A couple questions

[Zac]

-Anybody ever have snails wave their shells back and forth? I read that it’s to shake off irritants on their shell. I don’t see anything on their shell however. Water conditions 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 40 nitrate(plants). My gut is saying everything is probably fine and the tank is safe.

-I noticed a little brown worm in my tank. It got away before I could get a picture. It was brown and had a similar structure to a detritus worm which I know are harmless. Was this worm probably a detritus worm? Or are there other worms I should be aware of? I have no fish in the tank right now, but just ordered some amanos.

[nabokovfan87]

What is your KH, GH, PH?  Do you gravel vac normally or are you leaving stuff for the snails to digest a bit longer? 

[Zac]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:56 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

What is your KH, GH, PH?  Do you gravel vac normally or are you leaving stuff for the snails to digest a bit longer? 

GH is around 120 ppm. Ph is neutral. I don’t remember Kh but last I recall it was stable enough to prevent Ph crashes. 5-6ish maybe. I don’t have a test kit for Kh. I try to remove as much plant debris as I can (tanks only been up for about 2 weeks so some plants are still melting a bit. There’s a lot of snail poop so I try to get as much of it as I can. The back of my tank is densely planted though so I can’t really get back there too well. I just leave it because I figure it won’t cause too much trouble. And I have sand and I haven’t gotten the hang of gravel vacuuming it yet. There’s so many tight spaces I have to use just the tube with no actual vacuum. Only the center is a big enough area to use the whole vacuum. A few snails died which I think is due lack of food because I don’t feed them (nor do I want to lol). I want their population low.

Edited May 23, 2022 by Zac
More info

[Odd Duck]

Bladder and pond snails are notorious for doing this.  I’ve also seen ramshorns do this but less often.  I’ve not really seen it in other species nearly as much but mysteries will do it if another snail is trying to mount them and they’re not the right gender or aren’t interested.  I’ve only seen it a couple times in mysteries and I’ve had mysteries on and off for decades.  I can’t remember if I’ve seen it in MTS.  I’ve not seen it in chopsticks, Japanese trapdoors, or any of the multiple nerite species I have.

[Tihshho]

This is a common thing for Bladders & Pond snails as @Odd Duck said. I see this fairly often. 

[AndreaW]

I think @Guppysnail had a video I think where her bladder snails were doing this. Am I right? 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

My snails do this- most often I see it when another snail is on them or nearby. I'm sure creatures like snails have itches just like all the other animals in the animal kingdom- it's never been something of concern- I find it kinda funny to watch. If you see too much of this behavior from a lot of them at the same time, that's when I might be concerned. 

Bladders are very dexterous little snails- a little moreso than some other species like Nerites.