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What snail is this?


OziOscar

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Hello!

I have about 50 of these little fellas in my 2' planted tank in the study. I was wondering if they're good, bad or other? I would like to know what they are called too.

user posted image

Cheers - OziOscar.

EDIT: Fixed link to image.

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If ducksta's right (and I think he is) then you are in for a infestation. The only way to get rid of them remove all the fish and to feed them copper sulphate then sterilise the tank and start again. I bought 1 plant from my LFS that I did not "cleanse" and now the little buggers infested 4 tanks I have cleaned 2 but they are still in 2 other tanks. The way they got into those tanks I have no idea perhaps I may have transferred a rock that one or two were on at the time. I am sure that there are less drastic ways of getting rid of them like clown loaches for example but I just am sick of hte sight of them.

good luck

cheers

Rosco

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user posted image

Here's a close up.

Looks like the Malaysian identification was pretty much right. The top centimetre or so of the gravel seems to be nicely churned and pretty free of detritus.

I think that they might get to stay a while and see how it goes. If it gets too crazy then it's Botia time. smile.gif

Thank you for your help everyone - greatly appreciated.

Cheers - OziOscar.

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If ducksta's right (and I think he is) then you are in for a infestation.

Every water change day we collect half a small icecream container of snails from our tanks, crush them and feed them our loaches - who devour them with relish dry.gif

We have not yet gone the copper sulphate route due to too many cats sad.gif

Aline

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Do those guys get smashed by convicts like the round snails do? I know when you crush them & drop them in they don't hit the bottom - but will any fish eat them without being "fed" them?

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Guys -

Most snails can be IME controlled by careful feeding. Where not appropriate clown loaches will certain do them in smile.gif.

The worst thing about snails (IMHO) is they can get into (and damage) filter impellors.

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I agree with Dave - control your feeding and the snails will stay in controlled numbers.

The only tank I have had a snail 'problem' in is my fry tanks and bristlenose breeding tanks. Why? These are the tanks which get very heavily fed.

Provided they do not do anything to the detriment of your setup (uproot plants, bust filter motors, eat your slow growing 15 yr old plants) they are probably actually being very beneficial, in controlling food waste. Sure they will eat it and produce waste but IMO decaying excess food is nastier.

Although my experiences are based on small round snails (as yet unidentified?? Dave was looking for an ID recently) I think I would tolerate MTS equally.

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I am quite a fan of these snails...provided they are kept in check. I have about 60 clown loaches that are in groups of roughly 15. They are moved around my tanks on seek and destroy missions to prevent population explosions. Dropping a blanched piece of zucchini into the tank and carefully lifting it out after 15 minutes (with snails attached) will help reduce numbers too.

Andrea smile.gif

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I had a ramshorn snail outbreak on one of my tanks and the clown loaches did wonders. Now I'm vacuuming up little snail shells on every cleaning. smile.gif I'm kinda tempted to introduce the Malaysians to that tank for some gravel churning, and a little dietary supplement for the clown loaches. smile.gif

However, the one with the Malaysians already in can stay as it is. I will just keep the feeding a little more controlled, despite it being about the only time I get to see my Kribs.

What gets me is that the outbreaks occurred quite some months (ie >3) after introducing any plants or livestock. I really don't understand where they came from - either the ramshorns or the Malaysians.

Cheers - OziOscar.

EDIT: Added last pargraph.

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