MTS ID.

[Tanked]

Last November, I commented in a response to @Kit Craft's MTS topic, that my LFS was selling MTS for thirty cents each. They were considerably larger than the 3/8" snails in my tank.  @Odd Duck suggested that based on my description they might be Tarebia Grandifera

Well, it only took six months to catch these guys out in the open.  Based on the dots on the first picture, these are measuring 1/2 or a hair over. They are larger than the snails I've seen in the other tank, but smaller than the MTS the LFS was selling for thirty cents.  The pictures still aren't great, but they might be enough for an identification.   

They may also be the only thing that the photo bombing Silver Dollar might not eat.

[T. Payne]

They look like the common MTS to me. I definitely have some ones that large in my aquariums.

[PonyPlantedTanks]

Not going to lie, when you said MTS my mind went to Multiple Tank Syndrome and I was like… you need help identifying this highly contagious disease?😂😂

[Odd Duck]

These pics look like regular MTS to me, too.

[Tanked]

On 5/3/2024 at 5:08 PM, EricksonAquatics said:

Not going to lie, when you said MTS my mind went to Multiple Tank Syndrome and I was like… you need help identifying this highly contagious disease?😂😂

That other MTS is only a bad rash for me.  I'm holding the line but it's a constant battle.

On 5/3/2024 at 6:51 PM, Odd Duck said:

These pics look like regular MTS to me, too.

That is what I always thought they were.  I'm not lucky enough to bring home anything other than ordinary pest snails.

[Odd Duck]

I somehow managed to get a few of what I think might be Thiara winteri in my 20 long.  I don’t see them much as they stay buried in the sand.  They keep the sand cleaner so I don’t care.  I wouldn’t mind having more.  They certainly aren’t taking over like MTS can.  I do have some MTS relatives (chopstick snails Stenomelania torulosa) in my 100 G nanofish tank that also burrow very well but reproduce much slower than MTS.  I know they are still some in there because I occasionally find an empty shell when one passes and the shells are smaller than the shells of the ones I actually added.  I also occasionally see a live one for a short time.  I’d be perfectly happy with MTS if they weren’t so darn prolific!

[Tanked]

On 5/4/2024 at 3:15 PM, Odd Duck said:

I somehow managed to get a few of what I think might be Thiara winteri in my 20 long.  I don’t see them much as they stay buried in the sand.  They keep the sand cleaner so I don’t care.  I wouldn’t mind having more.  They certainly aren’t taking over like MTS can.  I do have some MTS relatives (chopstick snails Stenomelania torulosa) in my 100 G nanofish tank that also burrow very well but reproduce much slower than MTS.  I know they are still some in there because I occasionally find an empty shell when one passes and the shells are smaller than the shells of the ones I actually added.  I also occasionally see a live one for a short time.  I’d be perfectly happy with MTS if they weren’t so darn prolific!

While looking at some notes yesterday, I realized I had completely forgotten about the single ramshorn that showed up one day last fall.  It only lasted a few months.  The MTS population in the planted tank never exploded, and the snails were only slightly larger than the pea gravel they were pushing around.  They are still in there, but rarely seen.

At feeding time last night, I noticed that the single snail I dropped into the 65 a few months ago, now had at least 8 friends. They appeared to be larger than the pair pictured above.  Now I am wondering if the UGF in the planted tank has some effect on size and numbers.  Unlike the MTS, the bladder snail population in the planted 29 has exploded. The only time I see babies is when they become trapped on the HOB intake, but the substrate is holding hundreds of tiny shells.

[Odd Duck]

On 5/5/2024 at 8:57 AM, Tanked said:

Now I am wondering if the UGF in the planted tank has some effect on size and numbers. 

Interesting thought.  I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever had a tank with a UGF and MTS but I don’t think I have.  When I very first got a tank as a gift back in ‘75, the gravel was absolutely infested with MTS.  I had only a couple very feeble HOB’s on that tank at first.  I had to meticulously pick through that gravel, then left it out in the sun for a couple weeks to finally get them under control before setting the tank back up again.  I was still picking them out for a few months but they never took over after that and I finally cleared them.  They were definitely firmly and solely considered in the pest category at that time, at least according to the owners of the mom and pop basement fish store that was the sole source of info I had back then other than a few geriatric books that gave the same advice.  I did switch that tank over to a UGF at some point but I didn’t have MTS in it and I can’t remember if I was even using the same gravel at that stage.

I don’t try to clear “pest” snails anymore and encourage them in many of my tanks although I haven’t gone out of my way to get MTS again since I revamped my 29 G pea puffer tank.  That was the only tank I had MTS in (so far anyway).

Anybody else following / reading that’s had MTS with a UGF have thoughts on this?