# Snails Controversy



## daniel19831123 (5 Jan 2008)

Initially I bought some apple snail from snailshop and it says on the webpage that the snail only consume dead plant matter and algae. But recently I've been finding lots of damage leaves in my tank. Some looks as if it's being strip down to it's centre vein. So I did a search on yahoo and wahlaa loads of forum actually says that apple snails is notorious for eating live plants and producing lots and lots of excrement contaminating the tank and they are only moderate algae eater.... i.e not the best snail to have in a planted aquaria.

I'm now looking to buy some nerite zebra or olive snails as they seemed to have a good review on a lot of the webpage. Mostly claimed that it will clean the glass so well it looks as if it's just been scraped using an algae scraper. Does anyone have any experience on this? I'm having some GDA problem in my tank and maybe a little GSA. Don't want to spent another 10 quid just to regret it further down the line. 

Anyone with any snail experience would be appreciated.


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## Themuleous (6 Jan 2008)

I have two nerites in my work tank and I can honestly say it looks as if Ive cleaned the glass with a scraper, the two of them keep it near enough spotless.  Worth every penny if you don't have loaches in the tank.

Sam


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## daniel19831123 (6 Jan 2008)

hmm one positive score to nerite! does the pH of the water needs to be high? I've got high kH and hardness but pH below 7...


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## Arana (6 Jan 2008)

i have the same sort of water paramaters and my 3 tigers ae thriving, an essential pat of any cleanup crew i'd` say  they're awsome


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## daniel19831123 (6 Jan 2008)

Brilliant now all I need to do is get rid of my apple snails and kill all my small snails before buying them nerite! I was thinking of lowering the pH by injecting loads of CO2 into the tank gradually. They should not live if the pH is 6 or slightly below.  The problem is that I don't have a pH meter.... tried leaving my CO" on for the whole night at 1 bubles every 4-5 seconds but still the snail survive the next day..... Any way to get rid of them once and for all? I'm not adding any loaches in the tank as I'm already having enough difficulty keeping HC rooted in my substrate. lol


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## Garuf (6 Jan 2008)

Get a dwarf puffer, he'll finish your snails off.


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## daniel19831123 (6 Jan 2008)

hmmm can't do that too.... Got baby shrimp in my tank. lol


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## Garuf (6 Jan 2008)

, ask if you can borrow a clown loach for a week?


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## daniel19831123 (6 Jan 2008)

maybe I should start softening my water and turn the ph even lower.... without calcium and with low pH I'm pretty sure they will die  eveil grin hehehe


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## Garuf (6 Jan 2008)

You say that but I have super low ph in my 10 gallon and I still see loads of snails, It just means they stay small as far as I can tell.


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## Ray (6 Jan 2008)

Hand removal, I told the kids to take them out, left the long tweezers by the tank and now there are none   

They were squemish about killing them though - I had to do that...


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## johnny70 (6 Jan 2008)

send me your apple snails if you want rid I can rehome them easily  

JOHNNY


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## daniel19831123 (6 Jan 2008)

Will do. If there is any more plant damage, I will definitely send them away.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (19 Jan 2008)

Owwww, but I love my appleys... I bought them under the impression the don't eat live plant matter either... They do lick the glass clean of algae though.

I thought my plants were just dying...


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## daniel19831123 (20 Jan 2008)

now that I've turned the CO" up the plant growth has speed up a lot and the damage of the plant done by the apple snail is kind negligible as there is other plant matter and loads of fish food floating around in the tank.They lick the glass alright but they don't suck on it hard enough lol. They never take the GSA or GDA off the glass. I ended up having to remove them manually... Just bought 2 nerite and see if they will suck well on the glass!


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## Lisa_Perry75 (20 Jan 2008)

Lol yeah I do have several bumblebee nerites, maybe its them... Dunno, everytime I see them they are giving each other piggyback rides


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## daniel19831123 (20 Jan 2008)

did you buy bumblebees nerite from phil at gogosnail? He's a nice bloke. Used to get some shrimp from him. Just bought some zebra nerite. Will be getting them on tuesday.


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## Lisa_Perry75 (20 Jan 2008)

No, the shop I used to work at had some in... I got a really good deal as they didn't really know what they were, about 50p each... Plus I could pick out all the brightest ones!


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