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How did a snail end up in my tank?????

manbern

manbern

Members
Hi guys! So, I have a 110 gallon extra high that's nearly complete with it's cycling process (yay! can't wait to stock it!!!!). I did a fishless cycle. I used a mixture of pool filter sand and crushed aragonite gravel from Caribsea as my substrate. And for decoration, I used the Holey Rock pieces from Universal Rocks. Water ran through Tap Water Filter by API and conditioned with Malawi Buffer and Cichlid Lake Salt by Seachem.

Anyway, right before turning off the lights after admiring my tank and daydreaming about all the fish I plan to stock it with, I notice something....... A tiny snail!! It was too small to identify, but I fear that it might be an apple snail or mystery snail, or one of those pest-type, invasive species that most fish keepers DON'T want in their precious show tank. My question is: How in the heck did it get in there???? My best guess that maybe it hitchhiked on the holey rock or the aragonite gravel as an unhatched egg? What are your thoughts?
 
Localzoo

Localzoo

Board of Directors
The ninja snail strikes again lol! Possibly on the rock or sand most likely the sand if its damp or wet the eggs or snail might survive a few days maybe longer if conditions are right.


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manbern

manbern

Members
mchambers said:
Immaculate conception. Be very good to that snail.
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Lol, too funny! I dunno. The aragonite was dry and dusty, so was the pool filter sand. I rinsed both until the water no longer clouded up. And I even rinsed off the holey rock. Maybe you're right, immaculate conception, lol. Any name suggestions for him? Silly ones only please. Lol!

But maybe on a more serious note, if it IS a nuisance/invasive snail, should I remove it? Or will the fish I put in there soon, "take care" of them should they decide to multiply?
 
Greengirl

Greengirl

Members
manbern said:
Whoah. That one flew way over my uneducated head, lol. Explanation please. :)
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Nero (strong, and sounds like a neirite snail..sort of...even though you have a regular snail)
Maximus (greatest, managed to survive everything)
Aquinus (water related? I think I made this one up)
 
manbern

manbern

Members
Greengirl said:
Nero (strong, and sounds like a neirite snail..sort of...even though you have a regular snail)
Maximus (greatest, managed to survive everything)
Aquinus (water related? I think I made this one up)
Click to expand...

Haha, good one! I even googled "Nero Maximus Aquinus" and a bunch of Greek history pages popped up, lol!
 
Leffler817

Leffler817

CCA Members
Dang, Jon! Better not mess up your Greek and Roman mythology or fear the wrath of Alexandra! She'll give you a look and you'll turn into a pillar of salt or something..... :p

As for your snail, throw clown loach in the tank along with the Africans if you don't want a future infestation of snails.
 
manbern

manbern

Members
Hahaha, a pillar of aquarium salt to be exact!!

I actually do want snails in my tank to help keep the decorations (holey rock) clean, and the sand bed stirred up. My 110 is extra high, and I can use all the help I can get! Like maybe some nerites and MTS's. But I'm pretty sure this little "fella" is neither of those.


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Greengirl

Greengirl

Members
Leffler817 said:
Dang, Jon! Better not mess up your Greek and Roman mythology or fear the wrath of Alexandra! She'll give you a look and you'll turn into a pillar of salt or something..... :p

As for your snail, throw clown loach in the tank along with the Africans if you don't want a future infestation of snails.
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I will think of something more devious than that. Romans had some crazy ways of punishing people. I will pit both you and manbern against each other in the arena as gladiators. The winner will claim the loser's fish room as their own.:D
 
Leffler817

Leffler817

CCA Members
Nerites do a good job of cleaning algae but don't dig under the surface of the sand at all. MTS will dig and assassin snails will also. The assassins have a contrasting color to your substrate and will reproduce but not explode/infest the tank.


Greengirl said:
I will think of something more devious than that. Romans had some crazy ways of punishing people. I will pit both you and manbern against each other in the arena as gladiators. The winner will claim the loser's fish room as their own.:D
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Listen here Medusa! My 'fish room' is down to three stinking 10s and a 3 gallon! It does not get much more loser-ish than that! :p


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Raven20

Raven20

Members
If it's a MTS, I would get rid of it...in 6 mos you'll have hundreds of them...like a previous poster stated...Clown Loaches will take care of the problem...
 
manbern

manbern

Members
Leffler817 said:
Nerites do a good job of cleaning algae but don't dig under the surface of the sand at all. MTS will dig and assassin snails will also. The assassins have a contrasting color to your substrate and will reproduce but not explode/infest the tank.

I read in another thread that assassins will wipe out all other types of snails as well. Is this true? If so, maybe I should just buy assassins and not waste my money on nerites?


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Click to expand...
 
Leffler817

Leffler817

CCA Members
manbern said:
I read in another thread that assassins will wipe out all other types of snails as well. Is this true? If so, maybe I should just buy assassins and not waste my money on nerites?


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Click to expand...

Assassins will eventually wipe out other snails. It is definitely not a mid-30s German type of eradication, but a long slow process. It'll look more like a losing battle, IME. Clown loaches would be faster. Assassins will attack a Nerite but I don't think they would kill it. I remember Rachel's talk on snails in aquariums in which she said something along those lines. You should ask her tomorrow just to be sure, it would be the first time I'm wrong.



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mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
I've got Assassins and Nerites in the same tank, and haven't seen the Nerites be killed, but it certainly could happen.
 
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