# How fast do snails grow?



## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I didn't notice anything other then what appeared to be Malaysian Trumpet Snails in my live plants before but those only showed up on my Java Ferns which I had in a 5gal bucket in styrafoam cups poked with holes and filled with gravel. 

The rest are in my 10gal tank Repens something as with other things. I've started to get white string algae which is good for my otocats to eat but didn't notice all this time snails that did not look like the Trumpet snails. 

THey look like cone snails or something. It didn't don on me till when I checked the tank today (didn't really check the tank the last few days real well other then a min or two looking and leaving) that I saw what looked like a spot of algae but it moved from a few days ago. I looked closer and it was a snail. I looked at the floating plants and saw like 4 snails that came out of like no where. Those sticky water drop things which I thoguht was water evaporated drops outside of the tank I just realized was inside the tank and possible eggs of the snails or fish. 

o.o;; Seeing as they came out of no where I'm thinking they probably hid behind some of the styrafoam cups with the plants in them and around the driftwood (tho I boiled that driftwood like 7hrs) so it had to be really small eggs on the plants then migrated over. I see like 10 eggs right now. 

Could be more but I'll have to investigate later.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

sounds like pond snails. i think most planted tanks end up getting them at one time or another. they are hard to get rid of but taking the eggs out will help keep the numbers down. they stay pretty small. i like mine, i think they are cute. they only get to be a cm or so long for the most common ones. there are some bigger species though.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

bluekrissyspikes said:


> sounds like pond snails. i think most planted tanks end up getting them at one time or another. they are hard to get rid of but taking the eggs out will help keep the numbers down. they stay pretty small. i like mine, i think they are cute. they only get to be a cm or so long for the most common ones. there are some bigger species though.


Yah what looked like a trapped air bubble under the driftwood days ago when I saw it turned out to move away and yup it's a large pond snail. Not sure how missed that ~1cm snail when I took the plants out. I guess it was in haste of the excitement of a new tank I ddin't see it under some plants or something. I sure hope that tiny strand of java moss I put to my 5.5gal tank has no snails. That tiny middle finger long java moss with some spider branches sure already grew a bit to spread out now.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

like the saying.....for every bunch of eggs you see, there are about 10 more that you cant see.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Are there any plant & fish safe or plant safe medications or DIY methods to remove snails?


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

Not an answer to your question, but I actually intentionally added snails to my 75G. Not just any snails though. Before you set out to eradicate them...you might consider allowing them to stay if they are Physidae. For me they have proven to be valuable as clean up crews and kind of Canary in a coal mine indicators of tank health.

I had 3 types in my old tank, the two shown here and these plant munching, filter jamming little mini ramshorn snails...Planorbidae, which obviously I'm not a fan of.

The ones on the right hand side, Lymnaeidae, with a right handed thread were also plant eaters - and very rapid reproducers.

The ones I harvested from the old tank and added were Physidae, the snail on the left, the one that's a bit fatter looking and has a left handed thread. They only seem to reproduce in significant number when there is a lot of decaying organics and decaying plant to eat (ie: vacation sitter overfeeds, crypt meltdowns etc). Otherwise the stay low in numbers for me. I've never seen them munching on healthy plant. I have seen them eat rot off the edge of a damaged Crypt leaf that actually stopped rotting afterward - like little plant nurses. A lot of the time, they hang upside down eating the surface film off the top of the water.

The only DIY methods I can think of off hand are your...hands, err fingers and manual removal. Also baiting with a chunk of lightly blanched cucumber or zucchini etc on the bottom of the tank at night and pulling it early in the day when the lights are still out or dim and they can be tossed with the cuke they are hopefully feeding on.

I don't think other than a tear down and bleach or PP disinfect of your tank you can hope to get rid of them, especially in a non-toxic plant safe manner. Some smaller plant safe Loaches might be able to control them, maybe eradicate them but I doubt it. I'll leave that to the forum's more loach savvy members.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Given my tank size I'm not going with loaches. I've heard of and am reading up on 'assassin snails'. Right now it looks like the snail count in my tank is in a countable number. I think I have like 6 (????) pond snails that are like ~1cm or less in size. I've not really had time to observe my tank with work and fall prep work outside. I've heard those killer snails kill other snails in the tank. I may have to look into getting a pair of them and have them go nuts in the tank.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

For some reason the few small little what looks like snail eggs won't come off the glass with some poking with a bamboo stick I have. Are they that sticky that they won't come off?


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