Snail!

[toolisj]

Funny story, i've had a 20 gallon tank set up for about 4 months, cycled and all that good stuff. Well, today, i went upstairs to feed my fish, and low and behold a little snail crawling up the side of the tank. Never bought any snails before. I've decided it must have been either very very small or an egg in the water when i put my fish in previously, and it wasn't big enough to see until now. Is there any danger to this? Should i remove the snail?

[Northernguy]

If you do not want them then yes get rid of it!
Do you have any live plants?

[Alfcea]

Pond snails can become a plague in a tank and devour all your plants... but MTS's can be helpful if you have sand as your substrate... it's all up to you. What type of snail is it? Do you have any new plants it could have had a ride on?

[toolisj]

I have a small cluster of little plants. I do not have sand as a substrate, and I am unable to identify what type of snail it is. My barbs picked at it and it fell off the side and now i can't find. beginning to think im going senile :help:

[aquasteph]

yeah-- ditch it! their lay a TON of eggs and they will take over your tank. They're cool at first until they become a problem. I found some in my tank and put them in a breeder to watch them for a few days, the next day I found like 6 different egg clusters.

I'd ditch 'em.

Their eggs are little clear gooey sacks with tiny specs in them.
(If they're pest snails)

[Alfcea]

Here are a couple of pictures of a pond snail (http://www.bettatude.com/Snails/pond-snail1.jpg) and an MTS (http://www.dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/SnailMTS040413a.jpg). You can use them to see what type of snail you got...

[klaalla]

oh man, any chance you know if these are ramshorn? and you're nearby the bay area? i'm looking for snails.

[Northernguy]

I have a small cluster of little plants. I do not have sand as a substrate, and I am unable to identify what type of snail it is. My barbs picked at it and it fell off the side and now i can't find. beginning to think im going senile :help:
I use a magnifying glass.It made life a bit easier.:22:
Get rid of any you see.I just removed tore down my tank completely and rebuilt it.It was crawling with them.Start pickin'!

[korith]

Once you got snails, you will never be rid of them. In one of my tanks I have to take them out a few times each week. The only way I think I can get rid of them, is to completely break down the tank and clean it thoroughly. I keep shrimp in all the tanks, so the regular snail killing chems will take out all invertebrates including the shrimp.

In one of my tanks, I thought I had a handle on the snail problem. Then I went away for 3 weeks and came back, the snails out numbered the red cherry shrimp in the tank. There was about 150 shrimp in the tank and double that many snails. Bleh!

Some people do like snails, so figure out if you want them or not.