# new friends - welcome or unwelcome?



## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

hey all

so i planted some aquatic plants in my tank about a week ago...and i noticed today there is a tiny tiny little snail in the tank now! is it possible it tagged along on a plant?

is it bad? should i get rid of it? or it thats normal.


the fish seem fine and happy - undisturbed by it. 

i just didnt know if it was a parasdite, or actually an itty bitty slug?


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## Guest (Aug 3, 2009)

if its a common snail, that lil itcy bitsy fellow will become big and soon you'll have loads of them. few of these critters will keep your algae in check but inexcess they can kill ur plants.

i cant stand pondsnail/common snail. i vouch to get rid of him and hope there arent any more eggs tagged onto the plant.


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## Sea-Agg2009 (Aug 2, 2008)

I always give my new plants a quick soak in a 1/20 bleach bath before they go into my tank. Those snails do not need mates to reproduce. 1 can turn into hundreds before you know it. They get out of control and even snail chemicals don't get them all. Take it out and keep a really good eye out for more.


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

i went to remove it and found 3 more! i lifted the piece of driftwood ive had FOREVER (had it years ago from an old tank, was totally cleaned/bleached and cycled with it) and found 3-4 more in there.

hopefully thats all of them :S
definitely gonna have to keep an eye out.


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

and sorry - snail killer stuff wont work?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I think they come back from eggs after you've killed all the adults. And if you have a tank full of dead snails, beware of ammonia spikes. Some people hate them rabidly, others like that they clean the algae off the plant leaves. They don't hurt fish, but can carry disease. The usual method of snail control is to put in a vegetable (slice of zucchini, leaf of lettuce) overnight and bring it out snail-covered in the morning. If you have a puffer or a clown loach (or a friend or LFS that does), you feed them the snails. Many other fish will eat them if you crush the shell.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

my angels and cories love crushed snails..that is not the end of them..there will be more..hundreds are on the way..


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

eeek. well i soaked the driftwood in a light bleach mix and then let it sit in dechlorinated water for a bit. its drying out now...hopefully it if was storing any eggs its gone now. ive been checking the tank and havnt seen any more....yet.


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

o thoses snails are pesks!! they destroyed mt plants but the zucchni/cucumber thing works to get rid of them


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

i havnt seen anymore yet...ive been checking often.

ill try the lettuce/zuchini thing if i spot another anytime soon.


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## Dragonbeards (Dec 14, 2008)

How big is the tank? If you spot any more, or if you get a sudden explode in snail population, you could put a few loaches in the tank, depending on the size of the tank. Otherwise, just keep on with the zucchini treatment if you spot a few stragglers.


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

its a 20 gallon
were still clear on them...hopefully it stays this way.


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## N0z (Jun 3, 2009)

i had a snail problem they just breed way to much so what i done was , got some loachs and they ate all the snails for me


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

Botia Sidthimunki (check my sig for correct spelling)

definite snail destroyers + they stay small 2-3"

Beware of clown loaches. I have heard alot of good things about thier snail destroying capabilities. But those guys get huge.


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

so i tried the lettuce leaf trick - and it didnt work! 2 days later i had more again!
guess im gonna have to keep trying?


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## Guest (Aug 10, 2009)

do u have live plants in there?


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## musikgrrl (Jul 18, 2009)

yes three. the snails came after the plants - im assuming the eggs were in there.

its not out of control (yet)...just the odd one here or there that we take out everyday. more irritating than anything.


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

no way to get rid of snails now, only control thier population. unless you are willing to Nuke the tank with a copper medication. That and to ensure they never come back you'll have to run the copper till the eggs hatch. Plants don't do so well with copper treatments, they get stunted. Fish don't do to well with prolonged exposure to copper.

idk, once you have snails the best you can do is to manage them.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Toshogu said:


> idk, once you have snails the best you can do is to manage them.


Or get loaches


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