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I'm new to this forum so if I do something wrong I'm sry but I wanted to ask people on how to get rid of snails. I realized I would start having a problem with them today since they started showing up. I also realized how much algae was forming on my decorations and glass. I had gotten the snails from a plant I had bought from PetSmart without the knowledge that snail eggs were on them. I know snails are good for eating things in the tank but I don't like how they look and they creep me out. I wanted to know the best ways to remove them. I have a 20 gallon fish tank with 4 balloon mollies and 6 neon tetras.

My 17-gallon tank has been running for 3 weeks. It's full of plants - some melting, some kinda chillin', and some taking off. More details and tank parameters at the end for those interested. I'm so grateful to see some baby snails that hatched in the tank (first saw 2 as teeny-tiny specks on 12/14, and now they are a bit bigger and I see more). I'm glad they are around to start cleaning up some of the dead and dying plant matter. My question is this: I'd like to control this snail population naturally, and I don't plan to add snail-eating fish to this tank. I know that if I can keep the food source limited, I have a good chance at limiting their population. I don't really mind them...they are helping me now. What I don't want to happen is their population explodes because of all the plant matter available now, and then once the tank stabilizes, the plants take off, and I add fish in a couple of months, the snails start dying off and causing problems when I can't find their little dead bodies in and amongst the plants! So, I'm considering adding one or two nerite snails. They are larger, so they'll eat more and if they die I stand a better chance of finding them. My thought is they'd help "absorb" the excess plant matter and thus control the pond snail population to a reasonable level. I can't easily vacuum or snip the dead matter because it causes the plants to uproot from the soil, and I'm giving them a chance to melt and come back. Any thoughts from the crowd? Is this a good idea? Do you have a better suggestion? Am I worrying about this too much? (Also, comments on the timing...should I wait until the nitrites are 0 or will that give the snails too much of an edge, LOL?) Thanks, everyone! More tank details: It's got ADA aquasoil (wanted to try something different) and pressurized CO2 (about 1 bps). It's consistently running at pH 6.4, KH and GH 2 degrees, and total ammonia 1-2ppm. Nitrites 0ppm until two days ago, when they started spiking to 3 ppm. Nitrates have been around 0-2.5ppm (probably from the rainwater; I use a combo of rainwater and tap), but now at 20ppm (they were 10ppm the day after I dosed Easy Green for the first time). In this 3-week period I have added some FritzZyme 7, and I also left all the rock wool in from my various plant shipments over the past 3 weeks (I bought from 4 different sources, including Aquarium Coop).

When I swapped my HOB for a canister on the 36BF (Mostly due to noise) it left a gap in the cover. There are 10 mystery snails in there that I hatched from another tank. A few days ago I found one on the floor in front of the tank (the opening is on the back) that I just about stepped on. I thought for sure it was dead but i dropped it in the 10 that is full of shrimp. 2 days later there were 2 clutches of eggs on the lib that I am now trying to hatch out. If I had stepped on the poor girl she would be gone and I wouldn't have all these eggs. My guess is she crawled out looking for a place to lay eggs and fell off although how she got from the back to the front I have no idea. At any rate watch where you step if you have big snails that can crawl out. I am going to fill the hole as well to keep the other 9 inside. Can;t wait for the eggs to hatch. This will be my first set of second generation.

15 gallons, 3 nerita snails, should have it covered pretty well, right? ...or not

Aquariums hold many more living things than fish. What is in your tank? I caught this grass shrimp last week in a ditch while collecting banana plants.

Just thought I'd post this picture of my 3 Mystery snails "hooked" together. My male is in the middle. 😐 Buncha wackadoos. Your animals do weird stuff like that too? Lemme see so I feel better hehe

This litte guy must have snuck in on a plant. Can you tell me what kind of snail and will it be ok in a tank that's not finished cycling. Waiting for the nitrites to drop but everything else is good.

found a small sized one in my tank today, wondered where all the empty pond snail shells were coming from. Do they eat nerites, like smaller horned nerites? And should I get rid of it? I like pond snails, and I haven't been feeding the tank (very light stocking) because theres a lot of algae in different places.

Hi folks 👋🏻 I'm Julia, nice to join your CARE community! This will be a journal of my fish-keeping journey in Canada. Having a weak memory I need a place to keep track of my mistakes (and hopefully successes in future) and forum seems to be a nicer, safer place than Facebook group. Will start documenting my first *stressful* month into the hobby tomorrow and share my story 🐟

Happy Wednesday! I'm thinking of getting a couple Endlers for my 5g but it's also a snail breeding tank and has a few shrimp in it. Would that be a problem? Is there a better choice of super hardy, colorful little fish to add?

