TeeJays first mystery snail clutch has hatched!

[Cinnebuns]

On 8/24/2022 at 4:06 PM, TeeJay said:

Right I mean it's still a guessing game on how many I still really have. I mean I know I have a few. But I don't get to catch much movement other than carmellos chunky monkey self always front and center. I'm thinking I'll end up with about 6-8 unless there is more activity when I get home.

Yeah counting them all is a task lol. I dont do that until I take them out of the box. It's an opportunity to do that. Same with guppies and cories. Transfers are an opportunity for counting. 

[TeeJay]

Just did a 50 percent water change for the snail babies. Water params are still at zero. There is still lots of biofilm in there for the bacter ae. So tonight will just be one mini alge wafer for nom nom time. I didn't see carmello for the first time while checking in. Probably hiding on the back side of the wood or filter. 

[TeeJay]

What the hell are these worm things in my baby snail tank?! I can't get a good pic cuz there so small. Look like little white worms

[TeeJay]

Has to be some type of planaria. Most likely caused by food I'm sure. I sucked out as much as I could again to try and keep it as clean as possible. Always hard when your still dealing with pinhead size snailes. As long as they don't try and eat on my babies I can take care of them once I get them big enough to move to other tanks and I'll breakdown the 2.5 gal and take those worms out with extreme haste.

[TeeJay]

Got a couple of pics. Looks like I found a whole crew hiding under the wood.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Do they swim if disturbed? In a squiggly type motion? 
 

Do they have a triangular shaped head? 
 

Do they seem to be suctioned onto things or just hiding under objects?

Edited August 28, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Cinnebuns]

I think @Biotope Biologist is the critter person here right?

A video might help. That's what helped identify mine was their movement

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@TeeJay is this what you're referring to?

Doesn't it look like the one has antennae?  These don't look like planaria or detritus worms.  They are fatter and the same color as the wood.  Tagging @Fish Folk as well. I believe he's helped ID worms before on @nabokovfan87's worm thread.

However, if it's these things you're referring to, these look like harmless detritus worms.  They show up when there is excess waste/food.  You can get rid of them by vacuuming more often, but I know you have to feed the crumbly/powdery foods right now because your snails are babies.  If detritus worms, they will not harm your snails, they just want the noms.

[Fish Folk]

It is a terribly curious thing to examine how many worms and such thrive in our aquariums.

If you’re not losing fry / babies don’t let worms bother you much. There’s probably scary things in every tank. 

Just take care if / when / how you move water, substrate, snails, and fish to other aquariums.

I’ve been feeding my baby Bettas and baby Killis with green water from outside. Ridiculously insane gunk growing in those tanks 🤢🤮 

[Guppysnail]

Those look like detritus worms. I agree with @Fish Folk don’t worry about it if no losses. They end up encasing themselves in mulm in bare bottom tanks so not worries and unless they have legs I think it’s a trick of the light that mulm looks like antenna. 

[TeeJay]

On 8/29/2022 at 10:18 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@TeeJay is this what you're referring to?

Doesn't it look like the one has antennae?  These don't look like planaria or detritus worms.  They are fatter and the same color as the wood.  Tagging @Fish Folk as well. I believe he's helped ID worms before on @nabokovfan87's worm thread.

However, if it's these things you're referring to, these look like harmless detritus worms.  They show up when there is excess waste/food.  You can get rid of them by vacuuming more often, but I know you have to feed the crumbly/powdery foods right now because your snails are babies.  If detritus worms, they will not harm your snails, they just want the noms.

Yes the ones on the bottom of the tank are what I noticed. The stuff on the wood I wasn't quite sure of. I thought it was just weirdness in the wood. What's on the wood jas never moved once I'll examine that when I get home.

 

[TeeJay]

So the stuff on the wood was just crud. As soon as I touch it with the tweezers it went poof!  So that's good just messy lol. Sucked out more yumminess and added back some fresh water and just a smidge of fry food. There still so tiny. But doing well.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/28/2022 at 9:44 AM, TeeJay said:

What the hell are these worm things in my baby snail tank?! I can't get a good pic cuz there so small. Look like little white worms

not good......  keeping on reading.

 

On 8/28/2022 at 8:04 PM, Cinnebuns said:

A video might help. That's what helped identify mine was their movement

Agreed. Kind of need it for scale as well.

On 8/29/2022 at 1:49 PM, TeeJay said:

So the stuff on the wood was just crud. As soon as I touch it with the tweezers it went poof!  So that's good just messy lol. Sucked out more yumminess and added back some fresh water and just a smidge of fry food. There still so tiny. But doing well.

Just to be safe, after lights out. Check the water column after dark with a flashlight to see if you see any free swimming.

Looks like Mopani wood right?

[TeeJay]

On 8/29/2022 at 5:49 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

not good......  keeping on reading.

 

Agreed. Kind of need it for scale as well.

