Snails friends or foe?

i think i might b opening up a can of worms with this post but here i go.
i have unsuspectingly introduced ramshorn and i think pond snails into my tank. They have been in the tank for about a month now and i do see a population explosion and then they seem to vanish and reappear and so forth. I have been keepin an eye on my plants and i have seen no visible damage my question is are they bad are they destroying the plants and im just not seeing it yet i no they multiply like rabbits and ill slowly going to try and get rid of them with cucumber in the eve and dump in the morning but are they bad or just a pain and make the tank look ugly from time to time. Thanks

 

I don't have a problem with snails being in my tank, personally. They do assist with the algae to a certain degree, and they don't damage any of my plants.

If they get out of hand, you can buy Snail Traps from LPS which will assist you getting rid of them. Although... without using medication now, you will more than likely NEVER get rid of them.

 

especially the rams horn if you look carefully you can see their eggs on leaves of your plants .

I also like having snails but I only like apple or those malaysian trumpet snail. rams horn are fugly!

if snails reproduce a lot their waste can cause ammonia to rise depending on your tank size . only in extreme cases though .

 

I do see their eggs on the leaves the corries have seemed to take care of the extra flake food at the moment so the snails actually look like they die off every now and then

 

if you have algae or decaying plants the snails will feed.

do you want to leave them or get rid of them ?

 

They dont bother me to much just wen they over populate otherwise im fine with them just needed to make sure they dont damage anything

 

When they overpopulate, just chuck in the snail trap for a week. (Every morning make sure you empty the trap).

 

If you want to get rid of snails, it will be a good excuse to get 3+ clown loaches!

 

i have tried the cucumber trick and it didnt work for my infortunatly, though tv found the pond snails and trumpets arent doing any damage im not sure if i like them in the tank. i might just invest in a trap. how do they work if someone can explain?

 

Not too sure how they work. I think the snail can get into the trap (where you would put the bait), but they can't get out. I think it's mainly aimed at the small snails... the bigger ones you remove by hand

 

Would u be able to get hold of snail traps at most lfs. I have never heard of them till today

 

I've actualy only seen them at AK in Roodepoort. (Hillfox)

 

Got about 100 baby apple snails at the moment feeding them spirulina tablets

 

Donny, some people feed the baby apple snails dog pellets!
Enough calsium, I presume!
Gert

 

Ok didn't know that at the moment to scared to try that cause of polluting the water will keep on giving them tablets crushed as well as fish flakes and baby food which is in powder.

 

Here is a DIY snail trap that i found. From platy on http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/781/. This should work well i think and u would be able to get rid of alot of snails with this and avoid using poisons etc in the water

 

Ive got some apple snails and they dont seem to be a problem at all, rather they help keep algae under control and eat food waste.
I have gotten 2 before from a friend that did seem to destroy my plants, eating holes (similer to that of the green puffer) in the amazon leaves. I chucked those 2 in the outside koy pond and with all the algae in there they seem to be happy.
The biggest of my snails +- 6cm eats holes in my plants, but only plants with large leaves, this also doesnt happen everyday so the plants get more then enough time to recover and it doesnt effect the display of the tank (not noticeble) guess it just likes some greens now and then?????

Ive got mainly cichlids in all my tanks, and although the snails have reproduced i havent a single new snail to show for it. They either eat the snail out the shell or just keep pushing it around constintly giving it no time to feed and they die and their shells not even half cm becomes part of the gravel.

 

hi fishwisperer!
have you introduced yourself in the new members section. I ask as I see you have only 1 post .

please introduce yourself as its common etiquette here .

cheers

 

where do i do that I just started last night still trying to figure out whats goin on?

 

Go to Forums<New Members and you'll see a little green box about half way down the screen on the left that says "new thread" start it in there...