# Nerite Snail cleaning plants



## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

So Bert and Earnie do not seem to want to clean the sand, rock, or plants, in the tank. They do a great job on the glass, and the gravel half of the tank, but that's it.

My problem is that I have one silk plant in the tank that is literally covered in algae, as far as I can tell it's the green kind that Bert and Earnie are supposed to enjoy eating, and they will not bother with it. Well not quite, for the first time today Earnie is finally on the plant, would getting another nerite help or would it overload the tank, Right now all that is in there is Lucky the Betta, Bert, and Earnie? The two I have now make quite a mess, but I've been staying on top of turkey basting out the waste every day or two, and doing 25%, or so, weekly water changes. I have started my own. private, algae garden so food shouldn't be an issue if they do manage to clean all the algae off the plants and rock.

My other option is pulling the plant and cleaning it, then a few weeks later pulling the rock and cleaning that, I'm hoping doing it that way would leave enough algae for the snails to eat.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

What size is your tank?


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

ThatFishThough said:


> What size is your tank?


Ahh I forgot to put that. The tanks a 5 gal, and I have a sponge filter in it. 

I have 2 anubia nana that are maybe 1 to 1 1/2 inch tall and seem to be very slow growing, a marimo moss ball, the 2 nerite snails and betta, in the tank.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Three Nerites in a 5G is pushing it a bit. All types of Anubias are sloww growing. Marimos are actually a specialized form of algae; they generally shouldn't cause algae issues. I would recommend something like Water Sprite/Wisteria, Soft Hornword (just float it) or some other fast-growing plants to help with the algae. Other than that, you could try to put the snails on the spots with the worst algae, or you could clean the glass with one of those magnet things.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

ThatFishThough said:


> Three Nerites in a 5G is pushing it a bit. All types of Anubias are sloww growing. Marimos are actually a specialized form of algae; they generally shouldn't cause algae issues. I would recommend something like Water Sprite/Wisteria, Soft Hornword (just float it) or some other fast-growing plants to help with the algae. Other than that, you could try to put the snails on the spots with the worst algae, or you could clean the glass with one of those magnet things.


Thanks for the advice! I was thinking I'd be asking for a bit of trouble if I got a third snail, both from the extra waste and running out of algae, but wanted to make sure since I do like the little guys and wouldn't mind a third.

I read somewhere or other that the Marimos help a little bit with water quality that's why I got it. I take it out when I do water changes, squeeze the water out of it, and then drop it back in the tank, it's name is Oscar, now I just need a Slimey to go with him and my Sesame St. will be complete.

I read that Anubias were fast growing, I should have known to double check the misinformation on aquariums is astounding. I'll look into the plants that you mentioned, hopefully PetSmart has them.


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

I stopped by at Petsmart today. Plants in tubes and packages are not fast growing. They have Anacharis -it's a fast growing plants that you can leave floating.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Anarchis, like ryry said, is fast growing. So is Bacopa, Ludwiga, and most stem plants. Anubias, Buce, and Swords don't grow nearly as fast.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Remember that not all algae eaters eat all algae. It could be some of your algae isn't something Nerite would eat.

Instead of getting another Nerite it would be best ti figure out *why* you have algae. How long are the lights on? Should be no more than eight.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Remember that not all algae eaters eat all algae. It could be some of your algae isn't something Nerite would eat.
> 
> Instead of getting another Nerite it would be best ti figure out *why* you have algae. How long are the lights on? Should be no more than eight.



I'm about positive that the problem started around a year ago when I used a weekend feeder (NEVER again will I use one) because I had to be gone around 4 days, and now it's the lights. Before the weekend feeder incident I had almost no algae. 

I've been trying to do better turning of the light in the tank, I think I'm down to around 9 or 10 hours. My problem is that I'm a huge night owl and it'll slip my mind to turn them off and I'll turn them off right before I go to bed. Lately I've been trying to pay attention and turn them off 2 hours before their nightly feeding.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You can find inexpensive times at Wal-Mart or any discount store. That's what I have to use because, as you can see, I don't have a normal wake/sleep schedule.


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

Ugh that should have been AFTER the nightly feeding, not before.

What department would I look for a timer in, and would it need it's own outlet? Could I pair it with a powerstrip? Right now I have the tank on on end table that I'm using as a tank stand. The table has outlets two outlets on one side, I've got the lights and air pump plugged in to that and the heater plugged into the wall outlet.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I plug mine into a power strip. Bought it in the section where they have the light bulbs at Wal-Mart.


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