Snails in the tank are good for Corydoras and Tetra ?

[Enantiopus_Melanogenys]

Hello! Everyone
I have 50 gallons tank set up with some Brochis, some Corydoras, and some tetras, but in my 50 gallons tank has lots of snails that look like tropical snails with all dark brown color. I really want to know that these snails are good for my fish tank and all my fish or not. If they are very bad for all my fish, what I should do to protect them not growing up in my fish tank because I have lots of them in my tank, and I feel uncomfortable when I see them. But, I don't know what I should do to them, and I don't know where they are from. Please! help me. It will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you;
Bunthid or Max

PS-All snails are good for the fish tank and the fish, or they are all bad for the fish tank and the fish.

[MatsP]

Not as simple as it may sound. First of all, you probably have the same brown common snail that I've got - a quick search gives this

They aren't, as such, bad for the fish. However, they eat plants (and that's how I got them, eggs on a plant at some point), and they poo/pee in the water (just like fish), so they add to the "bioload" and adds to the nitrate levels in the tank.

If you have cory's (or other fish) spawning in the tank, the snails may also eat the eggs...

If you have a relatively constant population, it's not a big problem - but if there's nothing in the tank that eat young snails or the eggs, then you'll have an ever increasing population... Which is not a great thing...

So whilst the snails individually aren't a bad thing for the fish, the huge number you'll get after a while will possibly cause a problem.

There's a few things you can do:
1. Ignore it - it won't go away, but if you're OK with keeping a bunch of snails as well as fish, it's not a big deal.
2. Get some snail-eating fish - there's been several discussions on this matter in the forum, so a Forum Search on "snails" would probably yield some useful tips.
3. Chemical warfare - there are chemicals that will kill snails - typically those containg copper in some form. However, you should be prepared to repeat the process several times, because very often, the eggs will not be affected, but only the "born" snails.
4. Pick the snails out by hand - trapping them using a piece of vegetable or such works quite well and helps getting lots of them at once rather than hunting around every corner of the tank.

I personally don't like #3, and I see that as a last resort.


--
Mats

[Psy]

I'd argue that the snails do not increase the bioload, for reasons I will explain. If someone can explain differently, please do.

When we talk about bioload, we usually refer to fish, in order to keep a fish alive though, we must feed it. Its not the fish that is the cause of nitrogen waste (While it is alive), but the food we feed it. If we stopped feeding our fish for a week, its nitrogen waste would drop significantly.

We dont feed our pest snails. They feed mainly on left over food, or plants. I've found that they do not feed significantly on plants, but the huge population explosions are due to overfeeding. Lucky for us, they convert what would be 100% waste into snail + waste, saving us some nitrogen. Feeding on plants alone, they seem not to cause a huge problem. In a very heavily planted tank they would produce a significant bioload though, but in my lightly planted tanks, its always been from overfeeding.

[christopher]

Fish excreet ammonia through their gills during normal respiration. So, even a fish that never poops or pees, but is still "breathing" will contribute to the bioload of the tank. Whether or not snails add to the bioload by way of what they eat versus what they excreet, I have no idea. But, if they have gills (some do, some don't) then they do contribute to the bioload.

Now, imagine your tank wih a small number of snails, say 100 in a ten gallon tank. Your fish get a little sick, you treat them with medicine. 95 of those snails die, NOW you have an increased bioload.

All in all, my vote is to remove the large snails yourself and get something that will eat the small ones. You will never rid yourself of all the snails, just keep them in check.

[MatsP]

Waterbourne snails would also excreet ammonia - I suspect landliving ones do too, since they are rarely living in really dry areas - the only reason most mammals DON'T excreet ammonia is that it requires more water to do so - since urea [which is in mammal urine] is less aggressive a substance - and it's essentially two ammonia connected to a pair of carbon and oxygen atoms. Disposing of any form of protein that the body didn't use itself will form ammonia at some stage, which then has to be converted to nitrite and nitrate and eventually be taken out of the system.

I agree, that if you don't supply food for the snails, then they will scavenge - and if the food would otherwise be left to "rot" in the tank, then there's little or no difference between this and having it eaten by snails.

However, snails may also eat live plants, which is going to increase the bioload.

Also, if you feed vegetables for plecos (etc), then the snails will often eat this too, and thus consume the food quicker than the fish alone would.

--
Mats

[Selyna]

Ok..so I've found myself with snails after buying a plant..and they are EVERYWHERE!..they're really annoying me.

