# BBA Monsters!!! Eat Black Beard Algae like crazy!!!



## Scotmando

I have a 10g guppy tank that I set up a year or so ago. I put Ada Amazonia in and some crypts and Taiwan moss. I also added 2 good size granite rocks. The light is a 18" regular fluorescent single bulb, so not a lot of light. After the aquarium settled, Black Beard algae, a.k.a. BBA, crept in and eventually covered the 2 rocks completely and clung to just about everything! I thought with the little light is was getting BBA wouldn't be a problem, but it was bad. 

This is a simple setup with an Aquaclear mini with a foam insert, poly wool & BioMax. No charcoal. Weekly 20% water changes. No Co2, Ph 7.6, 75°F.

I put a dozen RCS (red cherry shrimp) in and a month later, still... BBA!

I added a good size floating watersprite plant to lower the already dimly lit aquarium, and still... BBA! 

A few months I threw in a dozen Ramshorn snails. At this point there is a good 1/4" coverage of BBA on both rocks. Also on the filter lip on the outflow. And all over the edges of the Cryptocoryne parva. Still, lots of BBA. 

It's not my fave tank. It's on the bottom rack with a nicely planted 20 g tall with Co2 on the top of it with very little, if any BBA. 

I just throw in some food for the guppies & go about my routine with my other 20 or so tanks. 

BBA is just so discouraging, don't you think?

So... I take a closer look, after adding the dozen Ramshorns just days before. The rocks! It looks like someone or something is mowin' the BBA like a lawn on both rocks The rocks! They're half cleaned off! The Ramshorns are all lined up in a row like snowploughs on the 401 clearin' the BBA. Wtfrigg! Ramshorns eat BBA? Yaaaaaaaaay!

I wouldn't have believed it until I saw this with my own eyes. 

Present day... BBA licked! Long live the Ramshorn snail!

What are your experiences?

Enjoy, Scott


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## Jaysan

I actually have a few ramshorns that eat bba, slowly though, but they do eat it if no other sources of food is available


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## SignGuy

Scott, not sure if you recall but when I first set up my 46g planted I had a bit of BBA on some driftwood, rocks etc. I also had some green algae on the glass.

I tossed in 4 ramshorns that you introduced me to and in just a few weeks the whole tank was immaculate, including the BBA so I simply assumed it was the snails. 

I also have a SAE in there but he's quite content to eat regular food so I honestly don't think he was doing much for my BBA problem.

Since then, I've added a Fluval 8gal to the mix and tossed in a few ramshorns just to keep the place tidy. So far they seem to be doing an admiral job! 

The trick of course in all this is controlling the snail population so I added a few assassins and everything seems to have balanced out.


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## Fishfur

And people just don't believe me when I tell them simple Ramshorn snails are very useful for clean up crew! 

Nice to learn BBA is something else the little guys will consume. I don't think I've ever seen it.. my only issue, aside from the brown junk that grow in the filter tubes, and my Nerites love that stuff, that I've really had trouble with is hair algae, and only recently. Though it seems to be backing off now I've cut back on the light period. 

It was growing so fast at one point, nothing could keep up with it. I think part of the problem was that it was floating like a blanket on the surface, tying together all the floaters. It made it very,very shady underneath it, but I'd thought it was just too big for the algae eaters to keep up.

Now I kind of wonder if part of the algae's success was because it was in the tank with the Aspixi snails. Sadly, they have apparently eaten nearly all of my ramshorns, most of the pond snails and even a couple of Mystery snails, maybe. Perhaps what I should do is give the Aspixis their own tank.. then the rest of the snails could do their job. 

Like Gilda Radnor said, it's always something !


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## randy

I had a big problem with hair algae as well in my divided 40G tank. I did one 20% WC, and add a few sponge filters and air bubbles to improve the water movement and now they are all gone.


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## bettaforu

Not only do they eat algae, they eat moss, plants and even duckweed 

Best algae eaters so far are nerite snails and oto fish....they cleaned my hair algae out of my tank in week flat...never had another problem with it since then and I run my T5HO 12 hours a day, with co2 on high!


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## GAT

I need some of these snails but are they good looking?


