Help! Snail eggs! (They just don't work well in omelets ) 7/24/2009 Hello - <Hi Melissa.> There seem to be snail eggs in my daughters fish tank. Looking at the picture, yes, those are snail eggs.> From what I've researched, she has two gray mystery snails from PetSmart. It seems these eggs should have been laid above the water line. Maybe there wasn't enough room up there or maybe they fell, because they are in the bottom of the tank and the number of eggs has decreased, dramatically. <They likely fell. You can read about snail reproduction here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwsnailreprofaqs.htm > Maybe more than half are gone. <Fish food.> Is there any chance that some of these could hatch under water? <It is possible.> If not, I'd rather get them out of the tank while my daughter is visiting with her cousins...which gives me 2 days. <I would remove them.> Thanks in advance for your help! <My pleasure.> Sincerely, Melissa <MikeV> Re: Help! Snail eggs! (They just don't work well in omelets ) 7/24/2009 Mike - <Hi Melissa.> Thanks so much for the quick reply. <My pleasure.> They are practically all gone now. <I'm sure the fish found them delicious.> Too bad. I'll make sure we keep a lower water line so there is some space at the top of the tank for next time. <That would be fine.> Lol...I just saw your comments about omelets! Melissa <MikeV>

SNAIL INQUIRY - PICTURES INCLUDED 05/20/09 Hey There, Can you please identify this type/class of snail for me. He was purchased @ a local Pet Store 4 months ago or so. See attached pics. <... see WWM re the genus Pomacea> Recently, for about 2 days he laid dormant on the bottom of my 78 degree tank. After cleaning the tank & re-establishing a better PH balance, with conditioner, I think he is okay, but am worried about the possible issues that may be plaguing his health. He is active again at this point but not to the extent he was previously, before the altercation. He is not acting the same i.e.: not sliding over the remnants of the tank, like he did before.  He used to cruise around in a speedy fashion on a regular basis. Now he is only sticking his body to items near the filter of the tank & hanging out on the temperature gauge, not moving around a lot at all. He is out of his shell somewhat, but not like before as you can see in the Pics. <... keep reading> We only feed him fish food. Is that enough? It obviously was enough for the past few months but is it healthy for him to only eat that. Will he eat shrimp/crab shell or green lettuce? What do you think he would prefer?  How do I check the exact PH balance of my tank?  Is he growing his own shell? see pics Pl/email me back Thank You, Laura Lee <Laura... all this is posted, archived on our site... Please learn to/use the search tool, indices. Bob Fenner, on too-slow a conn. to give you the URLs> <<Yay! Your snail looks very healthy... B>>

sorry, should work now.. really confused   3/23/09 hey guys, yea this has been something puzzling me for a while now. I know its has something to do with snails because I have had this in my fresh water tank as well (only when I added snails to the tank), and I cant find any pics showing that they could be eggs. (either that or its ich?) <Are eggs> What are these things? Hope the pic is clear, took with webcam. Thanks guys  -Mike <BobF>

Speedy Gonzales Snail. FW, ID, comp. f's    2/27/09 Hi- Summer here again. <And Robare pronto> I have a very small snail in my 240 L Juwel Rio tank which is still cycling with 6 zebra Danios, gravel, live and fake plants, bogwood, rocks and now an 8 inch airstone. I say the snail is a 'he' because I am thinking of 'him' that way. He's been around for about a week, and now I want to know how he contributes (or not) to my tank. <Mmm> He must have arrived on one of my live plants. <Usual> I'm amazed at how quickly he gets around. He's small and hard to spot, and moves so fast that in 30 seconds he's on the other side of the bogwood. Hence, I named him Speedy Gonzales. Questions are: 1) From the below photos, apologies for poor quality, can you tell me what type of snail he is? I'm guessing Ramshorn. <You are correct> 2) Can he reproduce on his own and if so, is that to be expected and a potential problem? <Can, possibly> I read http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/fwsnails.htm and it says they are hermaphroditic, just not clear if they need another snail to make more. I've seen no other signs of snails in my tank. 3) Is he good for my tank? <Mmm, perhaps more good than not> He eats dropped food (very quick hunter, this one) and seems to leave the plants alone. He usually hangs out on the bogwood. I'd like to keep him, he's pretty cool so far. As always, thank you so much! Summer <A tough one Summer... on the one hand, I really like these sorts of "hitchhikers"... but too much of a good thing? You could remove the one, keep it elsewhere... or plan on countervailing/population control in a few ways should there be an explosion of unwanted Ramshorns. Bob Fenner>

