cryptkeeper Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Pretty much what the title says...I had a pest snail that was my tanks first inhabitant, came in on plants and grew up in my tank over the last 4 months. I have RCS, 2 mystery snails and a bristlenose. Yesterday I did notice the snail looking like he was stretching his body, I didn't think anything of it, he's done it before, but today I found his empty shell, totally cleaned out. Tank mates have shown no interest in him from what I saw and all the parameters are in check. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Sounds like the snail is no more. Could’ve been a welcomed snack (after passing) for the other inhabitants. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryptkeeper Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 How long do those pest snails usually live? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLANANO Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) Yeah I agree. Sounds like your snail is in snail heaven. This happened to me once and about 2 weeks later I found an assassin snail in my tank. It must have hitched a ride on some plants or something. On 3/26/2024 at 2:46 PM, cryptkeeper said: How long do those pest snails usually live? Thats hard to say. I am by no means a snail expert but I don't believe there a snail actually called a pest snail. It was most likely either a rams horn or nerite or some other form of common snail that just hitched a ride on some plants. But in general, I think snails live about a year. Edited March 26 by NOLANANO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryptkeeper Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Sorry, yeah, it was a bladder snail, I just call them pest snails even though I love them lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOLANANO Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Google says they can live 2-3 years. Maybe he was old? If your mystery snails also go missing, you probably have an assassin snail in the tank. They are kind of hard to spot because they burry themselves in the substrate and only come out at night, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knee Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Sounds like a pond snail. I’ve observed my pond snails do that sometimes and I would also see their body outside of the shell (already dead) and I just leave them in there for the other snails to eat. I have hundreds of empty shells in my 20 long 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dacotua Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Dead snail. I have assassin snails in every one of my tanks. I use them to keep the pest snails in check. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichNJ Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Bladder and pond snails are so small, I think they breakdown pretty fast after they die. I've bigger snails that die (like mystery snails) get pecked at a for a few hours by fish and eventually get cleaned out of the shell. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyM Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I find empty ramshorn shells - I think it's just the snail population going up and down relative to how much food is available. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Related to this topic: does anyone have any tips or tricks for cleaning up all those shells? I have a lot of old shells, and I guess I could just leave them to (slowly!) dissolve back into the water column, but in the meantime, they're a little unsightly. So far I've used aquascaping tongs, which take forever, and a fish net that I swish the sand back out of, but that's not much faster. Any better ways I'm not thinking of? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyxxl Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 Snails usually die with no shell. Suspect he passed on and became fuel for something else's growth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knee Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 On 3/27/2024 at 8:14 AM, Rube_Goldfish said: Related to this topic: does anyone have any tips or tricks for cleaning up all those shells? I have a lot of old shells, and I guess I could just leave them to (slowly!) dissolve back into the water column, but in the meantime, they're a little unsightly. So far I've used aquascaping tongs, which take forever, and a fish net that I swish the sand back out of, but that's not much faster. Any better ways I'm not thinking of? I bury mine in the substrate 😂😂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cryptkeeper Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 On 3/27/2024 at 11:14 AM, Rube_Goldfish said: Related to this topic: does anyone have any tips or tricks for cleaning up all those shells? I have a lot of old shells, and I guess I could just leave them to (slowly!) dissolve back into the water column, but in the meantime, they're a little unsightly. So far I've used aquascaping tongs, which take forever, and a fish net that I swish the sand back out of, but that's not much faster. Any better ways I'm not thinking of? I think I'll leave mine, makes me feel like I'm at the beach 🤣 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 On 3/27/2024 at 11:14 AM, Rube_Goldfish said: Related to this topic: does anyone have any tips or tricks for cleaning up all those shells? I have a lot of old shells, and I guess I could just leave them to (slowly!) dissolve back into the water column, but in the meantime, they're a little unsightly. So far I've used aquascaping tongs, which take forever, and a fish net that I swish the sand back out of, but that's not much faster. Any better ways I'm not thinking of? I've been meaning to ask this question for a long time. I have hundreds of bladder snail shells in my gravel substrate. They aren't noticeable until I gravel vac, and then it looks a little like snow tumbling in the tube. The syphon isn't strong enough to pull them out of the tank. I'm guessing that my water is so hard that it takes the shells forever for them to dissolve. For my problem, I'm considering a much shorter tube, If your shells are larger, what about a cat litter scoop? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 On 3/29/2024 at 9:09 AM, Tanked said: I've been meaning to ask this question for a long time. I have hundreds of bladder snail shells in my gravel substrate. They aren't noticeable until I gravel vac, and then it looks a little like snow tumbling in the tube. The syphon isn't strong enough to pull them out of the tank. I'm guessing that my water is so hard that it takes the shells forever for them to dissolve. For my problem, I'm considering a much shorter tube, If your shells are larger, what about a cat litter scoop? I mostly have the same: lots of small bladder snail shells. While a cat litter scoop would be too big, I think, to fit between plants and hardscape, I wonder if I could use a slotted spoon? Or maybe just a coarser net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/1/2024 at 5:00 PM, Rube_Goldfish said: I mostly have the same: lots of small bladder snail shells. While a cat litter scoop would be too big, I think, to fit between plants and hardscape, I wonder if I could use a slotted spoon? Or maybe just a coarser net. A slotted spoon was actually my first thought, until I got distracted and started wondering how to do larger areas. Maybe you can design a shell rake. I would also investigate a 'spider', or kitchen skimmer used for skimming debris from soups and adding and removing food from fryers. The shells I'm dealing with are about the size of the tip of your pen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rube_Goldfish Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 4/2/2024 at 12:03 PM, Tanked said: A slotted spoon was actually my first thought, until I got distracted and started wondering how to do larger areas. Maybe you can design a shell rake. I would also investigate a 'spider', or kitchen skimmer used for skimming debris from soups and adding and removing food from fryers. The shells I'm dealing with are about the size of the tip of your pen. That's a good idea, too. Mine are about the size of a big pea, on average. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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