# Where did all these small snails come from? I haven't added plants recently.



## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

I haven't added any plants to my tank in months, yet baby snails that are too small to take a picture of have started to show up in my tank. The only recent addition was a Flower Shrimp three weeks ago and unless an egg sack containing only a horde or so was on it there is no reason for snails to have appeared. Anyone have an idea where they could've come from?

..Oh god..They're everywhere. I just got a magnifying glass and there's at least 30..


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

datfish said:


> I haven't added any plants to my tank in months, yet baby snails that are too small to take a picture of have started to show up in my tank.
> 
> ---The only recent addition was a Flower Shrimp three weeks ago and unless an egg sack containing only a horde or so was on it---
> 
> ...


I think you figured it out already , just remove the snails as you see them, or one will find a hole and you'll have more than you can handle. It happened to me when I found a tadpole snail, left it alone, ended up with hundreds and it took 3 months to get rid of them (was in a shrimp tank, so only able to remove by hand)


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## jobber (May 14, 2010)

If you get tired of manual removal. Give assassin snails a try. They don't reproduce prolifically are much nicer to keep.

http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36014

Sent from my mobile phone


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

what do they look like ?
any pictures ?


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## grizadams_7mm (Aug 29, 2011)

free food for your crayfish, mine love snails and if you need to get rid of a bunch let me know my Assassin snails need a treat. I ran out of my feeder ram horns lol...


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

They're so small I don't know if I can remove them all by hand. The biggest are only one or two millimeters long.

Can Assassin Snails live in a cool water tank? Also, I had a Mystery Snail in there temporarily because my crayfish wanted to eat it. It kept getting sucked into my filter intake and ripped apart (He's doing great now in my planted  ).

And here's a picture I took of one using a magnifying monocle.

Edit: Apparently they're Gyraulus costulatus or a related sp. They only get to 2mm long or so. I think at that size my hillstream loaches may eat them.


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## nigerian prince (Mar 8, 2013)

get some of those $1 assassins that guys selling, theyre dirt cheap


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## trout (Mar 21, 2012)

Try a search on snail traps. Real simple to make and pretty effective. Or just put a piece of veg on a skewer while lights are out and remove in a few hours.....should be crawling with them. Good luck.


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

trout said:


> Try a search on snail traps. Real simple to make and pretty effective. Or just put a piece of veg on a skewer while lights are out and remove in a few hours.....should be crawling with them. Good luck.


Strangely enough, after the snail bloom their numbers are really down. Something ate them or killed them.


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

mini-ramshorn snails, max out in size about 5mm, they reproduce quickly, but are not large enough to be a concern.
like other ramshorn snails they have hemoglobin (red blood).
i find them to be acceptable in my tank. i don't really notice them as they're small, and disappear into the plants and other cover they can find.

like most snails they are beneficial, although most people consider them an eye-sore and don't want them.


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

Flear said:


> mini-ramshorn snails, max out in size about 5mm, they reproduce quickly, but are not large enough to be a concern.
> like other ramshorn snails they have hemoglobin (red blood).
> i find them to be acceptable in my tank. i don't really notice them as they're small, and disappear into the plants and other cover they can find.
> 
> like most snails they are beneficial, although most people consider them an eye-sore and don't want them.


I feared they would get bigger, they're a mincrosnail for sure. I don't mind them at all.


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## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

i have these guys in my edge, they came with some plants, not reproducing really fast but they are keeping the leaves of the plants very clean. now only if they would eat bba. ive culled a few to keep them in check, but otherwise seems to be ok


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## Foxtail (Mar 14, 2012)

I have them for sure in my tank.. I never see them though because my yoyo loaches make short work of them... I find hundreds in my filters though. That's OK because those ones go straight into my puffer tank.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Flear (Dec 8, 2012)

also noticed they seem to congregate around faster water flow
g/f had a tank with the filter was directing it's water against the glass and these snails were all over that area of the tank
just one of those interesting curiosities


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## Tommy72a (Jan 6, 2013)

I've once dealt with snail problems in the past too. In my experience, they get in to your filter (mine was a canister type) and lay egss in there too. Non-stop snails coming out from the outflow. Just to be sure, check inside your filter too... whatever filter type you may utilize.

Good luck!


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

I just found a couple of these snails in the community tank, will be leaving them in there and removing some when there gets to be too many. Will make a great crayfish snack  I may even put them in the wild betta tank, I'm sure they'd love them.
If they were full size ramshorns, or most other snail types I've dealt with before, I would've fed them to the crayfish as soon as I saw them.


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

If they were full size my crayfish would love them! But these guys are so small I don't even think she'd notice them. 

My tank is a hillstream setup so if they like to hangout in a current like Fear said, then I guess this works out pretty good for everyone involved. I tried removing one to examine it but I ended up squishing by accident, so I won't be able to move them around between tanks.

Their numbers are still declining, so I'm pretty sure _something_ is eating them.


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## Sploosh (Nov 19, 2012)

I'd say your loaches are eating them  and my crays are dwarfs (cpo's), they don't eat ramshorns or tadpole snails, they try though.


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## datfish (Sep 7, 2012)

Sploosh said:


> I'd say your loaches are eating them  and my crays are dwarfs (cpo's), they don't eat ramshorns or tadpole snails, they try though.


Which is great because they ignore a lot food when I put it in and the algae population isn't very sufficient. And ah yes, dwarfs would like these snails!


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