I Was Lied To! (snails)

Bought Java moss from someone on eBay. They claimed to be snail free. Dummy me believed them and was like nah I can be lazy and not treat this for snails before putting it into my tank.

Guess who has snails now? LOL

Seems to be two different types of snails from the few I've captured. Can anyone tell me what they are?

I actually don't really mind snails. I've been trying to figure out what kind I wanted to add and weighing the pros and cons of each type. Guess I don't get to pick anymore but I do need to figure out what kind they are so I know what to do.

 

I see a ton of pond snails.
They reproduce like crazy.

At 2 weeks old, they can reproduce and they can lay eggs weekly.

 

Darn the one kind I don't want that sucks. Well gonna keep up with the lettuce trap thing

Do both types look like pond snails? The 3 dark ones have slightly pointed shells while the other light one is completely rounded

 

Yeah, they all look like pests. Puffers and clown loaches love snails!

 

Might have to go the assassin snail route sadly. It's just a 10 gallon tank. But I face the issue of not being able to really get to a store to buy them and getting them online is really expensive xP

I wish puffers could go with the fish I have lol

Why couldn't they be ramshorn or mts xP I mean I don't really like those either but those id be fine with

 

Mts aren't any better, They are all a nuisance.

 

Oh I know but at least those ones are more beneficial than pond snails.

I'm at least aware that so long as I don't over feed I'll be better off.

I think I'm gonna try to convince someone to bring me to the store tomorrow to get an assassin snail and a couple mosquito fish if they have them.

Hopefully deal with this before it becomes a serious problem. Blah xP

 

Pea puffer? unless it will get bullied.

 

I have a betta in this tank. While he's very friendly I wouldn't trust two aggressive species together even though I would be all about having a cute little puffer buddy in there XD

I've managed to capture a total of 8 of them. For some reason they don't seem too interested in lettuce so I'll have to try something else. All currently have available are carrots though xP

 

I've managed to capture a total of 8 of them. For some reason they don't seem too interested in lettuce so I'll have to try something else. All currently have available are carrots though xP

Ramshorns and pond seem to like carrot in my tanks at least, even yam is a hit with them.

 

I had 4 to start with in my 57 litre tank, 3 months later without doing anything about them (didn’t know they reproduced so quickly) I had hundreds, get them out ASAP they make everything look ugly and there will always be eggs everywhere, until a platy I got from a friend ate them all! But I had to get the snails out and use a net to pull them out and try keeping the sand in, it was horrible

 

Ooo okay when I next get up I'll switch the lettuce out for some of my leftover carrots from dinner. Hopefully that has better success.

I'm aware they reproduce quickly and these aren't the type of pests that are at least semI beneficial. I've been checking the tank every couple hours taking out every snail or possible eggs I see. Not killing them though. Since I have them and know nothing about them I'm putting them all in a small container so I can observe and learn about them and then test myself for which fish safe methods of killing them work best. Sounds mean sayings it but if I'm going to be killing them anyways I might as well learn as much as I can from them.

I have noticed my betta and male platy ate a couple of the really tiny ones. Pluto (betta boy) likes to follow me around while I'm hunting for them and try to beat me to them. It's adorable.. sadly he also does this when I'm trying to catch fry lol


Will not be able to go to the store today but I was told we can go tomorrow morning. So I'll either be buying one assassin snail. 5 dwarf loaches or both. Need to do a bit more research first but I'm determined to kill them before they explode in numbers.


Didn't want to add loaches to this tank but I did want them for a different near future tank so if I get them it won't be that bad and they'll eventually upgrade to a 20 gallon long or something a tad bigger than that

I can't say I'm all that upset about them lying to me about being snail free because I DID know better I just chose to be lazy. This will hopefully teach me not to make that mistake again so I'm not stuck fixing a problem I could of easily avoided.


I did a serious deep gravel cleaning and fed my fish much less than I'm used to feeding to try to cut back on waste until these snails are gone.

I even dug through all the gravel a few times to try and pick out any snails that were hiding. I only found one during this and I was picking out every piece of gravel that even slightly resembled a snail.


If anyone could help me with the pros and cons of dwarf loaches vs assassin snails or if both might be the best option let me know.

I was going to grab 3 mosquito fish as well since they'll eat snail eggs but I learned they are fin nippers and am a bit scared to put any with my betta

 

Honestly I love my assassin snails. I have three in my 55 gallon and I have yet to see a live pest snail. I see shells all over the place.

We tried the loaches route. We got two yoyo loaches and they bullied our two pictus cats so much that one died. They ate the barbels to little Stubbs on the second one. We returned them immediately after that. The cats are more important than the loaches.

 

Yeah I'm worried about that but from what I've read dwarf loaches seem to be more peaceful. But Pluto is my most important fish out of all the ones I have. If anything happened to him I would be so devastated. He's my baby and he's always hanging out with me. I play with him often throughout the day cuz he's just so needy for attention.

