# Snail infestation!! Is this what you call "mystery" snails?



## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

These little semi-opaque critters appear to have ridden along on some of my plants or something. They're just teeny tiny little babies and I don't know what they are or where they came from. There are a lot of them. I've been able to count 5 within a few minutes. They are all different sizes from super teeny to about a quarter inch long. I'm assuming they are babies? I tried my best to get good pictures but they are so small.


























I don't even know where to start. Do I want these guys in my tank? I don't mind the thought of having snails, they're awfully cute and anything that helps clean is fine by me, but I don't know if there are harmful snails or what. They're going around cleaning up and stuff already which is neat.

My tank is in the middle of fishless cycling and the ammonia is at about 4ppm. Is it safe to assume that if I want to keep the snails I'm either going to have to move them or lower the ammonia, or are they somehow okay with ammonia?
Also, my tank has an open part where the filter and heater come out. Should I cover that up, or will they stay in the water?
When I use the gravel vacuum, won't they get sucked up?
In general, what do I need to know if I am going to be keeping them around?

If I'm not going to want them around, how do I get rid of them?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh lol, those are Bladder snails, regular pest snails. They aren't harmful, just annoying. They probably came from plants either already hitchhiking or hatched for eggs. 

It's up to you whether you want to keep them or not, they are pest though and will breed a lot. You can hook a cucumber slice to a string and then weight it down in the tank over night and most of the snails should climb aboard and start eating. You can take it out in the morning (most snails are more active at night) and throw the whole thing away. Smooshing the shells is the only way to really kill them besides letting them dry up.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

That's a bummer! I hate to have to kill them when they're so cute lol. What about those assassin snails, would one of those be able to live in my tank? Or do they need more space than 10 gallons


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## Netti (Apr 25, 2014)

An assassin snail would be fine in your 10 gallon. It may take a while until you don't see anymore of these snails, but eventually you will see less and less. Also, you need to be sure there isn't any left over food for them to find. They would get their fill on the food and then not need to go looking for any snails for their dinner.

BTW that piece of drift wood looks awesome, it has the "face" of a turtle.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Sweet! And lol thank you about the driftwood, I never even noticed until I saw that picture. It's awesome!

So I was planning on dividing the tank, do you think the snail would also be okay in a 5 gallon or 7 gallon area as well, or should I put off dividing it?


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## MameJenny (Jun 11, 2012)

I've seen some of these in my tanks - I thought they were baby pond snails, since I have those too. Interesting to learn that they're a different type of snail...I haven't had any trouble with them yet.

I agree about the driftwood. It really does look like a happy turtle!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Pond snails are similar to Bladder's but Bladders are the more common ones. There are big differences between them as well. Here you go:








Also there is a literal snail called the Mystery Snail, Bladder snails are not what we are referring to when we call Mystery snails lol. I know their name can be confusing especially when the snail you are looking at is a real "mystery" to you as in you don't know what it is!


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

lol that's what I assumed for sure! I woke up in the morning, checked my tank, saw a ton of snails and thought "Huh....well that's a real mystery, that must be what mystery snails are," hahaha

I ordered 2 assassin snails! I don't have any decent LFS's anywhere near me here in the middle of nowhere, even Petco and Petsmart hardly stock anything (which is probably for the best, lol) so Aquabid is usually the way to go for me..I just have to hope these guys are relatively under control until the new guys arrive.

So as far as ammonia and snails, is it pretty much the same as it is with fish, or by any chance are they any more able to cope with it? If I need to I can switch to err...snail-in cycling, I just don't want this little snail population to get completely out of control but honestly..I don't have the heart to kill the little guys, I would feel much better putting assassin snails in there and letting nature take its course, lmao


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Just make sure you have a place for them to go or keep feeding them once they've polished off the snails  Yeah, you'd be doing a "Snail-In" Cycling since they can have a pretty high bioload. Although I don't know what kind of bioload Assassins have.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Guess I'll be finding out soon! lol, okay, no problem. I'm kind of excited now...I wasn't planning on getting snails but I forgot how cool they are, even watching the bladder snails is pretty neat.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

*shrugs* I have them too but I dont mind them. People say they will over run your tank but I haven't really noticed that happening. Every now and then I see some things crawling on the tank walls but it far from an infestation and I have had them for about a year. They snuck in on some plants. I have some in 10 and 5 gallon tanks.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

I'm just worried because I've been watching my tank super closely every day since my plants have been struggling, and I swear there wasn't a single snail visible until this morning, then all the sudden they're everywhere I look in the tank! I don't know, I get the feeling my assassins are going to have a lot to munch on.

I have an interesting thought...I was planning on leaving the ammonia at 4ppm until the new guys arrive, but now that I think of it...can ammonia get like, up in these snails and poison my new assassins when they eat them? Or does it not work that way?


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I don't think Assassins have much of a bioload. Now that the pest snails are gone, mine are happy to crunch down on algae wafers and frozen bloodworms. I occasionally feed sinking tropical wafers and they like them, too. Pretty easy keepers.

And I imagine once I start feeding the Dario hysginon and Scarlet Badis live micro worms (yuck!) they'll feast on them, too.

