# spontaneous snails?!!?



## msingerman (Feb 13, 2005)

Hiya all,

I have a 30 gallon freshwater tank assorted with all sorts of healthy community fish. I would like to state for the record that I have not at any point in time purchased snails.

Today, my girlfriend was looking in the tank, and noticed something on the side. It's a teeny, tiny snail - no more than an eight of an inch in size. Then we saw another. And another. And nother. In total, there are around TEN snails in the tank.

I am fairly sure I know where they came from - a few weeks ago, I ordered some Java moss and Java fern off the internet. That is the ONLY place they could have come from and only show up now.

I don't particularly mind them, but I have some conrerns: What types of snails might these be? How can I tell for sure? Are they harmful to either the plants or the fish? I've read about snails devouring various plants, which would be bad.

Thanks.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

They are probably the common pond snail. They are not harmful as long as you dont overfeed the fish in your tank. If you want to get rid of them put a peice of lettuce under a plate on the bottom of the tank overnight in the morning pull the plate and the lettuce. They will collect there. Or you can just crush the shells as you find them. I keep them in one tank and ocassionaly pull some out in the summer and place them in the birdbath outside. They keep the algae off the bottom of the bath.


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## Jake (Jan 19, 2005)

It's hard to get plants from any source that doesn't contain one or another form of hitchhiker. 

http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1445&highlight=potassium+permanganate is a good thread to see the different ways to prevent introduction of hitchhikers into your tank. 

If they're football-shaped you're looking at some pond snails like fish_doc said. Spiraled like a cinnamon bun and you got yourself some ramshorns. Trumpet shaped is malaysian trumpet snail but those aren't much for hitching a ride on plants really.


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## fishyshawn (Jul 31, 2005)

I have the same problem but i only had two last night i took them out and chucked them out of my door becouse of all the little baby snails all over the gravel is there any way to get rid of them :chair:


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

You can either pick them out one by one or try putting a peice of lettuce in the tank overnight. They will congergate on the lettuce and you pull it out in the morning. This will work best if you dont have a heavily planted tank. Even then you need to pick them out by hand every time you see one. With most snails it only takes one to multiply. The other option is to buy a fish that enjoy eating them. This would vary depending on your tank size and what fish are currently in the tank.


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