Re: Speedy Gonzales Snail Thanks Bob! I'm going to keep my eyes out for a snail explosion and leave Speedy G in the tank for now. <Sounds good... BobF, making that cartoon sound>

Magic Snails, FW, sel., ID    10/5/08
Hi WWM,
<Hello,>
I've looked over all the FAQ pages, and I haven't quite found what I'm looking for, so I resort to asking you. I have a 75g reef tank as well as a 30g freshwater tank. I've noticed over the past few weeks that I have dozens of what appear to be Cerith snails in my freshwater tank.
<In the freshwater tank at least, these are likely Melanoides spp. (such as Melanoides tuberculata). They're useful, predominantly nocturnal snails that burrow through the sediment feeding on organic matter. They are livebearers, and can become very numerous if they find enough to eat -- a comment on the cleanliness of the tank more than anything else! They don't do any harm, and numbers can be controlled by physical removal, trapping, cleaning the tank, or installation of a suitable predator such as the whelk Clea helena.>
The tank has been established for several years, with nothing being added in the past 2 years but fish. I've let all of the ornamental fish complete their lifecycles, and I only have one Pleco and a few feeder fish for my fuzzy lion (I'm weaning him off successfully, but he's taking his time). I've had a ton of Cerith eggs in my reef tank, is it possible that they hitchhiked on the net while in the plankton stage, and developed in my FW tank?
<It's certainly possible for certain intertidal or estuarine marine snails to survive in freshwater conditions, for example Puperita pupa and Neritina virginea. These are sometimes sold as freshwater snails despite doing better in brackish/marine conditions. They don't tend to breed in freshwater tanks though, because their larvae need saltwater conditions to develop. This said, most snails sold for reef tanks will be stenohaline rather euryhaline species.>
I can't think of any other place they could come from.
<Plants.>
If this is the case, is there any way of re-acclimating them to saltwater? Thanks for your
help.
Ryan
<Cheers, Neale.>

Snails, horns?    10/25/07
Hello, I was told today that snails have horns, but i always thought that they didn't have horns as i thought they had eyes. So please could you clear up this question for me. Many thanks Amanda
<Hello Amanda. Not sure what you mean by "horns". Clearly not the keratin structures specific to certain mammals, such as goats and cows! But if you mean antennae (or "feelers") then snails have varying numbers of these, depending on the type of snail in question. Most snails have at least one pair, but these may be very short and little more than triangular stubs (as in the case of Physa spp. pond snails or Patella spp. limpets). But other snails have long, mobile antennae that they use to locate food and find their way around. Apple snails (family Ampullariidae) not only have antennae but also eyes at the end of eye-stalks and a single long breathing tube called a siphon that they use to gulp air while remaining under water. Cheers, Neale>

Re: snails 10/25/07
Hello
It was question in a quiz and i was told that snail have retractable horns and like i said i have always thought that these were called eyes or tentacles.
Amanda
<Well, no idea what your quiz-master was talking about. Molluscs don't have horns, period. They may well have eyestalks and antennae, but that's about it. Cheers, Neale.>

Tiny water snail?   5/24/07
While I was searching to identify an unknown species of flatworm I happened across this photo submitted by someone else. It was never identified and I was wondering if you could satisfy my curiosity as to what type of snail this is; or if it is a snail at all. The original poster stated that it was found on the remains of a muskrat along a creek bed. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
<Assuming the thing wasn't actively wriggling about, it looks like a germinating seed to me. Certainly doesn't look like a snail. What's the size of the thing? Did it move? Was it "hard" or "soft"? Cheers, Neale> <<Neale... gots to move all incoming graphics to the folder labeled "Emails with Images"... RMF>>