I'm not at all worried he would hurt anyone I'm worried about him getting hurt (he lets the male platy bully him at feeding time and steal his food if I'm not careful he's a total pushover)

My only potential issue with assassin snails is I did want to have snails in this tank I just hadn't decided on what type yet.

 

I like pond snails actually, they generally top out in a ten gallon tank about 60 snails and they don't get very big. Ramshorns in my experience will eat plants while my pond snails will not unless the plant is dead. Assassins are great as long as you don't have nerites in the tank (they don't seem to bother mysteries).

 

Ooo they don't bother mysteries? Because those were the ones I was leaning towards getting. I wanted to have 2 or 3 of them just cuz I think snails are really cool.


If they really didn't over populate I honestly wouldn't care about them. But with all the horror stories I'm scared of taking that risk. I know they only do it if you over feed but xP

 

Personally, I love my Malaysian trumpet snails! Besides eating dead plants and cleaning up food under my betta girls' breeder box, they also stir up the sand so anaerobic bacteria doesn't clump.
Plus, I've never had an issue with overpopulation.

 

Like others have said, and the research you've done, feed sparingly and that should keep the population in check.

 

Personally, I love my Malaysian trumpet snails! Besides eating dead plants and cleaning up food under my betta girls' breeder box, they also stir up the sand so anaerobic bacteria doesn't clump.
Plus, I've never had an issue with overpopulation.

I honestly don't like the look of them but I do agree that those ones are a good snail to have given they don't explode with babies. As much as I don't like those I would of been happy with them

I just don't see the benefit of pond snails. Maybe I'm not looking in the right spot but these ones seem like a straight up NOPE even though I do think they're pretty cute and will very happily keep a container of them to enjoy watching them

I'm really enjoying watching them float themselves up to the surface lol


Do you think it would be possible to keep a healthy balance of pond snails and 1 assassin snail and 2 or 3 mystery snails?

I mean I guess I don't need them to be completely gone. They just need to not go crazy



Ugh so many options of what to do I really have no idea what to do ;o; I was already stressing out about a batch of bettas I'm going to rescue I did not need to deal with this ontop of that xP

 

I acquired a pond snail a couple of months ago. I keep ghost shrimp in that tank, and they eat the eggs, so so far I haven't seen any more and it helps with my algae problem, and the shrimp help with the waste problem.

 

snails aee only good when cotlntrolled. I took pond snails and put it in my tank my bottom dwellers eat the eggs and keepem in control. I see like 10 to 15 snail and they dig my gravel n stuff which is good

 

I acquired a pond snail a couple of months ago. I keep ghost shrimp in that tank, and they eat the eggs, so so far I haven't seen any more and it helps with my algae problem, and the shrimp help with the waste problem.

Ooo ghost shrimp help with that? I had actually originally wanted a few of this (or at least one) with each of my bettas but I wasn't sure if they'd just end up being food (which I wouldn't mind at so) but then I read somewhere that they nip at bettas fins so I was kinda scared off of them =\

 

You likely could keep a small population of pond snails going with the assassin snail and mysteries, I have tanks of mystery and ramshorn and one or two assassins. I do not like the ramshorns because they just keep populating even if I am not feeding them (aka they are eating my plants).

 

snails aee only good when cotlntrolled. I took pond snails and put it in my tank my bottom dwellers eat the eggs and keepem in control. I see like 10 to 15 snail and they dig my gravel n stuff which is good

What bottom dwellers do you have that eat the eggs?

Trying to list out all my possible options to come up with the best plan

You likely could keep a small population of pond snails going with the assassin snail and mysteries, I have tanks of mystery and ramshorn and one or two assassins. I do not like the ramshorns because they just keep populating even if I am not feeding them (aka they are eating my plants).

Sorry for double posting idk how to quote multiple people in one reply.

That's so odd cuz I've been reading it's the opposite way around and that its the pond snails that eat the plants. I actually like the look of ramshorn snails though I do think they're a pest

 

Ooo ghost shrimp help with that? I had actually originally wanted a few of this (or at least one) with each of my bettas but I wasn't sure if they'd just end up being food (which I wouldn't mind at so) but then I read somewhere that they nip at bettas fins so I was kinda scared off of them =\

So far I haven't had any problem with them and my betta. My betta will eat cherry shrimp, but not ghost shrimp. The shrimp don't mess with him.

 

I don't know how well they work but there are snail traps one can buy. Just do a quick google search and you'll find them

 

Mts aren't any better, They are all a nuisance.

Agree. Had the same thing happen and was pulling hundreds out of my tank. Fortunately I bought 4 candy loaches and they did the trick. The smaller ones become dinner and eventually the big ones died off.

 

1 healthy assassin snail should be able to keep your pest snail population down to very manageable levels. If you get just one you won't have to worry about them over populating your tank. They have to have both male and female to breed unlike some other species of snail. I started with 13 for my 55 gallon tank well over a year ago. I removed all I could fined a month or so ago and only found 44 of them so they were breeding but very slowly.

