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Snails!! Good or bad?

Looneeyy

Member
Joined
12 Jan 2017
Messages
124
Location
Redditch
So, I've got a little snail that some how hot in with bogwood in my cold water tank, doesn't bother me! If anything my niece&Nephew love him ..
but! A lot of people I've spoken to have mixed opinions?
What's everyone else's opinion?

*Sorry if I'm wrong section*


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Moved to inverts;)

Personally I can't abide pest snails, they reproduce by binary fission every second:mad:o_O...well not really:D, but it seems like it, in no time at all you'll have a tank full...and that is really really unsightly:arghh:

They can be vectors or hosts for parasites and other diseases, which can infect fish:dead: some are zoonotic, although rarely encountered in the aquarium if at all.

KILL THEM...KILL THEM ALLL....:rage::rage::rage:
 
I accidentally got snails in plants from a shop that wasn't my normal fish shop.

Whilst snails are not an issue per se, they will multiply so much, that when I came back from holiday once, I ended up removing about 100 snails of various sizes from plants, hardscape, sand and inside the filters.

Mine generally ignored algae, basically nibbled a line through the algae patch and went off eating elsewhere.

You can use chemical to wipe them out.

Clown loaches will eat them. I donated my "plant eating & disrupting" clown loaches to a friend and since getting them hasn't seen a snail after being infested with snails.

I just kept removing the snails and blobs of eggs at each water change and maybe after a year I don't see them anymore.
 
Cant stand snails , the only good one imo is a dead one.
Esha Gastropex never really worked for me , so brought some Zebra Loaches and they ate them all up in no time :hungry: .
 
Moved to inverts;)

Personally I can't abide pest snails, they reproduce by binary fission every second:mad:o_O...well not really:D, but it seems like it, in no time at all you'll have a tank full...and that is really really unsightly:arghh:

They can be vectors or hosts for parasites and other diseases, which can infect fish:dead: some are zoonotic, although rarely encountered in the aquarium if at all.

KILL THEM...KILL THEM ALLL....:rage::rage::rage:

Thank you hahah, and I only have one tiny thing so no chance of reproduction, it seems fine, quite amazed some days where he ends up!



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NB Don't forget to take in to account the capacity of your filter and remove all absorbable filter media...charcoal, purigen etc.:oops::oops::oops::oops::lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
Looneey...most are hermaphrodites; they have both male and female reproductive organs.
Some are capable of asexual reproduction, and can make more snails all by themselves...
...that's why they will one day rule the world with cockroaches:eek:
And there are bound to be others hiding...where there is one there is usually many:meh:
 
I like snails, those that do not touch plants. Planorbea, substrate snails (those that like to live in the substrate).

They eat uneaten food, plant's dead parts, they will participate in the decomposition process, eat some algae.

Michel.
 
Another snail ally here.

I purposely put snails in all my aquariums as I find them interesting and useful scavengers.

Snails cause no harm, if you have a lot of algae or organic waste in your tank, they will multiply by consuming it. So then you will have less algae/rotting waste, but more snails. I'd personally rather have snails than rotting waste.

Common "pest" aquarium snails do not eat healthy plants (thier mouths are too small and weak) or cause any other harm. Some people just don't like the look of having snails visible in their tanks, some go to the extent putting toxic chemicals in their tanks to kill the snails (which leaves dead, rotting snails in the tank and exposes the other livestock to a less-than-deadly dose of copper).

Keep up tank maintenance and you won't have thousands of snails, as mentioned there are also fish that eat snails like chain loaches. If you just don't like snails, remove it now before it reproduces, but there will be no harm at all from leaving it in :thumbup:.
 
I keep snails and shrimp. What I've noticed is that when you have shrimp they outcompete the snails almost to extinction. Which leads me to believe, that shrimp and snails do the same job in a tank...detritus eaters(with some of them eating certain algae as a bonus) Now lets kill all snails and shrimp...What happens to that detritus? Does it magically disappear...no...What will happen is the next organism in line will take over, which happens to be bacteria...Bacteria needs to multiply on a far greater scale to do the same job snails/shrimp do...One can't see the bacteria and thinks...problem solved :)..