Tom: Limpets?  12/26/06
Hi Tom,
<<Hi, Rachel and Happy Holidays to you.>>
I had a quick question. Somewhere along the way I accidentally introduced what I thought were common pond snails to my aquarium. (I do have live plants but I removed as many snails as I saw and quarantined the plants as well. No more snails showed up, so I put the plants in the tank. I certainly could've missed one though. They appeared after I added the mystery snail, so one could've come in on his shell.)
<<Either is possible. Eggs might be easily missed as well.>>
After observing the snails for quite awhile, I'm starting to think they're freshwater limpets.
<<Interesting…>>
They're very small, no longer than two millimeters or so, and have the asymmetrical conical shell; they look like pictures of freshwater limpets from Google. They've been hanging out on the tank walls wherever there's algae, and on the leaves of the plants. I couldn't find much information on their diet--what I did find was that they eat algae, fungus, and bacterial slime. Sounds great.
<<Kind of makes Christmas dinner pale by comparison. :)>>
However, a few sites suggested they also eat plants. My plants aren't the focus of my tank, but I would like to at least keep them alive, and the leaves have been looking ratty lately. Think the limpets are the culprits? I'd like to think the limpets are just eating bits of algae off the plant leaves... but I'll certainly remove them if I need to.
<<I wouldn’t rule it out, Rachel, but the “yummies” you mentioned earlier would likely be the mainstay of their diets. If anything, they might be making a meal of the plants due to their condition rather than creating the condition. I’m certainly no authority on either but I’ve run across information that suggests that plants that are “ratty” would be far more enticing to these than healthy plants would be. Rotting vegetation would be more to their liking.>>
One more thing--In keeping an eye on my tank, I've noticed little invertebrates crawling around in the gravel, on the mystery snail's shell, and today a few hung out on the Betta for a while, but dropped off and didn't seem to have done him any damage. They're so tiny and they move so quickly I can hardly describe them myself, much less get a picture--just little tiny spheres zipping around. They seem to be a brownish color. I'm betting they're some kind of harmless freshwater pod, but is there any chance they'll munch on my fish?
<<I’m totally unaware of gastropods causing fish any harm by munching on them. Most all are herbivores/detritivores and should pose no threat to your Betta.>>
Thanks for any help!
Rachel
<<Don’t think I’ve done much more than confirm what you already probably suspected here, Rachel, but it was good hearing from you again. Enjoy the rest of the “Season”. Tom>>

Re: Tom: Limpets?   12/28/06
Thanks very much for your help, Tom! I really appreciate having a second opinion from someone so much more knowledgeable than me!
<<Don't short-change yourself, Rachel. You pulled off some very respectable research on this last one.>>
Happy Holidays to you too, and to the rest of the Crew.
<<Speaking for us all, we thank you, Rachel.>>
I'm surprised to find you all are still answering questions during the holiday season. But, here I am reading them!
<<Lots of very fine people on board here, our readers included.>>
Rachel
<<Continued success, Rachel. Best regards. Tom>>

