Help! Tiny snail invasion!!!

HI everyone, I wonder if anyone has had any experience with this: A few days ago I noticed tons of tiny specks in my tank. Upon closer inspection it looks like they are teensy-weensy snails. How the heck did they get in their? I have a 45 gallon fresh water tank with no live plants. I have not introduced anything new into the tank in over a year!

 

welcome to the forum

No new fish?

 

No I have not introduced any new fish into the tank in about a year. The tank is peaceful so I have not wanted to disturb it.

 

hmmmm.... maybe it's planaria??

 

That's a creepy thought, but I don't think it's planaria. They are very tiny but I really think I can see a cone shape and tiny tentacles. I think there could be 100 in my tank. They can crawl up the glass. Another concern is that my pH is really high, 7.8. What the heck is going on?

 

Do you think that it could be freshwater limpets? They appeared in my aquarium a while ago but haven't been a problem, so I just let them be.

 

Thank you for the Limpet suggestion. They don't look like the pics I just looked up. These suggestions are giving me things to keep in mind though. I'm going to get a magnifying glass tomorrow so I can get a better look at them I just hope there is no harm with them.

 

Well here is a good link that ID's various "bugs" that can show up in an aquarium. Maybe it will help you.

 

Megan thank you so much for that link. I didn't see my invader but I loved checking it out!

 

You're welcome. I really want to know what has invaded your tank. Hopefully you will figure it out soon!

 

Is this your only tank? Using a net/other hardware from one tank to the next could result in contamination.

Is your pH a change from the normal? If it's stable at 7.8, that's not a concern.

 

Maybe you only just noticed them and they've been there all along?

 

Well I've had freshwater limpets randomly pop up in my tank from time to time, and their populations seem to grow and vanish for no apparent reason. I second Megan's suggestion.

 

Thanks everyone for all the input. Ok, here's what I know so far. They are definitely snails. They are so tiny that I had to fish a couple out and look at them under a microscope and they are definitely tiny snails. I have at least 100 itsy-bitsy visitors in my tank. They have definitely NOT been here all along. I keep a close watch on my tank. But I'm wondering, could eggs have been dormant for almost 2 years? I bought my 45 gallon tank used almost 2 years ago and it came with fine blue sand that was used by the previous owner and I have been using it in my setup. I have not added a thing to the tank in about a year! One thing I'm wondering about is this, my tank looks very clean to the eye, but I have not vacuumed it because my vacuum needs an adapter to hook up to my sink. So It's not getting a good bottom cleaning. Also per an experienced fish person's advice, for the past several months I have stopped doing water changes every month and have only been adding water for evaporation and changing the filter every month. Could I have created an environment that has caused dormant snail eggs to hatch??? Are there any harmful snails, all I've read so far says they are harmless.

 

It's extremely unlikely that they are harmful. I would assume that due to the fact that they are tiny, you probably didn't notice them, then something, whether a decaying plant, dead fish, or overfeeding, provided nutrients for their population to explode.

 

Good morning DawnMarie and to Fish Lore!

Can you post photos of the critter in question?

Too, I would like to recommend that you begin weekly water changes and continue to do so for the life of the tank. Add new water slowly.

Without water changes, your fish are swimming in their own waste. Sometimes fish can adapt to horrible conditions and then when added to a cycled tank, fresh and clean, it can be fatal to the fish.

Nothing beats fresh water for your fish. Simply topping of your tank or adding water to replace what has evaporated, is not enough in my experience. I've been keeping fish for over 40 years. Not that this makes me the know it all of fish keeping by any means.

Too, it would be interesting to know your readings for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and I do not see an issue with 7.8 as your pH.

My apologies for going off topic but I feel that you have been given some information that may not be beneficial for the health of your fish.

Filter media such as sponges, bio cubes, bio balls and so on can be used until it is falling apart. Remember this is were the greatest quantity of beneficial bacteria is housed that is needed to sustain the tanks Nitrogen Cycle. Changing it out removes this good bacteria and could possibly cause your tank to experience a minI cycle with increased ammonia levels that could be fatal to your fish in the long run .

Looking at the type of filtration that you have listed in your Aquarium Profile Information, I'm not certain that what you are using is sufficient. I'm not familiar with this type of filter but I am assuming it has a Gallons Per Hour (GPH) of 50? Or should this be 500? If it's 500 great! If its 50, I would consider additional filtration.

For Hang On Back (HOB) type filters, it is suggested to have 8 to 10 x the volume of the tank for the GPH. For canister filters it is suggested to have 5 to 8 x the volume of the tank for the GPH.

You can simply swoosh the filter media, and I suggest siphoned tank water to do so, and place it back into the filter. If you use filter floss in addition to other filter media I've mentioned above, you can toss the floss and change if for fresh every week. You have the other filter media to depend on for the cycle (sponges, cubes, tubes bio balls) This will remove the largest amounts of waste and help to keep your nitrates lower too.

Not removing the waste from the substrate and since you do not have any living plants in the tank, could cause your pH to drop over time, pH naturally drops anyway, and eventually crash resulting in fish loss. You can maintain a pH level by doing frequent water changes and periodic substrate vacuuming.

Again, my apologies for going off topic a bit, but I felt it was necessary for the health of your fish.

I really hope you enjoy the forum and best wishes for your fish.

Ken

 

Just don't get a clown loach my petco recommened it to me and I have a 30 gallon high tank

 

Based on this additional information about not vaccuuming your substrate, I suspect you've had a few of these guys crawling around in your tank since the start, but not enough that they became visible. Due to the increased amount of waste/snail food in the tank after your change in maintenance habits, as Elodea said, the population would have exploded.

I have had "experienced" fish keepers offer me advice on my tanks too, but I take it with a grain of salt. Before so much information was available on the internet, people generally learned how to maintain their tanks by word of mouth. Just because they had okay results using their method doesn't mean it's the best method available.

 

I so very appreciate this site and everyone's input! I think what you are saying is exactly what happened. I am correcting my maintenance routine and issues immediately! Last night I did a 25% water change. I will go back to my 10% weekly water change unless any of you have another recommendation. Also, I only monitor pH, I think I should be testing for more. My filter is a (HOB) and it filters 250 GPH, that's about half what Ken recommended. Interestingly I had a filter that was about twice the size of the one I'm presently using, but the impeller broke this summer and I replaced with my present one. My poor fish!!!

And just to update, tonight the snail population is quite reduced. There are still dozens that I can see but not triple digits! My fish population consists of Angel fish, neons, corys, a pleco, betta and a CAE. Would any of these be munching on snails?

Sorry, there is no way I could get a pic of these tiny snail critters, I could only get them identified with a microscope. I really enjoy my fish and I watch them a lot, I can not believe I never noticed snails, even a lone one before now.

Everyone's input has been so incredibly helpful!!!! Thanks you all so much!

 

And Ken, thank you so much for going "off topic"! I shared the environmental details because I wondered if it had something to do with the situation. It still seems incredible that something could have been in my tank for almost two years that I never knew about! The good news is that in-spite of my ignorance I have not lost a single fish in well over a year. But I think that would begin to change if I had stayed on the path I was and that would be really sad because I really enjoy my fish, they have great personalities

 

Sounds like good news, dawnmarie! I could be wrong, but I think it's possible that your betta and your angels could be munching on these little snails.