 

Hmm I think I'll do one assassin snail and pick up some mysteries since I'll already be at the store and can't go often then maybe try ghost shrimp instead of the mosquito fish? Still debating but I do think loaches will be out since it wasn't in the plans for this tank. Idk xP still too many options lol

On a side note I added in a carrot and like usual Pluto is all over it. This guy LOVES carrots the few times I've tried them for the platties he was all over it and even with this huge piece he's just digging into it. I don't think he realizes he's supposed to be a carnivore

And a picture of some of the Platies cuz I think it looks cute

 

What bottom dwellers do you have that eat the eggs?

Trying to list out all my possible options to come up with the best plan

My corydoras eatem for some reason and when thry lay eggs on top platties do. my gourami sometimes eat the babies

 

What kind of cories do you have?

Okay! The seller got back to me and was very apologetic. Turns out they had a MTS infestation that they thought they killed off 6 months ago.

So the majority of these are actually MTS and neither of us have any idea what the second species of snail is.

But yeah. They honestly thought they killed off their snails and are kinda freaking out now that I've let them know they're still there.

So I guess it wasn't so much a lie as much as they were simply under the wrong impression that they won the war

 

Okay! The seller got back to me and was very apologetic. Turns out they had a MTS infestation that they thought they killed off 6 months ago.

So the majority of these are actually MTS and neither of us have any idea what the second species of snail is.

But yeah. They honestly thought they killed off their snails and are kinda freaking out now that I've let them know they're still there.

So I guess it wasn't so much a lie as much as they were simply under the wrong impression that they won the war

None of the pictures you have are of MTS though.

 

Sorry for double posting idk how to quote multiple people in one reply.

That's so odd cuz I've been reading it's the opposite way around and that its the pond snails that eat the plants. I actually like the look of ramshorn snails though I do think they're a pest

Ramshorns eat the leaves on a couple of my plants, most plants they leave alone only eating damaged or dying leafs

 

None of the pictures you have are of MTS though.

Really? Not even if they're just babies?

Hmmm... They must of got infested again after the MTS infestation then xP

Well I have no idea then lol I tried


Nevermind I see how silly of a question that is now. I found a picture that helped me a lot more than just googling the different types of snails.

Is it possible it's a mixture of pond snails and ramshorn snails?

 

Really? Not even if they're just babies?

Hmmm... They must of got infested again after the MTS infestation then xP

Well I have no idea then lol I tried


Nevermind I see how silly of a question that is now. I found a picture that helped me a lot more than just googling the different types of snails.

Is it possible it's a mixture of pond snails and ramshorn snails?

If the more rounded ones looks like spirals or a ramhorn (flatter than a mystery snail, they can look a little alike when they are small though) they are. Otherwise they pretty much look like pond snails from what I can see of your snail picture.

 

Agree. Had the same thing happen and was pulling hundreds out of my tank. Fortunately I bought 4 candy loaches and they did the trick. The smaller ones become dinner and eventually the big ones died off.

I have dwarf chain loaches... I suppose I need candy loaches.
Thank you !!

 

If the more rounded ones looks like spirals or a ramhorn (flatter than a mystery snail, they can look a little alike when they are small though) they are. Otherwise they pretty much look like pond snails from what I can see of your snail picture.

I honestly don't know anything about snails xP does this picture help? It's of the two different round ones I caught. They look similar but the smaller one is a tad flatter

 

Good luck! I ended up with ramshorns which are slightly better, but have been trying to get rid of them because they compete with other fish and shrimp for food. I plucked all I could find out and gave them away, but they just keep coming. I've probably smooshed 100 of them in the past few weeks. Every little tiny speck I can see on glass I smoosh. And they just keep coming.

I'm about to give up and just accept that I have snails now. I might get an assassin snail to help keep it in check a little bit. Snails are overall great for keeping your tank clean so it's not all bad, my main gripe with them is that I have two twig catfish who I want to have plenty of glass algae to eat and I've also found the snails huddled up on shrimp pellets keeping the cories from being able to get at it. But now that the cories have been in there a bit longer they are smarter about feeding time and I don't think the snails would have a chance to get at the pellets. They'll still compete with the twigs for food though.

You could also try some chemical means to get rid of them if you don't have any shrimp. Alas I have shrimp in my tank so that's out...

 

the one on the right looks like a ramshorn. Can't tell on the first picture.

 

I don't think I'm gonna go the chemical route I would feel too bad xP for some reason using them as a food source just vibes better with me.

I'll try to get a better picture of that small one but I have doubts I'll be able to. My phone does not want to focus on them at all xP


Is it bad I'm trying to find the best way to ensure my pests stay healthy? I feel like this is counter productive but if I'm gonna have them I feel like I should at least make sure they remain nice and healthy and have good shells