Abalone snails in my freshwater community tank... Need ID  12/20/2005
I am trying to establish abalone snails in my freshwater community tank. I have purchased them from a local aquarium supply store. They are round, about 1-1.5 cm in diameter and about 0.5-0.75 cm high. The snails seem to do fine for a while (I've had some for several months) and are laying numerous eggs (hundreds) on the glass walls of the tank. None, however, have hatched after more than six weeks. When I was in the store today, the fellow there said that he was having the same problem in his home tank. The eggs are usually in clumps and about 1 mm in diameter. They are usually cream or beige, but are sometimes white. They seem stable for several weeks, then disintegrate, leaving thin small rings marking their circumferences.
<There are no actual non-marine Haliotids... true abalones. Can you tell me/us what these are in terms of scientific name, or higher taxonomy? Am totally unfamiliar>
The tank is a 77 gallon tall tank. It has two Emperor 400 filters and one Fluval 403 filter. The filtration includes charcoal and Kent Nitrate Sponge. I have two Red Sea CO2 generators to put CO2 in the tank. It is heavily planted with a variety of plants, all of which are thriving. It is well lit. It has been established for 25 years.  
<Nice>
Both Buenos Aires Tetras and Corydoras cats have reproduced in it. It also has Chinese Algae Eaters, Otocinclus, a Rainbow Shark, Cardinal Tets, Minicrabs, and Algae Eating shrimp, and an ongoing population  
of red Ramshorn snails in it.
<Mmm, I suspect these snails are not amenable to your water chemistry... nor your clerk at the LFS's>
With each monthly water change (about 70%) I add Kent Freshwater Plant, Kent Freshwater Essentials, Kent Pro-Choice, either Kent BlackWater Expert or Instant Amazon (Marc Weiss Companies, Inc.),
<These chemicals may also be playing a role here... but need to know the snails tolerances for water quality>  
Kordon NovAqua +, and one TBS of Seachem Neutral Regulator and one TBS of Seachem Acid Buffer. I also add FreshWater Plant, Pro-Choice, and BlackWater Expert or Instant Amazon on a weekly basis. I have used this recipe for years.
I keep the water at 78-79 degrees. the most recent water chemistries  
were:
pH: 6.8 (Doc WellFish), 7.0 (TetraTest)
GH: No test (Doc WellFish), 5.0 dH TetraTest)
NO3: 20 mg/l (Doc WellFish), 25 mg/l (TetraTest)
NO2: 0 (Doc WellFish), No test (TetraTest)
NH3/NH4: <0.25 mg/l (Doc Wellfish), No test (TetraTest)
Any suggestions as to how I can get these snail eggs to hatch? Any  
info you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bruce McAllister
I hope this works,
Thanks, Bruce
<Mmm, even a photo you can send along may help with actual identification. Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Spruce Creek River Snail  9/23/05
While fishing in the spruce creek river, Florida. I noticed snails on the rocks , a lot of them everywhere .A friend told me that species only lives in this river. He didn't know the name of the snails. They have a conch shape with spikes on the cone end , and the biggest is 3" long.
Can you tell me about this guys and if there safe for aquarium life. Oh this river is about 10 miles south of Daytona Beach .
>> Without a photo it is difficult to say what species of snail this is. What fish were you catching? Is the water brackish, or are you very close to the estuary? Do you want to put the snail in a freshwater or saltwater aquarium? What else is in the aquarium now? Snails may bring in parasites, or eat the other animals and plants in your tank. Without knowing more about it I would not recommend putting it in your tank. Good Luck, Oliver.             

Snail ID...  8/31/05
I have a snail that is about the size of two or three golf balls and I don't  know what kind it is.
<Likely an "Apple" or "Baseball Snail"... please see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsnails.htm>
It has holes that open and close and little worm things come out. Can you tell me what the worm things are?
<Nope. Please see the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Can you help me identify this snail? 8/22/05
    Hi! I found a snail in the river today and I want to find out how to take care of it, but I can't figure out what kind it is. It is very tiny, smaller than a BB gun pellet, so it is hard to see detail. It's shell is goldish brown and pretty transparent. The shell is a squat, round spiral. The opening is more on the left, with the fat little cinnamon bun spiral ending on the right. Its body is white-yellow. I wonder if it is a baby or just a very small species. I found it on a rock on the bottom of a shallow slow moving river here in Massachusetts. It is in about 1 1/2 inches of water in a glass bowl right now, munching on a clam shell that I found near it in the river. I will really appreciate any help you can give. Thank-You!             -Danielle
<Mmm, I would use the Net... search under "river life of... your area".... maybe even the term freshwater snails... of MA... Bob Fenner>

