Snail Appearing Out Of "nowhere"

Long story, but I'll try to keep it short. After my betta, Kabuki, lost his battle with columnaris I decided to upgrade my tank, try some live plants, etc. I bought a five gallon, put in a combo of silk and live plants (two annubias, a marimo moss ball and some jungle val). The annubias have been in the tank for at least six weeks and the jungle val for about a month. So far so good.

After the tank cycled, I bought another betta about 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately, he broke out in ich the day after I brought him home. (It had to have come from the pet store since it was a brand new tank with no other inhabitants.) I started treatment right away, but he died the next day so he must have been much sicker than he appeared. I have been letting the tank sit empty (adding a tiny pinch of ammonia every few days to maintain the cycle), raised the temp and am treating the tank for ich. I was planning to wait another few weeks to be sure the ich has died out before getting another fish.

Lo and behold, I glanced over and saw something moving the in tank today, and spotted a little snail -- about 1/4" long -- happily munching away at some of the brown algae that has developed. He must have come in on one of the live plants, but I think I would have seen him before now unless he just hatched. I don't mind him being there, I just don't want an infestation. Hopefully he's a loner, but if I start to see more, how do I get rid of them so I can get another fish? (I'm guessing I don't have to worry about it breeding since there's only one for now.)

FYI -- the plants I bought were "certified snail free". I wish I knew which one he hitched a ride on. The trials and tribulations of a newbie . . .

 

It might be a pond snail. If you could post a picture we could confirm!

 

If it’s a pond, bladder, ram, or MTS there’s very likely more of them. You can set a few traps if you want to remove them, but a few will not hurt anything. They are typically very nice to have actually since they will clean the plants if not overpopulated. Shouldn’t affect the number of fish you can have either.

 

It might be a pond snail. If you could post a picture we could confirm!

So I pulled him out of the tank to get a decent picture, but I either killed him or he retreated into his shell, since you can't see his head or antennae in this picture. My phone's camera isn't great but this should give you an idea. He's next to the 2-inch mark on the ruler, so he's about 1/4" long.

He's now in a container next to the aquarium. I'll put him back in if he's still alive and you don't think he'll turn into the beginning of an infestation.

 

Balder snail and there’s likely already other eggs and such, so you can do what you think is best. So long as you don’t overfeed there shouldn’t be much of an issue though.

 

Balder snail and there’s likely already other eggs and such, so you can do what you think is best. So long as you don’t overfeed there shouldn’t be much of an issue though.

I don't have a fish in the tank yet, so I'm not feeding -- though I do have quite a bit of brown algae that he was feasting on. Since I'm not planning on getting a fish for another 2 weeks or so, I suppose I can just keep an eye on things and see how much/if they reproduce and deal with it later if it becomes a problem.

 

I don't have a fish in the tank yet, so I'm not feeding -- though I do have quite a bit of brown algae that he was feasting on. Since I'm not planning on getting a fish for another 2 weeks or so, I suppose I can just keep an eye on things and see how much/if they reproduce and deal with it later if it becomes a problem.

Honestly that would be a great idea, that way most of the algae gets taken care of prior to adding the fish then you can remove them once your ready to add the fish.

 

Blader snail. Try not too over feed them otherwise you'll end up with a billion

 

Blader snail. Try not too over feed them otherwise you'll end up with a billion

So they're the aquarium equivalent to tribbles?