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## Scotmando

GAT said:


> I need some of these snails but are they good looking?


I have red ramshorn for sale. $5 for 12.

PM if interested


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## zfarsh

hi Fishfur, when you say that you Apixis eat the other snails, do you mean their eggs?? I havent noticed my Apixis actually eating other snails, but probably their eggs. And they ate Assasin snails too?


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## Scotmando

zfarsh said:


> hi Fishfur, when you say that you Apixis eat the other snails, do you mean their eggs?? I havent noticed my Apixis actually eating other snails, but probably their eggs. And they ate Assasin snails too?


The correct name is:

Common Name- Spixi Snail or Zebra apple snail

Scientific Name- Asolene Spixi


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## greg

You make a compelling case for the ramshorns. I always sat mesmorized watching the zamboni at hockey games when I was young 

I will get some feedback from everyone next Sunday, as I'm still on the fence about snails currently 

Greg


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## Fishfur

According to Jackson, from whom I bought both Spixi and blue Ramshorn snails.. the Spixi snails not only eat their eggs, they eat their young and other small snails, especially Ramshorns and pond snails. 

They don't seem to bother MTS so much, but I have lost 3 Mystery snails, one small, one medium and one big one, since they went into the tank with the Spixis, and all the blue Ramshorns are gone. There are hardly any pond snails in there, which is fine with me, but I wish I had known they were carnivore/cannibals before I put the other snails in with them. Now I've removed the Mystery snails and the Nerites,, because I'd rather not find out they like Nerites and I think they already like Mystery snails.

They are pretty, and I like them but I am thinking they really ought to have their own tank and be tossed into the other tanks only if there is a hydra outbreak for them to deal with. Then be removed again.


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## GAT

Scotmando said:


> I have red ramshorn for sale. $5 for 12.
> 
> PM if interested


thanks for the offer. I think my BBA is under control for now. I need to get rid of green hair algae and pond snails.

@Fishfur

how is Spixi with plants? Don't they eat them too?


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## zfarsh

Fishfur said:


> According to Jackson, from whom I bought both Spixi and blue Ramshorn snails.. the Spixi snails not only eat their eggs, they eat their young and other small snails, especially Ramshorns and pond snails.
> 
> They don't seem to bother MTS so much, but I have lost 3 Mystery snails, one small, one medium and one big one, since they went into the tank with the Spixis, and all the blue Ramshorns are gone. There are hardly any pond snails in there, which is fine with me, but I wish I had known they were carnivore/cannibals before I put the other snails in with them. Now I've removed the Mystery snails and the Nerites,, because I'd rather not find out they like Nerites and I think they already like Mystery snails.
> 
> They are pretty, and I like them but I am thinking they really ought to have their own tank and be tossed into the other tanks only if there is a hydra outbreak for them to deal with. Then be removed again.


This worries me... not for the fact that spixi eat their own eggs (my population of spixi is growing in my 10g tank where i have 4 adults), not the fact that they might eat Ramshorns (i thought they only eat eggs, not babies...good thing they are not so expensive), not that they might mystery snails (why, that is very aggressive though), but because i have some elephant snails (cant remember the real name) i bought from Igor, and those only lay one baby snail per month.... and all my elephant snails are with Spixi in my main show 10g tank, and those are expensive snails.... I have honestly never noticed any agression, but it might not be easy to spot. Hopefully they are treated as well as MTS.

After reading your story, i started separating the Spixi and the Ramshors a bit, by putting my red ramshorn snails in my 10 g planted hospital tank, and remove as many spixi babies as i could find from that tank. Hopefully any remaining babies wont eat all or any of the baby Ramshorns. Once i have enough Ramshorn, i can transfer some of them to the other tanks, and not worry about my numbers disapearing. Another idea i have to simply keeping red ramshorn in my breeders, in the same tank i have spixi, that way, they cant bother each other.

However, for my Orange Elephant Snails, which are nice show snails, i am not sure what to do, as they seem to be more picky on where they live, so i think they would not like the breeders. Again, i have no idea if Spixi would attack them. I have to either leave them in the same tank, which i believe they are happy in, or put them in the much less good looking 10g planted hospital tank along with the ramshorn, which is not my top choice.