Just to be safe, after lights out. Check the water column after dark with a flashlight to see if you see any free swimming.

Looks like Mopani wood right?

I don't think that piece is mopani. But I could be wrong. I know I have a piece of mopani in my shrimp tank and the one in the snail tank does not appear to be the same. So I'm looking to see if there are any of the free swimming in the water after lights out?

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/29/2022 at 2:57 PM, TeeJay said:

So I'm looking to see if there are any of the free swimming in the water after lights out?

Yeah.  I would never find them during the day, I saw them at night.  I check on the corys / eggs at night pretty late.  I use a flashlight on low just to see if there's any issues.  It keeps the shrimp and catfish calm (clown plecos and stuff).  I honestly didn't see them until I did this and was like.... uh..... that's a worm.

Some will be in the substrate, hardscape, others in the filter, others on the glass.  Behavior, location, shape, etc. are all going to help narrow down what you're dealing with! 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I mean fortunately bare bottom and @TeeJay has a sponge filter so they should be easily found. I had detritus worms in my snail growout too because I was always feeding the snails. They went down into my sand and I don’t even know if they are there anymore. Haven’t seen any in awhile. They didn’t bother anything. They just enjoy snacks and actually are a beneficial cleanup crew if you can get past the fact that they are worms. 🙂

[TeeJay]

On 8/30/2022 at 6:55 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I mean fortunately bare bottom and @TeeJay has a sponge filter so they should be easily found. I had detritus worms in my snail growout too because I was always feeding the snails. They went down into my sand and I don’t even know if they are there anymore. Haven’t seen any in awhile. They didn’t bother anything. They just enjoy snacks and actually are a beneficial cleanup crew if you can get past the fact that they are worms. 🙂

I mean I don't mind that there worms as long as they don't hurt the tank inhabitants they can stay. And that tank will only be set up long enough to grow out the snails to movable size then it will be broken down.

[Guppysnail]

On 8/30/2022 at 7:08 AM, TeeJay said:

I mean I don't mind that there worms as long as they don't hurt the tank inhabitants they can stay. And that tank will only be set up long enough to grow out the snails to movable size then it will be broken down.

Once you get you LK you can throw a few fry in there. Those little worms won’t stand a chance against juvenile LK. Voracious they are. Nose buried way into substrate praying to find a detritus worm 🤣 🐷 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

How are the little guys doing? Have you seen any unusual activity from those worms? @TeeJay

[TeeJay]

The snails really haven't grown any. Has me a bit concerned but no bad effects from the worms.jistvligjt feedings every day and sucking out gunk each evening and adding fresh water. We will see how it goes 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hmm. They usually grow fast. The three main things they need are protein, calcium, and vegetation. Crab cuisine offers protein and calcium. Sinking pellets (like the ones for cories) offer protein, and of course boiled veggies & algae wafers offer vegetation. Cuttlebone would be calcium only. Try to vary their diet a bit and see how they do. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I just looked back in my journal to see what I was feeding my snails when they were your snails’ age.

Egg yolk (they loved it but it fouls the water easily. If you try it, just let a little coat a toothpick and then swirl that in the water.)

Cucumber, boiled. They loved this. ❤️

Java moss. They loved this and were on it constantly ❤️

Calcium chips & snello- I removed a lot of this stuff but I imagine they must have eaten some

Algae wafers- they did NOT eat these👎

[Guppysnail]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:02 PM, TeeJay said:

The snails really haven't grown any. Has me a bit concerned but no bad effects from the worms.jistvligjt feedings every day and sucking out gunk each evening and adding fresh water. We will see how it goes 

Not sure I’m reading it right but you siphon before bed and remove everything?  Snails are most active at night because it’s instinct of when the least predators are around. Try adding food after you clean it out if you are not already. 
Keeping it to sterile is not always good. 
My kids in the new 5 gallon and in shrimptopia I didn’t vac for the first 4 weeks of their life. Edit..3 baby new hatched panda Cory lived and thrived in that unvaced mulm. 1 I did not know existed. Most of my clutches I do not vac. Yes you are removing debris but there is tons and tons of beneficial bacteria on that debris leaving it in really does not foul water. I keep an eye on nitrate and 40 means vac a little but not all and wc. The snaibies eat all that mulm and bacteria.  Once it is reduced to powder is when they are done with it. 
 

STILL YUMMY

YUMMIES ALL GONE

Edited September 4, 2022 by Guppysnail

[TeeJay]

Ok you know that's prolly what I'm doing. Maybe keeping it to sterile. For fear of souring the water. I usually feed in the evening after work. Then the next day after work I clean out then fresh stuff usually goes in after that. Still a learning experience. I usually only suck out the stuff that looks like it is getting "fuzzy"

[Katherine]

On 9/4/2022 at 4:29 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Algae wafers- they did NOT eat these👎

Mine would eat algae wafers at this age if I let them soak in the tank a few hours and then crumbled them up into smaller bits.