Snail Problem?

[Scruffeh]

Hello everyone, my name is Cody and I am very new to fishkeeping. I know this isn't the introduction forum so I'll get to my questions. I bought a 15gallon tank about 2 months ago and filled it with gravel and and water and began cycling the tank without fish. Within the past week I've planted my tank and put in a nice piece of drift wood to go along with my plant selection. To my surprise however I've discovered about 4 snails in my tank that I know I did not buy and did not expect to be there. I am worried they may multiply like crazy and I'll have to start over, can anyone give me some helpful hints for my problem? Or is this a blessing in disguise? I usually never cry over free stuff lol. All you help would be wonderful.

[cocoa_pleco]

they hitchhiked on your plants. chances are theyre fine, the majority of snails wont eat your plants. some people see them as a nuisance but i like then

[Northernguy]

The snails came with your plants! They were a freebee.
They probably hitchhiked in on your plants.You did not quarantine them first.
Start picking them out.Do you have any fish yet?
Welcome to the AC!

[Scruffeh]

Thank you for the warm welcome and the quick response time! I appreciate that a great deal. I'm glad to hear that they are not dangerous right away. I wondered why my plants were starting to turn yellow. I'll start picking them out and placing them in a seperate tank thing, or should I just kill them? I know it sounds cruel. I'm starting to think they hitchhiked on my driftwood though because when I bought the plants they were in those tubes with the nitrogen gel stuff, and the wood was plucked right out of an established tank when I bought it. What exactly should I do with the snails? Kill them or keep them? And all the plants that are starting to turn yellow, should I pluck them and toss them or can they be saved? Thank you kindly. :)

[Sounguru]

Plants go thru shock too leave them be they may recover....

As far as snails go it is up to you what you do but I'm the wrong guy to talk too I have over 2000 snails in my tanks.

[korith]

They won't harm your tank. They do help clean it up. Whether you want to keep them or not will depend on if you view them as a pest:P I managed to get my 20g tank snail free only by sheer luck and determination. Went and plucked/poked them whenever we saw them daily for a few weeks.

[Dave66]

They won't proliferate unless you overfeed your fishes. Snails are an aquarium's janitors, and in stable numbers, are no bad thing.

Dave

[Commodore 64]

Yeah, I'm a snail fan too. Their population will stabilize soon enough so long as you don't overfeed.

You mention that you are fishless cycling, but are you providing an ammonia source? Feeding the snails will help.

What type of plants did you get, how much lighting are you running, are you dosing ferts, and have you considered DIY CO2?

[Northernguy]

This a great trap idea for snails or some other pests that may appear in your tank.Fishalicious had posted this trap in the DIY section:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=30410
It works great!

[Scruffeh]

Thank you very much for all the suggestions! I neither think them pest nor pet at this moment. I'm sorta on the fence. I was just worried that they were going to nibble at my plants. I am observing a group of them sitting on a plant at the moment, just kinda hanging out. If the population gets too big I'll start plucking them. They seen to be having fun crawling all over the place, in the mean time they are kinda fun to watch. I figure if I can have a population of 10 snails lol I can keep fish right? I hope my tank is properly cycled. I need to get a test kit, I tried the strips and they were all very off...

Commodore to answer your questions, at the moment I am not feeding the snails. I just noticed their existence about 3 days ago and they seem to be just fine picking up algae on the walls of the tank and the gravel. In beginning of my cycling I was putting Ammonia in my tank but I was concerned that I put too much in, I think I put an unreadable amount in, so I just kept switching out water to get some of it out. Now I need to buy a new test kit to test my parameters. I'll get them for you all soon. To be completely honest I can't remember the names of the plants, I threw the containers out. I will take a picture of my setup soon so you can all see it. Also I am concidering getting a submersible filter because I don't think the one that came with the kit is good enough, nor do I think I am using it effectively. My main concern is Aeration, there is oxygen in the tank, but I am not sure how effective the aeration is. Thanks again.

