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Bladder snail eating my frogbit roots.


Scott P.
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I have this one bladder snail ( I think it's a bladder ) in my tank. It hitched a ride on one of the plants that I put in my tank.

Now up until a few minutes ago I was ok with him staying there. Then I caught him eating the fine hair roots on my frogbit.

I took my long tweezers and knocked him off. Well he was not to be denied. It literally took him about five minutes to get back up there. Now keep in mind he had to cross the bottom, climb up the back wall and find the suction cup that has my frogbit corral hooked in place. This makes me this these guys are smarter than I gave them credit for.

I have to corral my frogbit to keep it out of the faster moving water. Un-corraled it just get pushed into one corner and he would have an easier time getting to it.

My question for you guys is this. Is he just going to eat the roots till my frogbit dies?

Should I be concerned or should I just go ahead and remove him?

I don't mind the snail but I want my frogbit more than I need a snail.

What would you do?

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Unless you actually see the frogbit dying, I would leave it and monitor.  When I had frogbit in my 20 long it grew so fast I was selling to my lfs, giving bags away, and still would end up throwing some away.  The roots would get so long I had to trim them and they would just come back stronger.  None of my tanks grow it that fast now, possibly because I have more snails in those tanks than I did in the 20 L.  But if the frogbit is happy, it will grow faster than your snails will eat it as long as your tank isn’t completely overrun by the snails.

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On 8/3/2021 at 6:13 PM, laritheloud said:

I'd leave it alone. The frogbit will be fine, and the snail will not be able to kill it. In my experience, bladder snails do not harm plants at all, and just nom the diatoms, dying plant matter, and other detritus off of it.

He is eating the fine hair roots. You don't think that will bother the plants? 

I just checked on him and he has stripped all the fine hairs from a long root in a matter of minutes.

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On 8/3/2021 at 6:19 PM, Odd Duck said:

Unless you actually see the frogbit dying, I would leave it and monitor.  When I had frogbit in my 20 long it grew so fast I was selling to my lfs, giving bags away, and still would end up throwing some away.  The roots would get so long I had to trim them and they would just come back stronger.  None of my tanks grow it that fast now, possibly because I have more snails in those tanks than I did in the 20 L.  But if the frogbit is happy, it will grow faster than your snails will eat it as long as your tank isn’t completely overrun by the snails.

This is how my water lettuce grows in my tank. I want to try Frogbit in my upcoming 55 gallon.

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On 8/3/2021 at 6:21 PM, Scott P. said:

He is eating the fine hair roots. You don't think that will bother the plants? 

I just checked on him and he has stripped all the fine hairs from a long root in a matter of minutes.

Floating plants tend to grow and bounce back very quickly. Whatever the snail will eat will not make up for the amount it'll grow. I take out huge fistfuls of water lettuce (usually taking out 3/4s of it from my tank surface) every week, and it just comes back stronger the next. The frogbit will likely survive and multiply so long as it's happy in your tank.

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On 8/3/2021 at 6:31 PM, Scott P. said:

@laritheloud the thing I found shocking was how fast he got back to it.

He went straight to it taking the shortest route possible. I think they are smarter than we may think.

I will take your advice and see what happens.

Thanks to you and @Odd Duck for chiming in.

Oh, yeah, they're speedy little guys. Wait til you see them surf upside-down along the surface of the water!

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On 8/3/2021 at 5:31 PM, Scott P. said:

@laritheloud the thing I found shocking was how fast he got back to it.

He went straight to it taking the shortest route possible. I think they are smarter than we may think.

I will take your advice and see what happens.

Thanks to you and @Odd Duck for chiming in.

They can really move when they want to!

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