Do Nerite Snails Need Quarantine Trio?

[Cilph]

Slowly adding fish to my main tank. Have 3 guppies and 6 neon tetras in there currently, all happy. Just finishing quarantining 6 dwarf corys; will add tomorrow. Algea is starting to grow on glass and decorations so think I should get some Nerite snails. Never done snails before. Do they need to go through the same kind of quarantine process (trio)? Anything else I should know about snails? I read the nerite care guide. My water seems to be pretty hard (180ppm GH via API test strip) with a PH slightly above 7.0. What else do I need to know about snails? I assume two nerites for a 10 gallon tank?

 

[Guppysnail]

Please do not use meds on snails. Many things that are fish safe are not snail and invert safe. 
Snails do not carry diseases that can transfer to fish. The only potential is the water on their body or in their shell. You can quarantine for safety but meds are generally a no. 
Edit add: snail bodies are similar to worms so anything that harms worms harms if not outright kills snails. 
 

Nerites rarely accept commercial food but do occasionally enjoy fresh veggies. 2 for a 1o is just right if you do not clean your side and back glass so they have food. 
 

They sleep a lot during daylight hours but are very good at their job. 
 

Congratulations on your new fish. 
 

 

Edited September 8, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

What I do is I drip acclimate snails so they get used to my water (or you can just float the bag), but then I throw away all of that water; I do not let it enter my tank.  Meanwhile, I take a separate cup of my tank water and I hold the snail in it and gently rub the shell with my finger to remove any debris or film.  Then I put the snail in my tank.  It's like a snail car wash. 🚗

In my experience nerites ignore food that is offered, but they do appreciate a piece of driftwood because the driftwood will form a film that they like to eat.  Occasionally I caught my nerite eating zucchini or sweet potato, but it is rare I see them accept food. 90% of the time they are on the glass, cleaning it.

Edited September 8, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Tazalanche]

Everything I've read over the years states that @Guppysnail is correct. However, I'm over protective of my existing flora & fauna, so I am not comfortable with the "watch for X number of weeks & see if they're still healthy" for my QT process.

During my last large critter purchase, I had a separate QT set up for each tank that everyone would ultimately be placed. For the 55 gallon "nano tank", I had a QT tank of  neocaridinia shrimp, pygmy corydoras, chili rasboras, dwarf emerald rasboras, & horned nerites. They went through Cory's medicated QT trio just fine. About 6-8 weeks later, I lost one of the horned nerites. Since it had been a while, I do not contribute it to the med trio.

Am I putting the new non-fish critters at risk, or wasting time &/or money? Maybe, but when some of my existing fish are 10-20ish years old, I feel it's worth the risk.

[Cilph]

Thanks all. And I'm correct that they will not only eat off the glass but also the algae on my plants and rocks?

[Katherine]

Mine eat off the decor frequently. I'm not sure they've ever done the plants, but they haven't run out of food on the decor and glass yet, and they definitely have a favorite place to eat from.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Yeah, mine are on glass, wood and decor too.  Not so much plants.  My mystery snails like to clean the plants though.