# unidentified thing in my tank



## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

I know many of you might say "are you kidding me now?" Because I cannot provide a pic but I explain and hopefully you can help!

So I have this 26g tank which is heavily planted, has several pest snails, 6 mystery snails, several ghost shrimps, neon tetras and zebra danios.

Some hours ago I did my usual inspection to check for abnormalities and I found a pink and hard as a rock thing stuck on the back glass of the tank right above the water level.

I was 99% sure for some reason that it was one of my snails that went up there, stayed, dried up and dropped its shell back in the water. Especially after finding a couple of minutes later a snail on the floor behind my tank. That made me 100% certain. So stupid me I just tossed it out of the window.

Now it appears that all my snails are just fine in the tank and I am not missing any. All alive. 

Any ideas? This thing was pink, fat as a finger, long as half a finger, dotted surface, hardened, stuck on the glass, no face or anything visible. Just a body type of thing.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

It was a snail egg case. One of your mystery snails laid eggs on the glass, and that's what you found.

If you had left it alone, it might have hatched out some baby mystery snails, but they do not always hatch. It can take weeks before hatching happens, about a month, though I had a couple that hatched in about half that time. The most I got was about fifty baby snails, and not all of them lived. 

The eggs need humidity, so if it's too dry where they're laid, hatching may not take place. And sometimes, a female may misjudge where she's laying and fall off the tank glass. If she's on the wrong side of the glass, she is not likely to make it back into the tank if you don't find her pretty quickly. Since they lay at night, if the snail has such an accident, it's not likely you'd find her in time to save her, though you can always hope. But usually they just go back into the tank when they're done, no problems. I caught one of mine laying eggs one night, it's pretty neat to watch, one egg at time just kind of slides out and is deposited, where it sticks to the others and makes up that bubbly looking pinkish thing you found. I got some video of it.

If you get another case showing up and you want to hatch the babies, one way is to wait 'til the case is dry and hard, then gently and carefully scrape it off the glass. Get a clear plastic 500 ml. container, poke some air holes in the lid, and put a damp paper towel in the bottom. Get some kind of mesh or screening or some other support to stop the egg case from actually touching the paper towel; put the egg case on the support, put the lid on the container, float the container in the tank, to keep it warm and humid.

Keep an eye on it and if you start to see tiny snails crawling in there, or see broken open cells, gently try to open the cells and with any luck there will be babies in some of them. There can be hundreds if all of them are viable. Get the new snails into the water as soon as possible, they will dry out pretty fast at that size.

You can also just leave the egg case on the glass. If it's a good one, when they start to hatch out, the babies just fall into the water and off they go. You will see them crawling up the glass to grab air, just like the adults do, only they'll be very, very tiny.

So you have at least one female snail.. likely more than one, and if she spawned once, she will probably do it again. If you see two snails sort of crawling around on each other, looking a bit stuck together, they are probably mating, and spawning will follow at some point. They need at least a couple of inches of bare glass or other smooth surface to lay on.. one reason I don't get many is because I keep the tank full. If they don't have enough space, the eggs may be too close to the water, and if they get soaked it will kill the eggs before they have any chance to hatch. 

If you don't want babies, either drown the egg case and then dispose of it or crush it and toss it.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

wow seriously? can you show me a picture of what you are talking about so i see if it is the same?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I'll see if I can find one, but I am 100% sure that's what you found. Hang on..

Check this URL.. the one in this pic is white, but the colour can vary a bit.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=...=cvrpUemrB8afqwGEtoB4&ved=0CE0Q9QEwCQ&dur=262


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> I'll see if I can find one, but I am 100% sure that's what you found. Hang on..


thanks but no need. i did a bit of research and yes they were eggs. I feel stupid i threw them away. well, from what i read with 6 mystery snails in the tank it won't be long till i see them again.

now, which do you think is the best way to make them hatch?


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Depends on how you keep your tank. If you always leave two or three inches of bare glass at the top, leave them on the glass and with any luck you'll get some hatching.

If you usually keep the tank pretty full, or totally full, then they won't have anywhere to lay and may crawl right out to the other side trying to find a place.. this is when they sometimes fall off.

I've had about equal success with leaving them as they are and putting them in the plastic container.. the container at least protects them from accidental damage or getting soaked by mistake so it's what I tend to prefer.

From what I have experienced with them they tend to spawn several times and then quit for a long time. Whether that is typical or not I really don't know.. it's just what happened with mine. Last summer the evaporation got ahead of me often, so there was usually room on the glass for the eggs and I would take them off and put them in the container when I found them, because I'd want to fill the tank back up. They seem to have a knack for finding a place when they're ready, but in nature they don't have glass boxes that they might fall off of.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

Fishfur said:


> Depends on how you keep your tank. If you always leave two or three inches of bare glass at the top, leave them on the glass and with any luck you'll get some hatching.
> 
> If you usually keep the tank pretty full, or totally full, then they won't have anywhere to lay and may crawl right out to the other side trying to find a place.. this is when they sometimes fall off.
> 
> I've had about equal success with leaving them as they are and putting them in the plastic container.. the container at least protects them from accidental damage or getting soaked by mistake so it's what I tend to prefer.


hmmm maybe that is why i found a snail on the floor (btw i put it back in and it lives now). it probably laid the eggs and fell off during the effort!

i usually leave an inch or two empty, so i may leave them there next time. we will see how it goes. thanks


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That can happen, for sure. If they don't have quite enough space to lay on the inside, they'll end up on the rim or even on the outside, and then they may get into trouble. If you find them soon enough they usually are fine, they can last for quite some time with their door closed up tight.

Good luck. If you get babies, there is always a market for them, especially if they are nicely coloured ones.

If I can find it I should post that video.. I've seen some of snails laying on Youtube also. I think one reason they can fall if they don't have enough room is the position they have to get into to actually push the eggs out. It looks quite weird if you catch them at it, because you are seeing a part of the snail's body that is normally hidden inside the shell and it looks downright odd.


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