spotting these little snails every once in a while

well a couple months ago I was going into my room and it was dark and I turned my light on in my room and I found this big snail, I took it out and a month later I found 3 smaller skinny ones so I removed them all and a month later in february I found another one, I took it out again and they are always on top on the wall of the tank, I found one today and I took it out and this time took a close inspection with my magnyfing glass and it didnt look alive, in the action of taking it out they don't try to get away its like they are lifeless but what can I do besides take every single one I see out.
and this is the first time in 1.5 years of my setting the tank up(bought it of craigslist october 2010).
next time I see another one ill take a picture of it and upload it for you
but I typed in "freshwater snail" in google s and I found this which looks like it

 

They're Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Most likely snuck in on something, a plant, etc.

They stay in the substrate and come out at night or during feeding.

 

Its an MTS, first, you will never be able to get rid of them without chemicals. 2nd, they are good snails. VERY GOOD SNAILS. 3rd, if you have a large amount of them it means your over feeding the tank.

 

ya I have been doing that but I have baby cichlids (13 of them) so they tease me, when I get home from school they are all in front of the tank waiting for me, lol, but I should keep them?

 

I would keep the MTS. They are really good for your tank. They clean up uneaten food and dig around in your substrate. This will stop any build up of potentially harmful gas in your substrate.

 

You can send some to me. the snails, not the cichlids lol.

 

You can send some to me. the snails, not the cichlids lol.

lol umm no thanks

 

worth a shot. Been trying to find them around here. Maybe I'll have luck tomorrow.

 

worth a shot. Been trying to find them around here. Maybe I'll have luck tomorrow.

Check the Buy/Sell/Trade section here. Some people have MTS.

 

Check the Buy/Sell/Trade section here. Some people have MTS.

has to have 50 posts before he/she can buy in the B/S/T/F forum. Buying isn't allowed anywhere else
Carol

 

I do have the posts. I did see that Rogue had some but it said limited supply and I was mostly kidding lol. I am hoping to find some around here, though. I'll be headed to some stores a bit out of my usual way.

 

I got some from Rogue, south coutny petsmart is infested with them

 

has to have 50 posts before he/she can buy in the B/S/T/F forum. Buying isn't allowed anywhere else
Carol

She does! I checked!

Really? Then all those stores around me must be illegal since I've bought stuff from them...

 

She? >.>; Maybe it's the way I type. Definitely a guy, though.

 

Well, I had a 50/50 chance.

Guess that means I shouldn't gamble at Las Vegas.

 

Haha, maybe so. xD

 

**

 

ok is there a good chance I have maybe a couple left hiding somewhere? because I took one out two days ago and is there possibly more left?

 

Probably, these snails are usually hiding in the substrate so it can be difficult to tell exactly how many you may have.

 

Drop in an algae wafer and you'll quickly find out how many you have.

 

lol yeah they do love wafers haha. I would love to have some in my tank but haven't gone out hunting for any just yet.

 

last night I found a baby one on the front glass, so there could be a new batch in there

 

Are they bothering you?

 

Are they bothering you?

at first they were but I thought all snails were bad because ive heard stories from mystery snails and how their can be a lot of baby snails and are hard to get rid of so I thougt these were the same, but since they are good I was worried I killed them all so I want to see more

 

No, not all snails are bad. Some species of Mystery snails, the ones that don't get bigger than a golf ball, won't eat plants if they're fed well. Nerites will also leave plants alone, as do Malaysian Trumpet Snails. If they are on your plants, don't worry. They're either grazing your algae or eating what's already dead.

Tylomelania snails, however, will eat plants as do larger species of Mystery/Apple snails, the ones that get to be tennis ball size.