Snails in my Fish tank???

Question

OK we have had this tank for about 3 months Id estimate and ALl we have put in thre is Rocks we bought at walmart fish and a few boat things we got at wlamart t odecorate and then 2 little plants we bought at an actual fish store, But lately we have been seeing snails in the tank at first there was only 1 now we have sen about 6 I know they mate and reproduce every few weeks but how could we have snails and where did they come from? I havent put any in there and everything we bought was either in bags or from actual fish stores themselves? SO how did they get in there? COuld their eggs have been hidden in the plant or something and just now hatching and now they are just reproducing or something?? SHould I keep taking them out or let them stay in there??

Answer 1

I don't really like the answers you have received so far and I will tell you why.

Firstly most people are right in saying that they came from the live plants. However they fail to mention that these snails will multiply very fast and will soon over run your tank. Trust me, I have had to deal with this problem. I have a 50 gal tank and when we first set it up the same thing happened to me.

Every-one and even the bottle will tell you that it is safe for fish to use some kind of -Rid-Snail- but it WILL harm your fish. At least in my experience they did. What we had to end up doing was buying a smaller tank to keep our fish in while we used the
-Rid-Snail- product. You want to make sure that you let it run through the filter system and while all your decorations and rocks are still in the tank. Let it run through for a Solid 24 hours. Then take all your stuff and use a garden hose with high pressure to clean everything including your tank. Clean it several time to insure you get all the chemical off.

Also we stick with only fake plants now. All live plants have the potential of bringing the snails back in.

Hope this helps and God Bless.

Buy a cheap kitchen strainer to clean your rocks (gravel) with.

Hey Jen, I don't see anything HA,HA, about some one with a problem and seeking advice.

Answer 2

Here's an answer I gave to a previous question on snails in the tank. Might be a bit trickier with cichlids though (depending on what type you've got) due to their aggression. First you need to decide if the snails are such a problem. They probably aren't doing any harm to the tank and in many ways can be beneficial (cleaning up, stirring the substrate, eating algae). However, many fishkeepers don't like having snails. My first advice is to not use chemicals, aquarium salts, and definitely not copper. All of these items may have an effect on your fish, copper in particular can be very difficult to remove from your aquarium system (even long after removing the coin) and is dangerous to many fish. One option is to leave in a piece of cucumber or lettuce overnight, the snails will go for it so in the morning you just remove it and you'll take out a lot of snails. Repeat for a few nights and you'll have a much reduced snail population. You'll probably never remove all of them with this method, but if you did this whenever they became a problem you should get a few months of a snail free tank. Second option is to get snail eating fish. Puffer fish will happily eat snails but really need to be kept in a species tank. They will also happily eat your other fish. Most loaches will also eat snails. Clown Loaches are generally acknowledged as being very good snail eaters, but they need to be kept in a group and get very large so they need a big tank really. I would recommend the Dwarf Chain Loach (Botia Sidthimunki), these are smaller relatives of the Clown Loach. They still need to be kept in groups, but they are much smaller, but still very effective at eating snails. Very lively and interesting fish to keep as well. Finally, you may want to address the cause rather than the problem as well. Now you've got snails in there it is near impossible to completely eradicate them, but the above 2 options will make it so that you'll never see them. But, in the future, when adding more plants, dip them in a salt water for a few minutes and then give them a good rinse in tap water before adding them to your tank (this should remove any snail eggs hidden on them). Also you may be overfeeding. Snails live on the food that your fish don't eat, the more food that they can get, the more they'll breed. Try reducing the amount you feed your fish.

Answer 3

Snails are not always a pest. What no one has asked is what kind are they? Are they trumpet shaped? If you they are livebearers and you only need one to reproduce and populate a whole tank. Are they shaped like a ramshorn? If so they are Ramshorn snails who are egg layers. You could get either from plants.
If you tank runs warm the ramshorn snails will take over. Trumpet snails will survive a total gravel cleaning etc becase they are born so very very tiny and they can close their trap door and survive most anything for a long time.
IF kept in check a snail population is most beneficial to your tank though. They help maintain the bio filter, they clean the tank, eat algae, dead fish, excess food etc. If you are overfeeding your tank your snail population will explode. Keep your feeding down and snails stay in chekc and you have a nice balance.
Don't put snail killing chemicals in your tank!

Put a leak of lettuce weighted in the bottom of your tank at bedtime. Turn out the lights. About 2-3 am come and take out the lettuce (or dead fish if one happened to die recently) and you take out a ton of snails. Do that every night a few nights to get rid of excess snails. NEVER relese the snails into the wild. If you must you can freeze them to kill them then dispose of.

Answer 4

The eggs can stay alive in gravel for ages. We actually got some tank decorations from e-bay & then kaboom - snails galore. Snails will airate the gravel & turn it over but you don't want tons in there. I tend to try to pick some out or ask your fish store person about fish that will eat them.

If you want to get rid of them you will have to remove your fish from the tank, don't feed them. Then put salt salt salt in the tank until the water won't take anymore salt. Rinse EVERYTHING really well after having let it sit for a day or 2. Put the fish back in, treat it as if you're starting a new tank again with the water conditioner & everything. They may have some eggs still in the filter but it should slow them down a while.

Answer 5

I had an Oscar that took care of my snail problem in a matter of days, so, if they become a problem, this could be one way to resolve it. The Oscar was about 4" long at the time. You can also purchase a product called "had a snail' which will kill most if not all of them.

Answer 6

There were probably snail eggs on the plant or something. Leave them in there, they're good at cleaning the gravel and tank and their leavings will fertilize the plants.

Answer 7

if you bought live plants from the pet store thats where the came from.and if you donot want snails in your tank than get rid of them now or else you will have a over population of snails in your tank.And depending on the type of snail when they get bigger the may eat your fish that live in your tankl if the are smaller fish.

Answer 8

Haha that's funny. There was probably one or two stuck in with the plants you bought. Snails are actually good for helping to keep aquariums clean, so as long as they don't multiply too much, you might as well leave them in there.

Answer 9

they are from the live plants. they will grow and multiply. If you don't like lots of snails go buy some SnailBGone, at walmart. it doesn't hurt the fish but bye bye snails and snail eggs.

Answer 10

Snail eggs ride in on plants unless you wash them really well. Yes they are reproducing, I guarantee it. As far as them being in there, they won't hurt anything persay, they clean up waste and eat plants. Its really up to you, you can get products to kill them, or just remove every one you see for a while if you really don't want them.