# Help with Snails?



## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

Hi guys recently I found some small things crawling on the glass of my tank and even found some on my heater on what looks to be snails. I have no idea how they got in there. I did a 30% water change and tried to get them out but I still see some in there and it seems they are multiplying like crazy. I also see white almost worm like things crawling so maybe those are the baby snails? I have no idea what they are or how they got there but any help would be appreciated. I don't have a micro camera so it's really hard to take pictures of it.


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

What color are they? shape of their shell? Depending on the size you might be able to get rid of them using some assassin snails.


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## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

Here are the best pics i could come up with. There are also some micro white worm stuff almost like larvae stuff crawling around the glass. I'm not sure what exactly happened but I don't like it one bit.


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

They are still small but from the colour and shell shape they looks like Ramshorn snail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramshorn_snail.

I think assasin snails would eat these guys. I think snails are pretty hard to completely get rid of unless you reset your tank. You can however reduce their numbers but keeping their food supply low and pick out any adults you see. You can also try making snail traps


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## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

Kan said:


> They are still small but from the colour and shell shape they looks like Ramshorn snail http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramshorn_snail.
> 
> I think assasin snails would eat these guys. I think snails are pretty hard to completely get rid of unless you reset your tank. You can however reduce their numbers but keeping their food supply low and pick out any adults you see. You can also try making snail traps


Thanks for the reply. What worries me after reading the link you provided is that they could also cary parasites and they may multiply crazy. What puzzles me is that I don't even know how they got there
WHat is this snail trap you speak of? lol


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

Did you recently add any plants to your tank? They usually get into your tank as hitchhiker. Most snails do multiply like crazy provided there's enough food. Trap is pretty simple just need put piece of boiled vege in small container with openning and leave it over night. In the morning you will find tons of snails in there, help you eliminate them but it will reduce their numbers


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## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

Well I added a piece of drift wood with plants on it but that was like 2-3 months ago. If it gets out of hand I will try setting up a trap. Thanks for the help, really appreciate it. Now I'm abit worry because I want to buy more plants but not at the cost of having an outbreak in snails.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

dont worry much about the white worms, if they stick to the glass they might be a nematode of some sort. As long as none are hanging on your fish dont stress  things that help keep them under control is less leftover food in the tank and more water changes.

When you are dealing with live plants sometimes some of the pond bugs come along with them. Not all are bad, some are helpful too. 

I am not sure what size tank you are dealing with or the stock, if you find the snails are getting wild you can keep removing any dead plant matter or lessen some of your feeding. 

The veg bait is a good idea


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

or if you want to see something cool, just borrow a pea puffer from a friend and add it in the tank. i swear u will ur tank being cleaned out in 1-2 days!


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## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

I have a 75g tank. I bought the plant at luckys 2-3 months ago. It's just a small drift wood with some sort of plant strung to it. Never buying plants there again thats for sure. As cool as that Puffer sound it wouldn't be really cool as I have Piranhas and it'll prob get shredded to pieces....some people might see that kinda cool lol.

With that being said....I'm in the process of changing the looks of the tank and would really want to add a couple more plants. Anyone know a place where I could get some snail free? Also I need plants that are not high maintenance.


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## Kan (Nov 12, 2011)

It's pretty common to get some kind of hitchhiker from plants that you buy. Sometimes even if you don't see any snails there maybe some eggs. Stores just stock them from distributor and I don't think they would know if there's any snails. The safer way would be to buy from members on the forum and ask if they have any snails in their tank


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## iBetta (Jun 19, 2011)

lol oh no! then u'd have an entire food chain in your tank! XD
what's wrong with the plants from lucky's? because of hitchhikers?


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## laurahmm (Apr 1, 2010)

all plants come with hitchhikers of some sort but I'm very careful with cleaning my plants. I let them soak in my sink for several days first...cleaning them every day and refilling the sink daily with new water after I clean out the sink of any snails... I find this really helps and I've managed to elminate most if not all of the hitchhikers... except for hydra  for that you have to soak your plants in a solution for 5 mins to make sure you get no hydra... I forget name but Frank sells the solution as do most petstores...


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## Julz (Apr 17, 2010)

iBetta said:


> lol oh no! then u'd have an entire food chain in your tank! XD
> what's wrong with the plants from lucky's? because of hitchhikers?


Well considering that I bought my one and only plant from them and that I get an outbreak of snails, I would probably not buy plants from them unless I'm positive theres no more snails coming with it!


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

You can buy plants from any LFS, there is a chance there are snail eggs and you find snails growing. Do not blame Luckys I have bought plants from BA and they too have snails. One way is to use copper solution or crystals but then this depends on what you are keeping, it will kill plecos, shrimps but ok for some fish.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

I read recently that you can kill off snails and most other common hitchhikers on plants by soaking them in a bucket of water with aquarium salt added to it.. I would have to try and find the article again to see how much salt to add, but it was quite a bit, much more than you'd use normally for anything else. Soak for ten or fifteen minutes and most of the critters you wouldn't want will have died and you can rinse the plants off in clean water and put them in your tank. It is hard for the growers to keep all snails and other critters off their stock, I would think. One tiny snail, so small you can't even see it, can soon become a tankful of the darn things. I used to put my turtles, temporarily, in my fish tank, back when I had turtles, that is, to eat the snails. Juvenile red ear sliders love snails.. sounds like they're eating popcorn !


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Look, every single item you put in you aquarium can introduce snails. From live plants, to used filters. Some snail species have eggs that reactivate once water is added, after having been dried out! On top of that, many snail eggs are near invulnerable to treatments that would destroy any hatched snails. Even more so, the common method of using copper to kill them, is also lethal to shrimp & some fish, and can remain in a tank for a long time! This is a seriously uphill battle.
Most snails you will receive accidentally will be very beneficial to your aquarium. The most common species, _Lymnaea peregra_, the Common Pond Snail (ID video) is absolutely an excellent diatom & algae eater and detritivore. Not to mention they are a sustainable food source for your fish and reptiles. Go ahead and squish one of these pond snails in your community tank and tell me nothing comes to eat it.
Everytime you buy a plant you are more likely to be getting a hitchhiker of some sort, than not. From a store, a hobbyist, an auction. And stay in the planted tank game long enough and you will experience them all maybe. Snails, worms, nematodes, shrimp, copepods, hydra, amphipods... Keep calm and carry on, some of these should be welcomed! Some of them should not- but you deal with them as they come.
You will want to identify them, research the risks of having them, and monitor their behavior. It can be fun, or frustrating if you let it.


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