What snail is this? Keep or remove?

[BenA]

Just as it says above?

I found one yesterday and another one today, it has small brown/orange dots on its shell. To keep or not?

Thanks

[Kale241]

Looks like a bladder snail, if you found one you probably have a lot more that you don’t see. As long as you don’t overfeed they should be fine

[lefty o]

probably a bladder snail. if you like snails, keep it, if you dont, well....

[BenA]

Yes, this is the one.

Will make some reading about it and then will decide.

Thank you

[Sarina]

Snails are pretty much always beneficial. They eat dying and decaying plant matter, which allows your plants to focus on producing healthy leaves (snails don’t eat healthy plants, I don’t care what anyone else says) and best of all, they eat algae from the surface of healthy leaves so that your plants can properly absorb co2 from the water column. I have a large army of Ramshorn snails in my porch pond and it’s always sparkling clean and my plants grow very well. Pond snails are similar to ramshorns, though not nearly as pretty. If you get overpopulated, just pick them out by hand or set up a snail trap with a piece of steamed vegetable to entice them to come out. Usually you can keep the population under control by just not over feeding 😊 

[BenA]

13 minutes ago, Nirvanaquatics said:

Snails are pretty much always beneficial. They eat dying and decaying plant matter, which allows your plants to focus on producing healthy leaves (snails don’t eat healthy plants, I don’t care what anyone else says) and best of all, they eat algae from the surface of healthy leaves so that your plants can properly absorb co2 from the water column. I have a large army of Ramshorn snails in my porch pond and it’s always sparkling clean and my plants grow very well. Pond snails are similar to ramshorns, though not nearly as pretty. If you get overpopulated, just pick them out by hand or set up a snail trap with a piece of steamed vegetable to entice them to come out. Usually you can keep the population under control by just not over feeding 😊 

I do have an issue of algae, it is either BBA or Brown Hair Algae. If to be honest I just don't like the look of them, having 10-20 is fine but then they take over the whole tank and getting rid of them can be a task.

[Sarina]

1 hour ago, BenA said:

I do have an issue of algae, it is either BBA or Brown Hair Algae. If to be honest I just don't like the look of them, having 10-20 is fine but then they take over the whole tank and getting rid of them can be a task.

If you have algae issues, then the snails are probably doing you some good. If you fix the imbalance that is causing the algae, then the snail population will remain under control. I personally don't believe that pulling out snails once a week is that big of a deal. If you prefer, you could always get some assassins snails and that will take care of them. 

[Guppysnail]

Bladder snail. I would never have a planted tank without including them. I have hand picked the prettiest of them clear shell with honey caramel spire and breed them in my plant grow out tank. Everyone gets excited when they see MY plants and how perfect they are they ask to buy them....until they know the snails are my gardeners...ROFL

[ARMYVET]

I am starting up a new planted Guppy pond and I plan on introducing Ramshorn Snails into it once it get up and running and some algae started.  I think that snails are just part of the balanced eco system we are trying to recreate in our  aquariums from small to very large.

[BenA]

Thank you all.

I think that I have sorted the algae issue as it has almost gone so now I have started to fertilized the water but in a much reduced quantity (3ml a day instead of 6ml). 

During the last 5 weeks I did a lot of reading about it and came across Cory's blog, then the penny dropped. I have x1 Anubia Barteri, x1 Bonsai Anubia, x1 Theia Green and some Java Ferns, all the rest of the plants are planted in growth substrate and are doing very well. Regardless of that, I was fertilizing the water per instructions on the bottle while the plants are slow growth and low light effectively over dosing. I will know in 2-3 weeks.

Edited June 2, 2021 by BenA