they clean up the fish's leftovers and keep algae off my plants.

but i know the population is going to continue to grow... i have a big prefilter sponge, so i dont think they should be able to get crammed up in my impeller... right? is there a downside to the tank/fishes health if i just let this intruder snail population do its thing? its a heavily planted 29 gal. the only problem i can really forsee is not growing enough algae to sustain shrimp... but dont they need to be suplemented food anyway? i dont have shrimp yet, i guess im gonna wait to see what the snail population does. right now its just the snails and some green neon tetras, honey gouramis are joining soon. i wanted other bottom feeders but the snails seem to have it covered.

if i dont mind the snails (they look cute, clean my tank, and havent exploded too much in numbers... yet) is there any functional downside i should worry about? like nutrients they use up? if i add other algae eaters like shrimps or cories or otos will they likely out-compete the snails? anyone have experience adding neocaridina shrimp to a snail filled tank? like will they have a harder time establishing themselves?

just super curious if this can balance out so i can have snails and other bottom feeders. but if its snail-city i wouldnt be mad, the fish are doing well with them.

 

[StarGirl]

Snails will only populate to the amount of available food. If you have other competitors they will thin out eventually. Shrimp and snails are both scavengers so it is your choice of what you want to feed. If you like them, feed em. I have not had much luck with Ottos so I would skip them personally.

 

[A201]

Snails are very beneficial to the aquarium environment. If you grow tired of them toss in a few YoYo Loaches. YoYo's are very efficient scavengers too.
YoYo's will greedily eat snails.

 

[NicL]

Snails will only populate to the amount of available food. If you have other competitors they will thin out eventually. Shrimp and snails are both scavengers so it is your choice of what you want to feed. If you like them, feed em. I have not had much luck with Ottos so I would skip them personally.

Thanks! They get pretty consistent food, the tetras are kinda inefficient eaters, when food hits the bottom they forget it exists... Good to know they'll level out their population accordingly. They seem to reproduce so fast, I was getting nervous I'd regret letting them start breeding. And yeah, I've heard otos are tough to keep alive..... Probably not the move for my first community tank.

 

[Fishfur]

Thanks! They get pretty consistent food, the tetras are kinda inefficient eaters, when food hits the bottom they forget it exists... Good to know they'll level out their population accordingly. They seem to reproduce so fast, I was getting nervous I'd regret letting them start breeding. And yeah, I've heard otos are tough to keep alive..... Probably not the move for my first community tank.

I am endlessly curious so do you happen to have some clear pics of these guys?

The term pond snail covers a lot of ground and if they turn out to be one of the Lymnaea species, they may eat plants if food runs short.

Since shorting them on food is one way to keep reproduction from getting out of hand, could be useful to know what species they are.

 

[bucketaquatics]

I definitely second the yoyo loaches. Added 3 too my 55 gallon and they basically decimated my Malaysian trumpet snails in that tank,(I have legions in my 125 gallon) but snails are great scavengers and are extra beneficial to planted tanks. It's really up to you how to handle it. You could do what others said and feed less, add snail eating critters, or just Keep em. Just be sure to remove some to keep populations under control.

 

[MasterPython]

Snails might eat fish eggs so breeders have good reasons to keep thier tanks snail free.

Anyone saying they have thier own "bioload" is missing the fact that they can only produce waste if they eat food and you provide the food.

 

[Redshark1]

I had Malaysian Trumpet Snails and a small Ramshorn Snail species.

I feed my fish a minimal amount, yet still had a population explosion of these snails.

I think they eat fish poop and decaying plant leaves etc. I think there is more food in an aquarium than people can imagine.

There were so many that they stopped me seeing my fish when they clustered on the glass. Visitors to me house pointed them out as evidence that I didn't know how to keep my aquarium. Grrrr!

After trying every method known to the internet (snail-killing chemicals are a very bad idea, don't do it!) I finally controlled their numbers.

I added four Assassin snails and 6 months later I had an almost snail-free aquarium. Yes I have a few Assassin Snails but probably can see only around 6-10 at any one time which is fine with me. I don't see any pest species any more.

 

[kallililly1973]

We don’t seem to have a problem with snail populations

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Yesterday I noticed a male Endler with swimming issues near the bottom. In the time I grabbed a net, a mystery snail had already begun devouring it. Eventually you get down to a few large and healthy individuals with a clan of smaller ones. The infestation is just the initial ones finding their food.

 

[Fishfur]

I had Malaysian Trumpet Snails and a small Ramshorn Snail species.

I feed my fish a minimal amount, yet still had a population explosion of these snails.

I think they eat fish poop and decaying plant leaves etc. I think there is more food in an aquarium than people can imagine.

There were so many that they stopped me seeing my fish when they clustered on the glass. Visitors to me house pointed them out as evidence that I didn't know how to keep my aquarium. Grrrr!

After trying every method known to the internet (snail-killing chemicals are a very bad idea, don't do it!) I finally controlled their numbers.

I added four Assassin snails and 6 months later I had an almost snail-free aquarium. Yes I have a few Assassin Snails but probably can see only around 6-10 at any one time which is fine with me. I don't see any pest species any more.

They really don’t eat fish poop. MTS are able to reproduce parthenogenetically, which is a massive reproductive advantage in terms of the sheer numbers since all snails born by way of parthenogenisis are female.

Assassins are one of the only ways I know to eradicate them if you want them all gone.

I just remove a number of them when I see climbing the glass at night to help keep them from getting entirely out of hand. The climbers are always gravid females about to release a new brood so removing them removes that brood too,

 

[BlackOsprey]

Yeah, snails are only pests in the sense that some people think they're unsightly. You can keep em out of filters with sponges and their bioload mostly correlates to how much you feed them. Healthy planted tanks basically neutralize any pollution they create. My heavily planted 29g hardly ever has nitrate readings above 0, and it's chock full of trumpet snails.

Funny enough, I'm pretty sure all the common species that people categorize as pests don't eat live plants.

If you're worried about food distribution, I'd recommend using BacterAE. It's a powder that scatters all over the tank and increases the nutritious biofilm on every surface. It'll absolutely increase the snail population as a side effect, but your shrimp should be well fed too.

 

[BPSabelhaus]

Eh, if they want to live in the filter there must be food there lol