# Help! found something in my tank! is it bad?!



## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

My new tank is currently cycling. I bought used substrate off someone on this forum, he said sand was clean and what not, so my tank has been cycling about 9 days now, and nitrites started forming, and what not, and today i went to go look at the tank and noticed THE SMALLEST ... like... smaller then a pencil eraser maybe a mm or 2 like white shell snail looking things crawling on the glass. i counted about 7 in my 60 gallon. the shells are an off white/tan, and the 2 whisker antenna things look white as well.


Are these harmful to the tank? I plan to put african cichlids in the tank. Im kind of worried I might have to start over!

Will these grow into uncontrollable population!?


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

Sounds like they are just snails? Won't harm your tank.


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## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

Fish_Man said:


> Sounds like they are just snails? Won't harm your tank.


will these get to uncontrollable numbers? how do i stop them from making my tank into a snail breeding ground


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

grafx said:


> will these get to uncontrollable numbers? how do i stop them from making my tank into a snail breeding ground


Uncontrollable numbers depends on how much you feed them or how much food is left for them to eat is what I've heard.

One way to not have to start over again is to put a piece of cucumber in the tank, wait a few hours and see if any of the snails are on it. If so take it out and put it a new one.

Another way is to get a fish that eats snails.


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## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

I guess i'll try the cucumber thing .. . really didn't want snails =/ and the buyer from this site failed to mention his sand had snails in it..


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## Fish_Man (Apr 9, 2010)

grafx said:


> I guess i'll try the cucumber thing .. . really didn't want snails =/ and the buyer from this site failed to mention his sand had snails in it..


Ya give that cucumber plan a try. It's buyer beware I guess but you should still wash the sand and such just incase.

Good luck with it and let us know if you manage to control it.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

the flattish ones? Honestly I wouldn't be too worried about them.


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Ive heard of using cucumber as well..with the lights out and when the lighs go on the next day check the cucumber...i havent tried it though. You can manually pick them off the glass too, but its a pain in the neck lol...ive gotten snails from time to time from plants ive bought but i did also know they had snails in their tanks, so usually i put all new plants in a bucket with water and really inspect them and i leave them for a day or two and pull out any snails i see... But still the odd snail has somehow made it in the tank. So if i ever see one in the tank i grab it out b4 it gets away, and always check around the tank glass everyday just to be sure. I use a magnifying glass, amazing what you can see in a tank with one! Youll be able to tell its a snail when you pull it out cause it has a hard shell.
If you do decide to redo your substrate, at least you dont have fish etc in there yet so it will be easier than when your tank is all finished 
Good luck !!


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Pest snails are pretty much unavoidable. Their egg sacs are so risilient that they can be dried up and survive for years, to hatch again when reintroduced to water. You shouldn't be dissapointed with a seller if you find snails in your tank, because even if you get rid of them all, it's not going to be the last time you see them.

Fortunately they are not very harmful and even have benefits, as they eat left over foods, algae, and things that have died. The biggest problem is that when these food sources are too numerous their population can explode, and it becomes unsightly to see a snail every few inches on you glass.

There are plenty of snail eating fish, such as loaches/botias. Supposedly red claw prawns prey upon snails also. And my personal favorite is the assassin snail. Yes... A snail eating snail. Why would you want a snail to replace the problem snails? Well assassin snails are extremely slow growers, slow breeders, they have yellow and black spiral stripes which are pretty, they are interesting to watch hunt and eat other snails, and their Latin name is pretty cool. Okay that last point isn't very valid, but these snails are cool. 

The cucumber trick can work but you have to remain diligent for weeks to let all the eggs hatch and wait for them to grow and fall into your trap. Secondly everytime you put a used price of equipment, a live plant from a friend or store, you have potential to reintroduce snails again. Which is why I like to keep something in the tank that controls them.

Don't stress about it. It's not the last time you'll see them if you stick to the hobby for any amount of time.

I find mylasian trumpet snails to be a bigger hassle than the common pond pest snails you likely have. But neither are doomsday for your tank.


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Why even worry about it? Once you get the cichlids in there, they'll have a feast and until then, the snail are helping you cycle


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## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

Thanks for all the quick answers. This is actually my first tank (im very new to the scene) .. so just dont want to screw up the cycle or the cichlids health. 

ill ask big als which they suggest with my cichlids to help counter the snails.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Even if you redo your substrate, if even one snail has laid one of their nearly invisible, undistructible eggs sacs in your tank or filter, you'll have them again. If you are otherwise happy with your substrate, don't bother.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

grafx said:


> ill ask big als which they suggest with my cichlids to help counter the snails.


Hehe don't do that, they'll just tell you that this very expensive species over here is the best species to eat snails. Haha


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## grafx (Nov 13, 2010)

well you're welcome to list me "exact names" of fish to look for at big als that get along with african cichlids and will eat them snails


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## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Don't let them sell you any snail killer additives!



grafx said:


> Thanks for all the quick answers. This is actually my first tank (im very new to the scene) .. so just dont want to screw up the cycle or the cichlids health.
> 
> ill ask big als which they suggest with my cichlids to help counter the snails.


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## Cravenne (Nov 6, 2010)

I agree about the feasting cichlids!! Hungry fish are the best cure for snails. 

Try not to be too concerned about it. They are just snails. Just another of a part of fishkeeping...they are harmless, most fish love them and an increase in your population is a great sign that you're over feeding the tank.


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## AquaNekoMobile (Feb 26, 2010)

OP,

Well you're 9 days in. It's not bad and a turning point if you want to redo the tank. 

IIRC (and have a lot of declorinator on hand as you'll want to 4x the dose) you can do a bleaching of the tank to make sure it's sterile inside the tank. Make sure you remove the filter media with tank water and put it in a bucket with an air stone in it. Ratio for the sterlizing bleach to water ratio is 1:10 or 1:20. Drain out the tank water, give it a rinse, then refill it with new water but dose it with 4-6x the water declorinator. Put the original media back into the filter and it should kill off any snails in the tank. I'm not sure if you need to stir the sand when the bleach is in the tank. I remember reading up on the bleach to clean gravel/sand/tanks.

Perhaps other members could chime in on this if my info is slightly off.


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## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

Learning not to stress out about snails is just one of the ways of learning to just enjoy the hobby.

If you get a lot of them, get a small loach, maybe a zipper loach or yoyo, or dwarf botia sidthimunki. They love to eat that stuff.

Many people go out and get Malaysian Trumpet Snails and introduce them to their tank on purpose. Besides being a food source for loaches, they are great at cleaning your tank up, including some kinds of algae (but not all kinds) and uneaten food, and the MTS are also a great way of keeping your substrate healthy (free of anaerobic zones).

When you overfeed a tank with a resident snail population, you'll see a population explosion instead of an ammonia and nitrite spike. Guess what, that population explosion of snails might not look pretty, but your fish will survive it fine. Ammonia spikes? Not so much.

So, snails are your friends. Enjoy them.

Get some plants. Those are your friends too!

W


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

my snails (pest, pond snails) ran out of food supply and died off.
I'm glad.


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