So..my question is..if I get my other tanks set up..cycle the water, transfer my fish to THAT tank..how do I make sure there are no eggs, etc on my driftwood? Will boiling it kill the eggs?

[Bas Pels]

I wish I could tell you - I'm fighting snails for years now, and in the end, i probabbly loose

[Chrysichthys]

There is a doradid,

Megalodoras uranoscopus

, which will completely eradicate snails. It loves to eat them. The more there are, the better. You can gather snails from your other tanks and chuck them in as a snack for it.

Trouble is, M. uranoscopus grows 27 inches long.

[Bas Pels]

not very usable in a tenk 40 incehs long, i'm afraid

[Kostas]

Another fish that really eradicates snails after some time is L240...Mine after he found the way to eat snails(it takes some time before he learns how to eat the different snail sp.),he ate all of the Planorbis sp. in two weeks and in two months,he had comletely eradicated all snail sp...I had to add the Planorbis once again for him to have a live food always availiable...
The only ones not eaten to a great extend are the Melanoides...They are a pain...
Of course this fish grows to 25cm too so not the best for a 200liter tank...

Another dorad that likes snails is the Platydoras costatus...It may not be able to rid a tank of snails but it keeps them under control...And its not too big for a 50gallon tank

But above all,only place fish that you like yourself,never place fish just for their ability to i.e. eat snails or eat algae...

And because of the thread title,i would like to point out an observation i made in my tank with cardinal tetra:i was watching the tetras swim about and i saw a snail falling from the V. gigantea floating leaves...One of the tetra was under it,close to the bottom and saw the falling snail...As the snail was aproaching,the cardinal attacked and grabbed the snail with its mouth...It made some quick up down moves of the head until it managed to remove the snail for its shell and the shel fall empty having now a clear color!!! Then it spitted the snail body and catched it again trying to fit in correctly to go down The other cardinals then came and started chasing it to eat the snail!!But the original cardinal managed to eat it at the end...Nice meal!!!
So,i think this is very intresting as it shows that maybe tetras can and do eat snals I havent observed that behaviour again,although i have seen that tetra trying to attack another snail that way but it didnt made it as the snail fall onto the bottom...It seems like it attacks only falling snails...

[racoll]

I'd argue that the snails do not increase the bioload, for reasons I will explain. If someone can explain differently, please do.

When we talk about bioload, we usually refer to fish, in order to keep a fish alive though, we must feed it. Its not the fish that is the cause of nitrogen waste (While it is alive), but the food we feed it. If we stopped feeding our fish for a week, its nitrogen waste would drop significantly.

We dont feed our pest snails. They feed mainly on left over food, or plants. I've found that they do not feed significantly on plants, but the huge population explosions are due to overfeeding. Lucky for us, they convert what would be 100% waste into snail + waste, saving us some nitrogen. Feeding on plants alone, they seem not to cause a huge problem. In a very heavily planted tank they would produce a significant bioload though, but in my lightly planted tanks, its always been from overfeeding.

I will completely agree with Psy. Snails are generally no problem in the aquarium. They eat uneaten traces of food as well as decompose fish poo. The also browse on algae.

Their numbers are kept in check by the amount of food they have.

Over feeding = snail explosion

I have a low, stable number of snails (family Lymnaeidae) in all my tanks (except the one with clown loach ) and they are welcome.

They do not eat the plants, but they do clean algae from their leaves, which is beneficial.

[Bas Pels]

My problem is, trhat when raising browsing cich lids, I must have food available for them, but the snails take it first. I have remouved over a hundred snails from raising tanks last saturday, but in fact only a few percent of the whole problem is solved this way

[MatsP]

My problem is, trhat when raising browsing cich lids, I must have food available for them, but the snails take it first. I have remouved over a hundred snails from raising tanks last saturday, but in fact only a few percent of the whole problem is solved this way

The same applies when raising for bristlenose fry - the goal is to have food available 24/7 - but if they snails are there, they will ALSO find the same food as the bristlenoses - and I'm not talking overfeeding, just food competition.

--
Mats

[cartouche]

If you have problems with snails, buy some medium-size loach (Botia). Within one month, you won't find a single snail in your tank. (In fact, I currently "breed" snails in my Corydoras tanks because of my loaches.)

Snails can occassionally eat eggs, if you let them in the tank too long after spawning. But otherwise they do an useful work.