Snail

[soup]

Have seen a snail in my aquarium, whether it got there as an egg
on a piece of greenery or as a fully shelled snail in amongst the
gravel. It seems to live on algae growing on the tank walls
(doesn't seem to clean the acrylic very effectively)
what I need to know is will I leave this snail alone (to clean the
Acrylic)
or does it give off toxins that will cause the fish distress?
Pic (not at all good) of snail at:-

http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG

--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

[CanadianCray]

That looks like a pest snail to me. If you leave it you could end up with
100's of them in no time.

--
Craig Williams

"soup" > wrote in message
k...
>
> Have seen a snail in my aquarium, whether it got there as an egg
> on a piece of greenery or as a fully shelled snail in amongst the
> gravel. It seems to live on algae growing on the tank walls
> (doesn't seem to clean the acrylic very effectively)
> what I need to know is will I leave this snail alone (to clean the
> Acrylic)
> or does it give off toxins that will cause the fish distress?
> Pic (not at all good) of snail at:-
>
> http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG
>
> --
> yours S
>
> Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione
>
>

[Mean_Chlorine]

Thusly "soup" > Spake Unto All:

>what I need to know is will I leave this snail alone (to clean the
>Acrylic)
>or does it give off toxins that will cause the fish distress?
>Pic (not at all good) of snail at:-
>
>http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG

It's a bladder-, aka egg-, snail, of the genus Physa, by a wide margin
the most common type of pest snail found in aquaria. It almost
certainly came in with plants, either as adult or as egg.

They grow to about 10mm in length, don't eat plants or exude toxins,
are in fact utterly harmless to everything except algae and leftover
fishfood, and personally I even consider them beneficial.
Their weak shells and unprotected eggs mean they're easy prey to
snail-eating fish such as puffers or loaches, as well as to more
raptorial snails such as malaysian tower snail and giant ramshorn.
Bladdersnails tend to go extinct in aquaria where there's any of the
above animals.

The reason pretty much everyone except me hate them, is their extreme
reproductive rate. In aquaria where there's ample food (read: leftover
fish-food) the population can explode, and even small aquaria may end
up with thousands of these snails.

Personally I like snails, I consider them better at cleaning up than
most fish, so I'd leave it in if I was you. Most would however advice
you to remove it, to lessen the chance of a population explosion.

Your call.

[Nikki Casali]

Mean_Chlorine wrote:


> The reason pretty much everyone except me hate them, is their extreme
> reproductive rate. In aquaria where there's ample food (read: leftover
> fish-food) the population can explode, and even small aquaria may end
> up with thousands of these snails.
>

So you could say that a snail population will be proportional to the
amount of leftover fish food. That makes sense in my 330L aquarium where
I only feed, sparingly, once a day, where I can't count more than a
dozen snails.

Nikki

[soup]

soup popped their head over the parapet saw what was going on and said

><snip 8 lines of being WAY out of my depth>
> http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG

Thanks all . If it doesn't harm the fish shall leave it in ,
will give the boys something else to look at/talk about
If there is a population explosion will I be able to scoop
them out by the handfull to get to more manageable
numbers?

--
yours S

Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione

[CanadianCray]

I just saw a snail in one of my African Cichlid fry tanks. I have NEVER had
any snails in any of my tanks before. This is a bare tank with no substrate
or anything just a tank & sponge filter that was brand new out of sealed box
when I put it in there. Where did this little bugger come from??? LOL

--
Craig Williams

"soup" > wrote in message
. uk...
> soup popped their head over the parapet saw what was going on and said
>
>><snip 8 lines of being WAY out of my depth>
>> http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG
>
> Thanks all . If it doesn't harm the fish shall leave it in ,
> will give the boys something else to look at/talk about
> If there is a population explosion will I be able to scoop
> them out by the handfull to get to more manageable
> numbers?
>
> --
> yours S
>
> Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione
>
>

[NetMax]

"soup" > wrote in message
. uk...
> soup popped their head over the parapet saw what was going on and said
>
>><snip 8 lines of being WAY out of my depth>
>> http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG
>
> Thanks all . If it doesn't harm the fish shall leave it in ,
> will give the boys something else to look at/talk about


> If there is a population explosion will I be able to scoop
> them out by the handfull to get to more manageable
> numbers?

No. If you have a population explosion, then you are over-feeding, or
there is too much algae, or the snails have no predators, in which case
you will be back shortly asking how to get rid of this plague. I vote to
crush the snail against the glass to give your fish a little fresh
escargo. Then get yourself an Apple snail. I believe true Apple snails
will not eat plants, do not generally reproduce successfully in an
aquarium, and they grow large, can be quite comical and are a much better
conversation piece for your boys. (jmo)
--
www.NetMax.tk

> --
> yours S
>
> Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione
>
>

[Elaine T]

NetMax wrote:
> "soup" > wrote in message
> . uk...
>
>>soup popped their head over the parapet saw what was going on and said
>>
>>
>>><snip 8 lines of being WAY out of my depth>
>>>http://www.sidtech.co.uk/iu/soup46517818239.JPG
>>
>>Thanks all . If it doesn't harm the fish shall leave it in ,
>>will give the boys something else to look at/talk about
>
>
>
>>If there is a population explosion will I be able to scoop
>>them out by the handfull to get to more manageable
>>numbers?
>
>
> No. If you have a population explosion, then you are over-feeding, or
> there is too much algae, or the snails have no predators, in which case
> you will be back shortly asking how to get rid of this plague. I vote to
> crush the snail against the glass to give your fish a little fresh
> escargo. Then get yourself an Apple snail. I believe true Apple snails
> will not eat plants, do not generally reproduce successfully in an
> aquarium, and they grow large, can be quite comical and are a much better
> conversation piece for your boys. (jmo)

I'm with Net Max. I had a population explosion of exactly that sort of
snail in a tank with algae and no predators. They multiplied so fast
the juveniles clogged the sponges in my filter and when they started
dying off again their carcasses polluted the water. That kind of snail
is a time bomb.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[John D. Goulden]

> Have seen a snail in my aquarium, whether it got there as an egg
> on a piece of greenery or as a fully shelled snail in amongst the
> gravel. It seems to live on algae growing on the tank walls
> (doesn't seem to clean the acrylic very effectively)
> what I need to know is will I leave this snail alone (to clean the
> Acrylic)
> or does it give off toxins that will cause the fish distress?
> Pic (not at all good) of snail at:-

The only "toxin" it will produce is many more snails :)

--
John Goulden