# pond snail eggs... what should i do?



## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

i have four pond snails in my 10gal tank and recently found six clusters of eggs on the glass. should i remove them? if so, how? should i also remove the snails?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Those snails will take over that tank in no time. Get rid of the snails ( unless you want them to reproduce ) and the eggs are best treated with hot water and bleach with a hard scrubbing.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

Jackson said:


> Those snails will take over that tank in no time. Get rid of the snails ( unless you want them to reproduce ) and the eggs are best treated with hot water and bleach with a hard scrubbing.


hmm i dont think it would be a good idea to dump hot water and bleach in to my tank with all my shrimp and plants in it. can i just scoop the eggs up with a net?


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Get a hold of 2-3 assassin snails and your problem is solved.

Do not resort to bleach near a shrimp tank. I find no mater how well you clean and use like Prime on treated objects shrimp like CRS are just too super sensitive and die.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

Symplicity said:


> Get a hold of 2-3 assassin snails and your problem is solved.
> 
> Do not resort to bleach near a shrimp tank. I find no mater how well you clean and use like Prime on treated objects shrimp like CRS are just too super sensitive and die.


are assassin snails safe to put in a shrimp tank which contains RCS, CBS and craploads of RCS babies?

who has some assassin snails for sale?


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## Jaysan (Dec 19, 2011)

chinamon said:


> are assassin snails safe to put in a shrimp tank which contains RCS, CBS and craploads of RCS babies?
> 
> who has some assassin snails for sale?


Assassin snails are safe in shrimp tanks.
I have them in mine and they decimated my snail overload lol


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## Symplicity (Oct 14, 2011)

Yea they are 100% shrimp safe if not starved. I have my CRS eat off their shells and the assassins nose touches CRS all the time and never attack.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I wouldn't necessarily go the trouble of getting assassin snails.. they're not a quick fix and once the snails are gone you have to either feed them or get rid of them. 

I have had no problems simply removing pond snails and their eggs by hand, though it can take a bit of time if they've been laying for awhile. Look closely at all the glass and other smooth surfaces.. egg masses are small, clear blobs of gel, often a small crescent shape or semi round. Usually you see tiny dots in the gel and if you watch those, you can see them growing.. but I never wait too long. 

If you can see the egg mass on a hard surface, all you need to do is swipe it off. Press a finger firmly on the surface, then slide it toward the mass from one side and you'll be able to dislodge the whole thing. The gel is quite firm, so the masses tend to stay in one piece; you won't get a bunch of eggs flying all over. You can net the things quite easily once they are floating, and toss.

If they're on plant leaves, I'll take out the plant if I can, because if eggs are on one leaf, they may well be on others. It's not difficult to feel egg masses by just running a plant's leaves gently through your hands. When I find a mass, I remove it as gently as I can to try not to damage the leaf. If I don't want to pull the plant up, I use both hands.. one to hold the leaf or stem steady, fingers on the other hand to gently squeeze the egg mass off with one finger on the back of the leaf, one on the front. Like a double squeegee, sort of. I try to be as gentle as possible, but this works best on firm leaves like java fern, anubias, some others. Softer, more fragile leaves may tear, and if it's a small leaf I will likely just remove the whole leaf and toss that. Even if the mass does break apart somewhat, the eggs don't just fly away.. they stay in the gel, so you should be able to catch them in a net. If they hit bottom, gently swirling the net near the bottom will shift the egg mass into motion and hopefully you can then see it, and grab it.

I run new plants through my fingers while I rinse them off, before I put them into a new tank. If they appear to be heavily infested I may try dipping them to get anything I miss. 

I hand pick or net any live pond snails I see the moment I see them, so they don't have a chance to lay many eggs.. if you lose your grip on one, it will soon be back on the glass and you can try it again. I've managed to almost completely eliminate pond snails in all my tanks this way, and about the only ones I see now are hitching in on new plants.. I leave them in a bucket at least overnight and usually the snails are on the bucket walls.. but I always run them through my hands, one by one, to make sure I didn't miss anything. Bit of a nuisance if you get a big batch of plants, but less trouble than having to remove them from a tank later.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

i think i will go with assassin snails when i get back from my trip in mid-september. i will let these pond snail eggs hatch so the assassins will have something to feed on. it would be cool to watch the assassins on the hunt.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

chinamon said:


> hmm i dont think it would be a good idea to dump hot water and bleach in to my tank with all my shrimp and plants in it. can i just scoop the eggs up with a net?


I've torn down much larger tanks to get rid of these pests. They were eating the eggs my fish in their caves. 
In your case it's not a big deal because there's no harm from them with what's in your tank. Unless they destroy your plants.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Your assassins may have LOTS to feed on. I think I read a post here, not sure where, sorry, which said that one assassin snail can only eat about one pond snail per day.. I assume that's one adult assassin/one adult pond snail, but am not certain, I must confess.

So it could, possibly, take a loonnngggggg time for a few assassins to clear up the problem if you have a couple dozen egg masses hatch. Average egg mass I see has at least a dozen eggs in it, if not more. 

I had a small fern on a rock that I saw eggs on.. I took it out to clean the mass off and found five egg masses on it. That was just one fern, which had only two leaves ! It was in a 5G tank, and I took about twenty egg masses out of it that day. That tank had approximately 3 adult pond snails in it at that time, which I removed that day also. After that I began a systematic program of eliminating pond snails the moment I see them. They will eat your plants too.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

I have the same issue with the snails. I don't see the egg clusters, but the tiny ones crawling on the glass. I take them out the instant i see them, but have yet to find the motherlode. Assassin snails are not an option for me, as I have MTS as well in my tank, which are quite beneficial to my substrate, and I want to retain them. My tank equilibrium would be out of whack if MTS were removed. Its a never ending war with the pond snails. I don't think there's anyone with live plants in their aquarium that has not faced this issue at one time or another.


Al.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

If you aren't seeing them on the glass, they're on your plants most likely, though pond snails sure are not picky about where they put them. Try looking sideways at things, the masses are thick enough they show up as a curved distortion...though if your tank is thickly planted it sure does make it tough. But if you keep removing every snail you see, and checking any new plants for hitchhikers, you will eventually get rid of them.. I had 'em in every tank at one point, now only in one.. and no adults... so I hope I'm near the end of them in that tank too.

Though I wish I'd had a camera to take pics of the one I caught crawling on the UNDER side of the water meniscus. It was quite amazing to watch, even though it was a pond snail, watching the mouth munching on nothing but water as it cruised around. I guess because they are small, the weight is not enough for gravity to break their hold on something as smooth as the film between water and air. Maybe I'll catch it again one day..


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

I just learn to like these snails. They can come in different colour and act as cleaners in the tank.


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## chinamon (Jun 16, 2012)

randy said:


> I just learn to like these snails. They can come in different colour and act as cleaners in the tank.


Not when you have about a dozen clusters of eggs like my tank. I expect to see more when I get home from work tomorrow too.


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## RCode (Dec 12, 2010)

Check out this video of my assassin snail hunting down a pond snail. I was glad I got it on tape. 






I've had one in my tank for a few months, and he was never able to even make a dent. For a year +, he lived in a 5gallon jug. I would throw snails into it, and have freshwater sit for a few days before water changes. He is probably 2 years old now.

Cut down on your feedings, and how much you feed, and remove any of them you see and you will be fine.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

chinamon said:


> Not when you have about a dozen clusters of eggs like my tank. I expect to see more when I get home from work tomorrow too.


A few of my tanks had a population explosion of pond snails in the first two months after they are set up. After that their population stabilized, I see pond snails but their number has been stable. Maybe you feed on the heavy side?


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