BTW, it's my opinion Assassin snails come pregnant. By Fall you may have extras to sell and off-set your aquarium costs. But don't worry, they only have one baby at a time.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Hmm, I'll definitely look out for that lol! I guess I'll see what happens with them, I don't mind having a few more than two and maybe needing to sell some later. Money is always nice!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

So wait, your tank is fully planted? Partially planted?


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Partially right now, though I'm beginning to wonder if the black thumb I have outside of the water is just as effective underwater because the plants are not happy buggers right now. I always tell people I can take care of anything alive as long as it moves.

Why, will the assassin snails create a problem for the plants?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay, no I was just wondering because now you are not doing a Fish-Less or a Snail-In cycle but you are doing a Silent Cycle if the plants start actively growing!

What lights do you have and are you feeding the plants? Did they come from a place that grows them emersed or from a different tank?


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

I have a hood with two 10-watt 6500k fluorescent bulbs with all moderate lighting plants. I fertilize weekly with Leaf Zone liquid fertilizer. I know some of the plants I have need root tabs, I looked for them but no one had anything decent (or decently priced!) around here so I had to order them, but they're arriving today. As far as whether they were grown emmersed it actually didn't say but I'm hoping that's all the problem is because then they'd come back healthy, right?

What I think may be a big part of the issue too is that I had the temp at like 83 without thinking in hopes to encourage the BB, that's been back down to 78 for the past few days. My params are all good and appropriate for the plants I have. That's interesting though, I thought cycling with just a few plants was pretty much fishless cycling, I have a lot to learn!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh okay, for root tabs you can use Jobes plant sticks from wal-mart in the garden section ^_^ just break them up and push them into the substrate! 99 cents a pack!

As for growing emersed, where did you get the plants from? If they were grown emersed the plant would grow a new stem off it (if a stem plant) and the old part would die out leaving the new part which is acclimated then to submerse. 

The temp is fine for the plants. For a Silent Cycle to happen you need at least 1/3 of your tank stocked and at least one fish for an ammonia source still or more. The plants eat the ammonia before the Bacteria can get to it so it's actually going to take around 3-4 months to cycle your tank with the Silent Cycle however the plants keep your fish safe and water clean if they are actively growing which means you shouldn't hardly get any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate readings once they start growing! Hence it is called a Silent Cycle ^_^

With all cycle forms you still need an ammonia source (were you dosing with pure ammonia before?).


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Thanks, I'll look into those sticks when these run out!
One of the plants came from Petco in one of their little tubes (that one is actually doing pretty well) and the rest came from an Aquabid seller. I don't remember the description saying how they were grown..those ones are Amazon swords and anacharis. Both just look like they're steadily dying. The anacharis still has some green bits but a lot of it just turned yellow and mushy and fell apart. The swords are fully yellow and mushy.

I've been dosing the tank with fish food because I have a lot of not-great food to use up and figured I'd use it for that, it's been staying at 4ppm steadily.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay, the PetCo/PetSmart tube/bag plants are grown emersed so they may take a little time to acclimate. Anacharis routinely likes to die but the old stem should send out a new one that you can pluck off. I like to float my plants until they're acclimated, at least the stem ones like Anacharis specifically since it's never really done well in my tanks. It's a cold water plant but usually does fine in higher temps. 

And that's good then with the fish food, once your plants start actually growing though you'll need a steady source of ammonia which can come from the snails or a fish. So it's up to you when you want to put a fish in (probably wait until it's 0 across the boards with the snails in)


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Okay, I'll try floating the anacharis for now, it's still pretty new, and I'll watch for new stems as well! 
I have a little guy waiting to get into the tank as soon as everything is totally safe, for now he's in a smaller quarantine tank getting extra water changes till it's ready.
So the two snails will create enough ammonia for the plants on their own? That was one thing I was worried about, since if I put fish food in there they're just gonna eat it, lol!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, they are going to eat the food most likely! But the tank should be fine, but again; the key is to have the plants actively growing lol.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Lol yeah, hopefully that will actually be happening soon!! I'm also receiving marimo balls today, they should help too, right? I'm hoping things are on the mend from where they were and everything will be looking up at least somewhat by the time the new guys arrive!


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## Siobhan (Nov 11, 2013)

I'm a big snail fan and have a tank devoted just to snails because I enjoy watching them. Mine are ramshorns and yes, they breed prolifically. I squish the egg pods when I find them but they're geniuses at hiding them from me and I still regularly see bitty babies where there were none the day before.


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Welp...they sent me three assassin snails instead of two so I put one in there with Karvel (the fellow in my avatar) in his three gallon...he sat there starting at it and following it around for awhile, didn't flare at it or anything, just prodded at the shell for awhile...then all the sudden he just attacked the thing, grabbed it by the head and shook it like a dog.  I grabbed the snail and put it in another tank ASAP but yeah I think he's a goner...RIP little guy 
The other two are on their own in the 10 gallon and doing well but now I'm kinda anxious about when I add my fish!! I guess at least I won't be trying to give Karvel any more tank mates!!


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## Pony (Apr 26, 2014)

Update: I think the snail might actually be okay! I haven't seen him come out of his shell but I see he's gripping to the rocks now and he's in a different position. Hopefully he'll heal up and be fine!


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