# Unknown tiny snails, are they a problem?



## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

My new 20 gal that I bought from my LFS as it was going out of business came complete with light, filter, heater, gravel, cheesy decorations, and even thousands of tiny snails. What kind of snails are they? I see that they've started eating my live plants that I picked up from said LFS. They climb the glass and are just . . . all over. What can I do to reduce their population to more manageble numbers? Will loaches eat snails this small? Please help!



















Dustin


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## scitz (Mar 16, 2004)

Dustin,

Those look like Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They are totally harmless to plant and infact act like mini earthworms for your substrate, keeping it from compacting. They usually stay in the substrate during the daylight hours, and come out at night (try hitting your tank with a flashlight in the middle of the night...). If you go in with a net a few hours after lights out, you can get a good many of these guys from off the glass. 

I have also tried, and advised a few people on making 'snail traps' which frequently are pretty effective. To make a 'snail trap' place some sinking food (I use algae wafers, the kind made to feed pleco's and the like) into a clean plastic cup. I use betta cups, but any clean, food-safe plastic dish will work. Place the cup w/ food in the tank at lights out. An hour or so before lights come back on, pull the cup out of the tank. It should be filled with a good bit of snails. Try this every few days to knock down the populations to tolerable levels. Then whenever you notice the snails getting bad again, drop in the traps a few times.

Hope this helps.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

I thought they might be MTS by the look of their conical shells. However, I've never seen any MTS this small. I mean, all of them are smaller than 1/8" or 1mm. I guess it is possible that the lady running the LFS where I bought the tank had removed all the larger snails and all I am seeing now are the young ones . . . .. 
They do seem to be munching on my plants, thought. As I understand it, MTS don't usually go for living material. They are supposed to eat only dying/dead organic matter.

-Dustin


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## weaver (Jun 13, 2005)

Its a little difficult to tell from the pic as some of them do favor the MTS, but a lot of them look like another snail and I can not for the life of me remember the name right this second. If they are what I'm thinking, they are a nuisance in my book as I have them in my tank. They do seem to enjoy munching on plants a little but I've never seen them really do any noticable damage to healthy plants. The plants in my tank have always been able to grow more than the snails can 'destroy'.. and I'm in no way a plant pro.

I've also seen a direct relation between over feeding and the snail population. I went extrememly lean on feeding for about a year in one of my aquariums and thought they had all died off. I didn't see a single one for about that time period. When I put some new fish in and started feeding a bit heavier, they exploded like in your picture. That was about 2 months ago. I cut back on my feeding again and 90% of the small ones died off in a week or so. The survivors are getting larger and larger and easier to spot and exterminate.

Anyway, I'll try to find the name of the snail I'm thinking of and let you be the judge.


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## cpn (Apr 21, 2005)

Hi sorry to steal your thread. With regard to the role of MTS in keeping the substrate from being compacted, I am interested to know if anyone here keep planted tank successfully without them. I am asking this question because I do not have them in my tank and are thinking of introducing some to keep the substrate aerated.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

I'll try reducing the feeding. Looking at the fish as they are fed, they quickly eat all that I can see in about 3 to 5 minutes. I don't know how the snails are finding anything left over. Well, I guess I 'll try to reduce their food anyway.


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## Piscesgirl (Feb 25, 2004)

They do look like Malyasian Trumpets -- maybe when they get a bit bigger we can tell for sure. I think they are cute  Definitely try to decrease food for a bit. Also be aware if there are a lot of plant leaves that are weakened/not healthy, dying, they'll eat those too. Usually most snails don't touch healthy plant leaves.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

The plants that are in the tank right now are the ones I picked up while I bought the tank. They look pretty weak. I don't think the owner of the fish store really knew what she was doing with live plants. I felt sorry for the plants and bought her entire stock (2 swords and 5 various val). Let's hope that they establish themsleves soon and grow quickly. I don't have any CO2 on this tank, but I do have a 2L jug of Flourish Excel that I need to get some use out of. So far, all the fuzz algae is dying off, much to the chagrin of the pleco. 
I'll see how big they get. I just hope my wife can restrain herself and not pour something in the tank to kill them.

-Dustin


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## ObiQuiet (Oct 9, 2009)

This old thread describes the same tiny, light-colored, conical snails I've been wondering about. Have had them for years. Does anyone know what species they are? 

They never grow larger than 1-2mm, though the ramshorns in the same tank grow out to 1cm. If these tiny ones grew larger, I could tell that they were MTS.

Thanks!


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