Can goldfish eat snails?

[johnhammond]

Well I know the answer is yes they can, because my fantail ate a snail that came in on a plant. I guess the question is *should* they. The fantail is very sick now and I don't think its going to survive. (Could be a coincidence I know)

I have 3 other goldfish that were quickly moved into their new tank a little earlier than I would have liked, but it has a few snails in it too. Do I need to hunt them all down? I figured if they were small enough to get eaten it was their own bad luck, but now I'm worried that the snails might have the last laugh.

Any ideas what I should do?

[toddnbecka]

Whatever is wrong with the sick fish, it's very unlikely the snail caused it. How long have you had the fantail? Any new additions to the tank lately?

[Halelorf]

They could eat a snail if it was small enough to fit in their mouth. Anything larger would be safe as goldfish have no teeth to bite into a snail shell. It could very well have made the fish sick if the shell got stuck in the intestines of the fish. I've had goldfish die from eating gravel pebbles before.

[smaug]

My koi and comets eat small pond snails all the time.

[johnhammond]

The snail was the only thing introduced recently. The fantail is about three years old.

Right now it is just fairly listless at the bottom of the tank. I tried a worm medication (noticed some white poo) but that didn't do anything. Tried some melafix cos I couldn't think of anything else. If it does have a snail stuck in it's gut is there anything I can do? Or do I just put it out of it's misery.

[toddnbecka]

If the fish won't eat there's nothing you can do. It will either die from bloat or slowly starve. If it will eat you could try feeding it some blanched peas. They're helpful for bloat caused by improper diet, not sure whether they'd work in this case, but no harm in trying.
I did once run across an account of someone who took an Oscar to a vet for surgery because it had been eating snails (mts.) The surgery was done w/out anesthetic, and the shells had cut up the intestines pretty badly. Personally, I think that fish would have been better off euthenized in the freezer.