# WTH [email protected]!



## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

Okay, so I buy a tube plant that says "Guranteed snail free" from Petsmart about a week ago. Well Guess who found a ramshorn snail last night in my tank. WTF! I seen another one this morning in a crevice of my driftwood that I can't get too. I guess I'm infected. Tank hasn't even finished cycling yet and now I have to deal with this? Well I haven't committed to any other snails yet. I'm thinking of getting a few assassin snails when I start stocking.

Anyone know how I can go about getting my money back or something from Petsmart? I mean $2 for a tube plant is not going to cover my cost and sanity of dealing with these guys.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I would try setting in a complaint, but there is not much you can do. you cannot prove THAT was the cause of snails. And trust me, I have gotten the same from live plants, even from tanks that were not at all infected with a single snail. I found a way though, is either squish them and feed 'em to the fish (delicious....to them...), or siphon them up. Also, even if it is a "snail free" plant I'd rinse it with a bucket of aquarium water, shaking it gently to release any snails, then have it not in your tank (perhaps in another bucket of clean aquarium water) just in case there are eggs.

I feel your pain x.x My one 10 was covered in them...

Tip to get snails out: lettuce, or slice of zuchinni apparently works well. I had this one fake plant they adored and would cover  no idea why... it was a rather rough plant so it was taken out soon to protect my betta's fins


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## puppyrjjkm (Aug 2, 2009)

That's a bummer. But if you're going for a planted tank i personally like them in my 10 gal planted. It makes it more "natural" in my opinion... but I suppose it's personal preference


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## betta dude (May 22, 2011)

i only buy artifishal plants cause every one despises them here


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

well with a planted tank, ramshorn eat live plants. I don't need this right now. So I'm going to invest in some assasin's soon.


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## Princess Penny (Aug 26, 2011)

That is strange. I have only bought live plants from tanks at my LFS (though I have bought the tubed plants from Petsmart in the past, and never had snails), I always see a ton of snails in the tanks so I make sure I rinse them really really good before putting them in my tank... so far, so good... ugh, what a pain though. Good luck sorting that out! :\


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

yeah, I was lead into a false sense of security. My one plants that were from a tank my anubias and my anacharis I had QT for a week in chlorinated water and they were clean. they were first to go in a month ago and the tube that is suppose to be snail free is contaminated. It is all i've added since adding the fish.


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## guardianfyre (Jul 23, 2011)

The tubed plants are grown completely out of water, in the gel that is in the bottom of the tube (that's why there is often gel with roots grown through them). There is no way possible for them to become infested with snails since the snails need water in order to live unless a PetSmart employee put the plant temporarily in a tank (though I can't think of any reason why they would...) or it was a return and the person who returned it already had snails in their tank.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

True... And hey at the one saying "everyone on here despises fake plants" I do not  I use both fake and real plants, wood, rocks... whatever won't tear my fishy's fins


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

yah must of been a return, there was very very little gel at the bottom.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Would have been. I don't care what the employees say anymore I keep plants separated until I am 100% sure lol. especially when snails are buggers to kill, destroy, and.... any other way of getting rid of them xD


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

The plants at the petsmart here are all in these four blockish tanks that have circulating water. No fish, but lots of nerites. The girl told me today I should rinse them out well before I put them in. I told her I plan to do that and QT them for a week. A free nerite wouldn't have been so bad, but uh, might have made one of my fat girls even fatter.


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## Vanah (Jul 26, 2011)

Princess Penny said:


> That is strange. I have only bought live plants from tanks at my LFS (though I have bought the tubed plants from Petsmart in the past, and never had snails), I always see a ton of snails in the tanks so I make sure I rinse them really really good before putting them in my tank... so far, so good... ugh, what a pain though. Good luck sorting that out! :\


Yeah my local aquarists store has snails, and they act like it's no big deal at all. I commented on it and they're just like "yep, our plants have snails!". :roll: I got some pennywort from them anyway. What can I say, I'm a risktaker lol. Since my 10G has been cycled for a while now I can add some assassins if I have to and it shouldn't hurt the bioload too much.

They do make snail traps, but I've heard throwing in a piece of slightly wilted lettuce or other soft green veggie will make them congregate on it and you can pull them out bunches at a time. Other than that, assassins are apparently very effective.


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

yah my petsmart and petco back in Inland Empire, CA always had the 4 block planted aquariums with such a nice variety with just a few tiny veggie fishies and dead plant eaters keeping them all green and sprucey. I wish I had that type of selection here. But luckily I found Aquatouch in Phoenix, Its like going to fish heaven. I'll have to video the store as a walkthrough. I mean they have like 6 open-ended aquariums that look so crystal-clear that it makes me want to have a waterfall set up with one of those in the entry way of my house someday.


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

wow, quick post vanah. I didn't even get mine done and yours slipped in there. yah I'm definitly using it as an excuse for assassin snails.


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

I plan on some apple snails for the big tank, just hope they aren't prolific breeders.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Here, the pet store says to quarantine and rinse anyways, especially when they are new shipments as a "just in case". They know how bad it is to have snails xDD


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

I thought it would be a total terrible thing but after watching some youtube vids of assassin snail and reading a natural way to control them and a good way to cleanup the fish flake leftovers I'm not bothered. I'm just happy its in a tank that I can do that. I'd of been really upset in my established 10g. I do not want to change anything there.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yeah I have a betta spawn tank, and I really want to choose the snails instead of having the "oh gosh, I didn't want 50'000 unknown snails!!!" I definitely want to be careful in that tank D:


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

yah choosing snails way cool. I wanted nerites with the black/brown stripes, now assassins are about the same size and color. and the burrow like trumpets. Man, i wish I did sand now that I'd have a good couple of burrowers.


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## Vanah (Jul 26, 2011)

thePWNISHER said:


> wow, quick post vanah. I didn't even get mine done and yours slipped in there. yah I'm definitly using it as an excuse for assassin snails.


*ninja poster* 

LOL Seriously though this thread reminded me of a question I've been meaning to research up on, which is how to tell the "good" snails from the true pests. From what I've found the most common 'infestations' seem to come from pond snails, nerites, or ramshorns. The ones at TPA are so tiny but I figure that's because they're babies. I'm wishing I'd known more when I bought those plants so I could have gotten a close look at the shell shapes.


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

Really its Ramshorn and Pond snails, They both are hermaphordites and can breed asexually when necessary. So really if you get only one. You can have a tank full in no time with enough nutrients. Those two are not pests when you want an excellant cleaning crew of algae, dead plant matter and leftover fish food. Some people just don't like to have hundreds of them in their tank. They can be an eyesore in those kinds of numbers. Loaches, puffers and assasin snails eat them so they are nice to have in large amounts in those tanks but without any predators they get really out of hand fast. I've squished every one I've seen in my 29g and everyday there is a new one. I don't see any eggs but I know they are out there. I'll just get me some ninja snails to assassinate them.


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## Vanah (Jul 26, 2011)

Awww you changed your icon~ That old picture cracked me up. 

But that's a pretty CT, and that's coming from someone who's not that big on CT. I presume that's Monster?


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## thePWNISHER (Jun 18, 2011)

yes it is. I would love to keep my old avatar but I'm too happy for my petco rescue. It seems everyday his fins are getting thicker and longer. He is growing still so I wonder how big he will get.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

He is a really nice looking betta.... That's a cool color combo


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