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## Fishfur

Spixis do not eat plants, not that I have ever noticed. As for the elephant snails.. if they were mine I would not keep them with Spixis, especially given their cost. I'd ask Igor about what they like, he has been keeping them for quite some time. So far as I know they like harder, alkaline water, and I don't think the tank size itself should make much difference to them.

Spixis don't always eat the shells, so shell shape may not be the factor that decides if they see another snail as prey. Though MTS do have a harder shell, they're also small. Perhaps MTS snails have too small of a foot for the Spixi to grab and are too quick to withdraw it when bothered ? 

I know the large mystery snail that died had an abnormally tiny door on its foot.. nowhere near large enough to protect itself properly, so its body would have been vulnerable no matter how it tried to escape if it was attacked. I just find it odd to lose what looked like a perfectly healthy snail so soon, along with two others that did not have abnormal doors. I don't know that Spixis ever eat shells.. maybe Jackson would know ?

Because I have seen a number of empty adult ramshorn shells, I suspect they attack the body, the foot that is, rather than the shell. I don't think they work like Assassin snails, which I believe drill through the shells to get at the body inside. I think they go for the foot and work their way up from there. So small elephant snails might not be safe - I guess it would depend how quick they are to react and how efficient their doors are. A pic Jackson sent showed a Spixi going after a ramshorn, and the Spixi was on the ramshorns foot end, having crowded the ramshorn into the bottom corner of the tank.

I do wonder if the small Spixis are as dangerous as the adults ? I truly cannot say for certain that Spixis ate my Mystery snails.. only that three newly added Mystery snails were dead and eaten in a short space of time, less than three weeks from the time they went in to the time I found their empty shells. And there are only a few Ghost shrimp in this tank, so they would not likely have cleaned up that much snail in so short a time, at least I don't think so. I know they will eat a dead snail, but it usually takes them awhile to clean out the entire shell on a big one.

Since Mystery snails will often spend periods of time motionless on the bottom, I don't worry if I don't see one moving for awhile. Sometimes they will sit for days in one spot, so it's not unusual to see them still for awhile. I haven't the least idea when the poor things might have actually died. It could have been quite soon after they were added. And I'm also wondering if my Spixis might need more food than I've been giving them. I've been trying to be very conservative with the food, to avoid overfeeding, but I may have underestimated the Spixi's needs. There are quite a few of them in there, plus I also have a lot of loaches in that tank, and a few corys. They all bottom feed, much as the snails do, so the Spixis may not be getting as much food as they want, which would, I'd expect, increase their predatory tendencies - maybe they've been hunting to supplement their diet ?

I'm going to experiment with feeding an extra algae tab or two at night for a week or so and see if it makes any difference.. though there are not many non coloured snails left in there for them to prey on.. there are some young pond snails and a few of the wild ramshorns that have managed to avoid being caught.


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## matti2uude

Spixis do eat plants.


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## Jackson

Spixi don't eat the shell they just eat what they can reach like Fishfur mentioned. I think they just love the taste of ram horns because I have over 150+ spixi adults with my group of Apple snails and haven't lost a single one.

They don't eat plants unless the plants aren't doing well or you haven't been feeding the snails enough. They won't let them selves starve to death so they'll go for the plants first.

I know they can cross with giant ram horns who destroy plants. So maybe some floating around are hybrids. Could be s possibility. 

I bought mine off of Pamelajo and have never introduced any other spixis to my group. I still have 4 of the original 8 I bought who are still breeding. 
Pamelajo has said many times over they don't eat plants just like apple snails/Pomacea Bridgesii/Diffusa are plant safe. 

I do believe others when they say they do eat plants. Why theirs are eating plants I don't know could be many reasons.

All I know is mine don't and haven't eaten any of my plants. Same goes for my apple snails. 
When I feed them parsley it has to be almost rotten for them to be attracted to it. If I dumb fresh parsley in it takes a few days for them to start eating it once it starts to turn.

IMO and IME keeping any snail well fed is the most important thing if not they go after whatever they can to keep from being hungry.


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## zfarsh

So my elephant snails are ok i think?  I wish i knew which ones were female and males, i put two that i found in another tank....


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