Hornwort and snails

[Pizzafan]

Hi- I got some hornwort hoping it might naturally help with reducing my staghorn algae (not really privy to trying a bunch of chemicals, etc to get rid of it). These things shed a ton of needles though - I’m wondering if snails will go after the fallen leaves? I won’t worry to keep up too quickly with the cleanup if they or other critters would munch on it.

[EndlersBoi]

On 7/3/2021 at 3:16 PM, Pizzafan said:

Hi- I got some hornwort hoping it might naturally help with reducing my staghorn algae (not really privy to trying a bunch of chemicals, etc to get rid of it). These things shed a ton of needles though - I’m wondering if snails will go after the fallen leaves? I won’t worry to keep up too quickly with the cleanup if they or other critters would munch on it.

Snails will eat pretty much any dying leaf/plant matter. Amano shrimp do even better in my opinion with eating staghorn algae (really any algae) as well as decaying plant matter.

[CalmedByFish]

All I can offer: I've noticed that the new, bright green stems don't shed much. Sections of hornwort that are 12 or more inches from the tip, especially if they're no longer bright green, are likely to make a huge mess. It helps to regularly discard of the older sections.

[FlyingFishKeeper]

Hi, from my experience not really, although my tank could be an anomaly. I got some from my LFS that had small about 5/8th's of an inch long needles, and an online supplier with needles that are a bit larger and that feel a bit more tender (might just be me though) than the LFS hornwort. Neither's needles have gotten eaten by the large population of bladder snails, or a few tiny ramshorns. Both have been there since March, with pretty much no reduction in size, or bite marks. Hope this helps! 

[Pizzafan]

On 7/3/2021 at 9:01 PM, CalmedByFish said:

All I can offer: I've noticed that the new, bright green stems don't shed much. Sections of hornwort that are 12 or more inches from the tip, especially if they're no longer bright green, are likely to make a huge mess. It helps to regularly discard of the older sections.

Great advice here - mine are pretty long that I bought. May trim them down considerably

[Fonske]

My pond, bladder, trapdoor, and tiny ramshorn snails never ate hornwort needles. The snails lived happily in the floating bunch of hornwort, but the shed needles stayed around forever.

[CalmedByFish]

BTW, the needles do vacuum up very easily if you want to siphon the substrate. I realize that for a lot of us, siphoning takes place every 3-4 nevers, but... 😂

[Guppysnail]

My bladder mystery and nerite won’t touch it. I shake real hard in a bucket. If there is even a touch of green on an empty stem I float it and it comes back bushier after it adjusts to my water.