However, one doesn't get to chose which bacteria multiplies out of proportion to replace the snails/shrimp. And often it is multiple type of bacteria, some of them pathogenic....

On the contrary, shrimp and snails are a great addition to breeding tanks/fry tanks because they prevent excessive food developing bad bacteria. I've had great results keeping large population of shrimp and some snails with cory fry.

There is anecdotal evidence also that certain snails eat fungus from fish eggs too. I think there was a thread on planetcatfish about that. Yet, people always think aesthetics.and .not functionality of the entire system..

So I wonder, why doesn't anyone that has a large snail population think about the origin of the problem and the consequences of eradicating an organism completely. Why do you hate snails but treat shrimp like special subjects when essentially they play the same role?...
I personally like all types of snails and I do not dislike how they look. I find them interesting too.. But as I said,...I was only able to keep them in fish only tanks, where the tank does not contain clown loaches...

Shrimp or clown loaches(and some other loaches) will outcompete/eradicate the snails early or later but the issue is the the tank accumulating detritus...providing overfeeding is not the origin of the problem...But if you feed a shrimp containing tank daily properly...you still won't have many snails, if any..You'll just have many more shrimp.....

So my suggestion for a solution is, get shrimp if you hate snails..:) Do not kill and in fact add at least one type of larger scavenger in your tanks...otherwise be diligent with cleaning the tank properly and don't overfeed...which applies to any tank in fact unless you want to multiply something out of proportion :)
 
They can be vectors or hosts for parasites and other diseases, which can infect fish:dead: some are zoonotic, although rarely encountered in the aquarium if at all.

Hey Tim. To this I'll say that it relates majorly to wild caught fish that carry diseases which need intermediary such as snails/shrimp and a range of other inverts.... And you need that certain invert too to be in the exact tank....There are excellent meds that should sort that out from get go....praziquantel is one of them, safe to use. After that there's no fear...unless you add inverts from the wild too..or feed fish with live inverts from unknown sources...That's another reason I don't feed live food...I do, however, want to grow my own if I find a reliable source but there's none here and ebay is not the place I'd trust with things like that....

If you feed daphnia, cyclops, and the likes....they are the most common carriers along with live worms of course....because one normally breeds their own snails and shrimp and does not use them as fish food normally, or buys them as fish food....Plus of course they've been bred in aquariums for many years and are not wild caught....It is now very rare that you'll transfer a disease from common aquarium snails or shrimp but not so rare from the live food you buy for your picky fish...
 
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Nicely put:)
Still not going to dissuade me from irradiating the little blighters on sight with extreme prejudice tho...
My top tip...if you don't want Schistosomiasis don't swim in a snail infested aquarium:D
 
He, he :) Similar applies to fish TB/the different species of mycobacteria...but they don't need an intermediary like inverts and in this case one should not use plants or fish in their tanks :p You can't even kill them by boiling them for hours :mad: very advanced species of zoonotic bacteria :)

If you read some scientific papers, there's mycobacteria in everything...even drinking tap water. The latest paper I read said something like 15% of the drinking water is infected ...If you insist, I can find the paper...This bacteria can't be killed by boiling, freezing, cleaning, disinfecting..nothing. You bleach a tank...and the most robust species of it will overtake, becoming an even bigger nuisance because there's no reliable disinfectant that kills all...The only remedy is natural resistance and immunity and being healthy in general...fish or humans. The fish keeping world is a risky business...
 
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You can't even kill them by boiling them for hours :mad: very advanced species of zoonotic bacteria :)
I know...there are some pretty tough 'orrible nasties out there. Better to live in blissful ignorance or denial - not in the actual Nile tho'...Sorry I'll get my coat:oops:

one should not use plants or fish in their tanks :p
Sound advice, maybe we should start a new forum for hypochondriac aquarist...

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