Has anybody ever used the Zoo med turtle bone for a calcium supplement for mystery snails. I was looking for wonder shells and the lady said she uses these for her snails. If you have I was wondering how you get them to sink. I broke a piece of yesterday and threw it in a cup of tank water that I scoped out and I checked it this morning and it’s still flowing.

Hey y'all I got these Malaysian trumpets in today put them in a quarantine tank 10 gallon ph7.2 gh 300+ kh 80-100ish A,0 NI,0 NA,20-30 temp 82ish, with the medtrio, (there a ebay from Florida and look like pond raised, so zero trust given) but my question is, do they "require" a substrate because they've pushed up my filter and stuff, and there trying to hide under anything they can and I'm just wondering is it okay to keep them in a bare bottom med tank for the week or should I add some kind of substrate

I'm sure this has been discussed/debated many times here. Caught a few very tiny invaders in my new (empty but for plants so far) tank. I'm 99% sure they are baby snails as I went without thinking and immediately rid myself of the visible ones. But then I stopped myself. Why am I doing this? I like snails (even the outdoor variety). I've been told "pest" snails are good for tanks, they don't reproduce more than what the tank can typically handle. I KNOW there are more in there. I saw a few on the back wall. What say you CARE forum? Yes? No? Experiences? Tales of Caution? Songs of Snails?

Are there any businesses that sell male only nerite snails (No female nerites)? We know some people don't mind nerite snail eggs all over their aquariums, but we're not. Been there - Done that. 🙂

Newby snail owner, and kinda fascinated by these guys... But what are they doing? I've seen at least 3 of them doing this now, my kids have started calling it "making sandcastles" which honestly does kinda seem correct? LOL! 🤷‍♀️😂 They just kinda stop in their tracks, make a little pile in the substrate, sit there for a few minutes, sometimes flop over, and then eventually they move along about their day? The first time I saw it, I thought it was dying, but, nope? It's been about a week now, and every once in a while I see them doing it? I am genuinely confused... Here's a pic?

I have a 65 gal 48 long 26 high. 4 golden angels golden barbs (great cheap schooling fish btw) 6 various danio and various types of shrimp. I also have a rabbit snail mystery snail and loads of trumpet and bladder. My question is. Is a khuli loach a good option for snail control (not eradication) but not eat my shrimp?

I splurged and purchased Pagoda Snails even though it was difficult finding reliable information about their care. One of the few sources I found, recommended a large tank with a fast water flow, high oxygen levels, and low light levels. This simulates their native habitat, the Thoungyin River in Thailand. That said, I cannot tell if this source has successfully raised the snails or simply posted information gleaned from research. E.g., the photos look like they were taken from different tanks. E.g., the group shot looks like the snails were placed together or even perhaps Photoshop-added. Since my tanks are small, a powerhead or current generator seemed like it would cause more problems than solutions. So, I opted for highly oxygenated conditions and put them in the tank with an under-gravel filter (UGF). The UGF flow is powered by 2 air stones running at full volume. I run a split lighting schedule—8a-1p/6p-11p lights on, 1p-6p/11p-8a lights off. The UGF tank is lit by one 30W LED floodlight and one 8-inch red/blue LED grow light strip (that’s very small). It also contains floating water sprite a few inches thick, making for low-light conditions. I have had these horned beauties for a week. They are said to be shy and indeed, they usually spend the lighted periods lounging on the substrate. I am building a couple of terra cotta hides so they can hang out in the shade. Occasionally I have seen them moving around on the substrate and glass. I have seen each of them eating at some point. Every morning I find objects—Anubias on lava rock, spruce cones, spring-clip leaf holder—have been pushed around. Check out this adorable face!

I have read that soaking plants in 3/4 cups of bleach with one gallon of water will kill any snails and eggs. I would think bleach would b harmful to plants? I mean use bleach as in clorox? Any advice?

