# Tiny snail infestation :-(



## AnthonyR1 (Mar 20, 2010)

....got home tonight and when i turned on the light to my tank i saw literally hundreds of tiny spiral shell snail things. i been doing some reading and found that most likely they came in on one of the plants i bought.
i noticed a couple a few weeks back so i got a couple loaches but NO WAY those little loaches can get rid of this many.
any help would be great...

right now i've turned off the light and dropped in some cucumber to see if i can attract them to it then hopefully pull some out :-(
A


----------



## Claudia1002 (Jan 3, 2010)

The loaches will make quick work of them. Do not underestimate the loach!


----------



## AnthonyR1 (Mar 20, 2010)

^ thx, that would be nice. i just read online that they are harmless to fish so that's good news. also read about a snail called the "assassin snail", eats other snail. i may have to get one just so i can say i have an ASSASSIN snail


----------



## karjean (Feb 4, 2010)

There some threads mentioning to put a cucumber or lettuce leaf and they will go on it for easy removal.


----------



## AnthonyR1 (Mar 20, 2010)

ya i'm trying that now, thx


----------



## karjean (Feb 4, 2010)

Let me know how it worked and which one you tried, i ended up with seven snails with the new plants i added two weeks ago. I might have to do it sooner or later.


----------



## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

How are the shells spiraled, exactly? Common "pest" snails include pond snails, ramshorn snails and Malaysian trumpet snails. All of these are basically harmless and can even be useful. I find the MTS to be particularly useful and have some in every tank. I rarely see them.


----------



## AnthonyR1 (Mar 20, 2010)

iamntbatman said:


> How are the shells spiraled, exactly? Common "pest" snails include pond snails, ramshorn snails and Malaysian trumpet snails. All of these are basically harmless and can even be useful. I find the MTS to be particularly useful and have some in every tank. I rarely see them.


well basically same shell spiraling as the malaysian trumpet, that typical long spiral shape, just light colored and very small. range in size from 2mm to 4mm. these hide all day long beneath the soil, once the lights are out they emerge. i know now that they are harmless to the fish but still wanna get rid of these stowaways since there are so many of them. eventually they start eating my limited plant supply. 
went looking for the elusive assassin snail today but couldnt find it, up to my loaches now i guess


----------



## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Sound like MTS to me. You'll probably never get rid of them all unless you completely tear the tank down. They shouldn't harm your live plants, though, and you should be able to limit their population by preventing leftover food from sitting around on the tank floor.


----------

