Assassin snail babies?? HELP!!

Today I looked in my tank and found tons of baby snails crawling on the top of my water. I suspected them mts when I saw them a few weeks back but considered that they could also be assassins since I put one in there to clear up baby ramshorns. But I looked at the assassin and it had a weird pouch. Could it be laying eggs? Will they overrun my tank? I turned off the filter yesterday because it was being loud and intended to turn it back on today. Without the water movement is that why they are all at the top of the water? How can I stop this problem?

I took a closer look and the babies are definitely assasin snails. How do I get rid of them? I put the assassin in there to get rid of snails, not make more

 

I took a closer look and the babies are definitely assasin snails. How do I get rid of them? I put the assassin in there to get rid of snails, not make more

Carefully remove all snails and remember not to put ones that breed so quickly. try not to disturd fish

 

Carefully remove all snails and remember not to put ones that breed so quickly. try not to disturd fish

I will try to remove ones that I see but couldn't the remaining ones breed? Will my adult snail lay more eggs? How can I stop an outbreak.

 

I will try to remove ones that I see but couldn't the remaining ones breed? Will my adult snail lay more eggs? How can I stop an outbreak.

First remove the ones that you can see and then try removing the adult too.
Even though the snail has the advantage of reproducing quickly, and can easily hide, you can still win this battle. All you have to do is use your superior brain power. Snails can be lured out by simply clipping a lettuce leaf to the glass before you go to bed. In the morning there will be a whole family of snails feasting on the lettuce, which you will scoop out of the tank and dispose of. You won't eliminate every snail that way, but you can keep their numbers under control.

Another option is to put snail-eating fish in your tank. Any respectable Clown loach or Yo-Yo Loach would give their right fin for a snail dinner. They will sift through the gravel, sucking any snail they find right out of its shell. Loaches will even dive under the substrate in their snail hunting quest. Labyrinth fish, such as Bettas and Gouramis, will also eat snails. However, they are not as adept at tracking them down in the gravel.

 

By "pouch" do you mean that little bit on the back, on top of the foot? That's the operculum.

You would have seen eggs all over the tank-little square with a yellowish dot inside. It's pretty hard at that size to distinguish between baby assassins and baby mts.

 

Thanks everybody for the replies. I will try to remove all that I see and put in lettuce overnight. Unfortunately it's only a ten gallon so there's not too many options for fish that I could put in there.

 

i'd plus the yo-yo loach recommendation i've had a single one in a 13 gal for about 3 years and he seems fine, i do plan on moving to a bigger tank soon tho. got the yoyo to treat a snail problem and they where gone in a day. Although yoyos prefer to be kept in groups mine seems to be happy and active alone. Not sure about compatibility with your current fish and space due to decor. My 13 gal is pretty empty with a single piece of decor

 

assassin snails are whelks & don't eat veggies

I have 2 assassins left & neither betta in the 38 gallon can kill them. they are able to retract into shell

My assassins are failed hunters who live off cory eggs , so I expect they'll die off. Never showed any interest in any form of fish food.


if not fed, they'll die off.

I have almost nearly killed off my pest snails simply by removing them. I have gone down from 20 a day to 1 maybe every other day. I would assume you can remove the assassins in same manner. but frankly if you restrict food, the population will die off eventually.

honestly, you have them. if you have an extra 10 or 20 gallon, grown them out and sell them locally.

I think I paid 20 something dollars for 5 back in Jan 2020.

 

Thanks for the input. I actually currently don't have any fish in there, no critters except all these tiny snails (I removed all that I could see! Progress), the assassin snail, and one tiger nerite snail. I was thinking guppies and pygmy cories, but I will consider others like a gourami, betta, or yoyo loaches.

assassin snails are whelks & don't eat veggies

I have 2 assassins left & neither betta in the 38 gallon can kill them. they are able to retract into shell

My assassins are failed hunters who live off cory eggs , so I expect they'll die off. Never showed any interest in any form of fish food.


if not fed, they'll die off.

I have almost nearly killed off my pest snails simply by removing them. I have gone down from 20 a day to 1 maybe every other day. I would assume you can remove the assassins in same manner. but frankly if you restrict food, the population will die off eventually.

honestly, you have them. if you have an extra 10 or 20 gallon, grown them out and sell them locally.

I think I paid 20 something dollars for 5 back in Jan 2020.

The food for them now is the little mts/assassins. I've been taking out all that I see, but I don't necessarily want the adult to die off. In case my ramshorns come back, or these new ones don't die off, I want him so I wont have to buy another.
That's a great idea about letting them grow and selling them. I have an extra 5-10 gallon and 20g hex. I might see if I can get one up and running. Thanks everyone!

 

Those don't look like assassin snail babies, they honestly look like trapdoor snail babies. Assassin babies look exactly like the adults but miniature, they have the defined black and yellow striping already - those pictured do not.

Assassin snails lay a single egg at a time, not hundreds. (The thing in your first picture is the trapdoor of the assassin snail, not an egg sack or anything else like that).

I have assassins, while they are constantly breeding in two months time I might have one or two babies show up. If you have just one assassin it is less likely that you are going to suddenly have hundreds of babies in a short period (which points to them being a different species of snail, snail eggs can be on new plants, decor that wasn't cleaned properly that had previously been in a tank, and even a single oops snail in a bag with new fish).

 

If it's a snail that you don't want, carefully remove it. Do not squish it. Squishing and allowing it to fall into the tank might not always kill the internal eggs. You can keep a small bowl of fish poopy/substrate and place the snails in it. Thus, you won't be killing them, immediately anyway.

 

Lili

 

I would suggest finding a reasonable sized fish for your tank that eats snails....

 

I give my excess Assassins to my LFS. They will not buy or trade, but will accept as gifts.

I like my ramshorn snails.