My scarlet temple had been growing like wildfire but my issue Is the leaves turn dirty looking and get holes. Do I have a deficiency or could my snails be eating them? At a loss. All my other plants are fine except the leaf from the red melon sword in picture

It has been a while since I posted last asking for some water chemistry advice. Since then I have managed to get my water parameters fairly stable at 0 ammonia and nitrite, 10 - 30 nitrate (depending on fertilization and water changes), 7 PH (up from 6.6 avg a few months back), 6dgh and 2dkh. I had some hair algae issues but got that under control as I was dosing too much fertilizer/too much light. One issue I still have however is that my ramshorn snails have all but gone extinct, the only ones that are still around are all tiny (< 3mm diameter), and their shells look stunted. The pond snails are also looking a bit ragged and their population has declined. The Malaysian trumpet snails however seem to be doing great and have a large stable population. What am I doing wrong here, a few questions I have: Are the ramshorn and pond snails just getting out competed by the trumpet snails? Are the ramshorn and pond snails malnourished because I am not explicitly feeding them anything regularly? Why are the ramshorn snails shells so wonky, am I missing certain trace minerals in the water column? I put a miracle shell in and it did not seem to help the snails that much other than making my dGH around 12. My current running theory is that my PH was too low for the snails I bought initially, which caused the first generation of them to get holes in their shell and eventually die off. The baby ramshorn snails, now that the PH is better, are getting out competed for food by the trumpet snails, they are malnourished and dying off before they reach maturity. Pond snails hitched a ride on a plant and took over for a bit but then also started dying off, the shells of the baby snails never get path the transparent stage. I think these are now also getting out competed by the trumpet snails. I have included some pictures, all taken today. I can send links to larger resolution images if requested. Any suggestions/advice anyone has as to why my ramshorn snails are not thriving would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone! Sadly I lost my mystery snails recently after changing my substrate. I have no clue what happened. Anyway, last weekend I got four nerite snails. They are definitely not as active as my mystery were, I haven’t seen two of them since the day I added them, and so far are not doing a very good job cleaning the tank. But anyway the real reason I’m posting is because I discovered the tiniest baby snail crawling in my glass!! I’m assuming this is a pest snail from my new aquarium CoOp plants as I added a bunch more plants when I change my substrate. My tank needs a thorough cleaning because there’s terrible algae everywhere and the nerite snails are slacking on their rent here. What can I do to protect this dear baby snail when I go to do my water changes and clean the tank?@Cory feel free to add input if you’d

I have a 150 gallon tank. Water is soft 3-5. I want to keep Nerites maybe other snails but the fish I have are in their comfort zone. What can I do to help them survive? If I add a wonder shell or cuttle bone is that going to mess with my water hardness to a point my fish are stressed? I really don’t know how much these items effect the water the fish are in.

Hey o/ I hope yall are doing good and are healthy! The past couple of months were realy hectic for me and besides feeding I had no time to care for my shrimp tank. I finally have some spare time to do so but now I'm stuck with my plants being covered in algae and I'm not quiet sure what the best course of action is from here on. For now I reduced the Timer of my light to a 8h (4h on, 3h off, 4h on) scheddule with which I can still enjoy the tank and also intend to dose my fertiliser on a more regular and controled manner. After trimming my plants I noticed that because of the rapid groth and neglegtion on trimming the plants the lower parts of the plants had suffered quite a bit because of lack of light. I'm not quite sure if I can just replant my cuttings because there is heavy algae groth on them and bide my time for the algae to hopefully go away or If I can treat the cuttings in some manner to kill the algae on them but not the actuall plant? Or should I just throw the cuttings on the compost and hope that the remaining stemmplants recover over time and replant them afterwards? I included some pictures of one of the cuttings with the most algae on it, the cutting is about 15cm/6-ish inches. On another note... I would like to add a few nerite snails to the tank but for some reason I can't manage to find a rule of thumb on how many snails to add to x amount of gallons or planted tank of x size. What are your thoughts on this? Many thanks beforehand for your advice!

I replaced my substrate with all purpose sand. I rinsed it really well and still my fish tank was extremely cloudy for 24hrs. Ever since then though my snails have been quite lethargic. They have this weird white stuff hanging from them. Now I don’t know if this is normal poop that’s binding with the sand so it looks weird. Or there’s something else going on. I did test my water today and my PH was too high. I did a small dose of PH down so as to not shock my critters and added Indian almond leaves to handle the rest. Should I be worried or do I just need to give it time?

Hi all, Any idea what these two things are? I am surprised to see a teeny sprout in my substrate. What on ear earth could this even be? Since a surprise sprout came up, does that mean it appears that my tank is doing a good job supporting plant life? The second item in question appears to be a creature. Perhaps a snail? I got plants from three different places in rapid succession so I have no idea who it came from. If yes snails, do I keep or eradicate? Thanks friends!