[Dave66]

If you've a detailed full tank photo, scruffeh, I can most likely ID your plants for you, along with their particular needs.

Dave

[Northernguy]

If you leave the snails you will have massive amounts in no time.There are probably several hundred eggs there now.
Some people like it ,some go out of their minds! LOL:19:
Pics are always good!

[korith]

If you leave the snails you will have massive amounts in no time.There are probably several hundred eggs there now.
Some people like it ,some go out of their minds! LOL:19:
Pics are always good!

I went out of my mind the snails piggybacked in with some hornwort I had gotten. Each day when I had time I'd sit in front of the tank trying to spot snails and then wipe them out.

[Scruffeh]

I really want to get them out of my tank now, I'm becoming increasinly concerned that the snails may the cause for my plants dying. I bought plant food and everything so I"m going to try that for a while, but I dunno what to do about these snails. I bought 3 Black Skirted Tetras and put them in my tank. They seem really playful, or maybe just agressive. I have more concerns now for when I want to scrub my tanks walls and stuff, my stupid sponge lets off this blue sparkly debris and completely new. I dunno what to do about this, becuase I'm not sure if its harmful for the fish. I hope my plants live, soon to come parameters. Any advice is great.

[Sharon]

I'm not a snail fan, so I "de-snail" any plants that I add to my tanks. A two miunute soak in 1qt of water with 1.5 tablespoons of bleach. I do not submerge the roots but I do dip them. However, too late for that...Maybe try placing a piece of lettuce on the bottom of the tank, weighted down. The snails are supposed to be all over it in the morning, and you just remove the lettuce, snails too. I hear that sweet potato works as well. There's no way you will completely remove all of them, but it is a way to control them...

[Scruffeh]

PH: 7.6 or so...
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0 so far :P

I hope my new Black Skirted Tetras are happy! I'm going to see if they last through the week, and if they do I'll be excited. My main concern now is how much plant life I'm going to have at the end of the month. I hope plenty. I'm going to feed the fish soon, I'm going to do more research on a new/additional filter. The Eheim Aquaball or whatever seems promising. Here's hoping. Any additional information about my first post would be sweet. Thank you.

[Scruffeh]

Thank you so much Sharon. :) I will try your weighed down lettuce trick. I am in love with my new Black Skirt Tetras, now that I've fed them they are playing "tag" again. They enjoy the plants very much, I do hope I can preserve the plants. If not I'll start over and just buy new plants. I would clean the gravel throughly if I had to replace my plants and my driftwood too. that way it'd be easier to spot those pesky snails. These fish are very beautiful and I can't wait to get more little creatures.

[Sounguru]

The snails are not killing your plants....

Your plants are in shock it is normal for the old growth to die off. If you leave them alone and everything is right they will recover in 4 to 6 weeks.

As far as the sponge rinse it reall well..............

[Commodore 64]

The snails are not killing your plants....

Your plants are in shock it is normal for the old growth to die off. If you leave them alone and everything is right they will recover in 4 to 6 weeks.

As far as the sponge rinse it reall well..............

We also have no idea what kind of plants he has nor what kind of lighting he has.

Cody can you provide some more information?

[Sounguru]

We also have no idea what kind of plants he has nor what kind of lighting he has.

Cody can you provide some more information?

Most of the plants sold in the gel packs at the BLFS will do fine in low light. So Lighting is not the real problem.

I bought 4 swords that way and they all turned yellow and started dropping leaves now they reach to the top of a 29 gallon 6 months later. The other plants I bought were bog plants, like most of the ones in the tube are, but they are still doing fine. I'm betting he bought some of the swords.

Most of the plants I have seen sold in those tubes are bogs except for the Java Fern, Amazon Sword, and Ruffled Sword. They make sure the plants in those tubes are easy to grow ad will do well in an average aquarium.