Small hard round shell like animals on my fresh water tank glass 8/22/05
Hi, my name is Michelle and I tried to find my answer on your website but can't find any thing like this.
<Hi Michelle>
I have these small hard round shell like animals on my fresh water tank glass, they are about the size of a pin head, not very big, really hard to take a picture of they don't show up, when I clean the inside of the glass I take a clean cloth and drag it from the bottom to top and can bring up  as many as four to ten depending?
The only way I can get them off is to take a paper towel push down on them with my finger nail and it smashes them on to the paper towel, that is because they have a hard shell, what are they, I noticed them when I was using the
product  CYCLE, They almost seem snail like and they do move!  This is fresh water I am talking about, are they harmful to my fish? what are they?  
<Larval freshwater snails.  The eggs are nearly invisible and can enter the system attached to plants or bogwood.  Not harmful to fish but do tend to multiply uncontrollably.  I like to leave some in the system unless live plants are present as the little snails help to eat left over waste and algae.  If they get out of control, add a clown loach (provided your system can support one) and the loach will clear the tank of snails in no time.>
Thank you for your time,
<No problem at all.>
Michelle Wrathell
<Cheers -- Glenn>

Re: small hard round shell like animals on my fresh water tank glass 8/22/05
Thank you! Thank you!
<Quite welcome.>
That is a relief!
Because I do tend to feed too much and thought that was the problem, seems strange that we like to overfeed our fish too much and that gives us more work (cleaning more) and most of our problems when it comes to disease and parasites.
<Indeed.>  
You said that either from plants or bogwood, I don't have neither, what else could they have come from? I was thinking the Cycle.
<Cycle wouldn't introduce snails.  They could have come in on anything that was previously in another tank, or even in the shipping water of fish.  IME most freshwater tanks will inevitably get snails at some point if set up long enough.>
Thank you for your time I really appreciate it, that makes me feel better that it isn't something that I have done.
<No worries.  Best of luck!>
Michelle W.
<--Glenn>

Pushmipullyu Ramshorns?? - 08/16/2005
I have 2 Ramshorn snails that are about the sizes of a dime on some and a nickel for others.  I have noticed that in the past 4 months that 2 of them have grown what looks like another head.
<?!>
This growth is on the direct opposite side as its head is but has no antennas.  
<You're not just seeing the "tail" end, are you?>
Two more of these snails have exceptionally large "penises" along with this other head.  
<Perhaps these two are just growing/developing faster than the others?>
Is this possible or are they just one of those things?
<I'd like to refer you to http://www.applesnail.net/ .  There is a forum there that you could possibly post in and see if someone can help you find an answer, if you are unable to find it within their (very informative) site.>
Sherry Tulenko
<Wishing you well,  -Sabrina>

Garden Snails Aquatic? 7/22/05
Hi there, I love your site! I visit often and would like to thank you for all your very useful advice. I have a question for you. Today a friend of mine at the local grocery store found a snail cruising around the back room, produce department and offered it to me for my fish tank.
<Be on the lookout when you buy your tomatoes next time...>
My problem is.. I don't know what kind of snail this is, and I have a tank in which I just added some aquarium salt to yesterday. ( which my guppies are very happy
about) So I'm worried the salt will harm it.
<Aquatic snails have no problem dealing with salt. However, it does not seem as if this one was aquatic. If it was found on dry land, leave it on dry land, don't stick it in water.>
I looked online and think it may be a garden snail, if it is, can it survive in an aquarium?
<Doubtful.>
Right now its in a fish bowl with some cabbage and a tiny bit of water, until I find out what to do with it. I'd like to keep it, the kids adore it. So any advice on what kind of snail this is and how to care for it would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance. (Picture is attached.)
<I'm sorry, I didn't receive any photo, so I really cannot help you there. However, Google is magic: do an image search on Garden snails, see if it matches your snail. If so, switch to a web search and start reading! Mike G>
-Gina

Freshwater barnacle?
Dear Crew,
                Last week I added 12 Nerite snail to my freshwater tank. Today I noticed small (1/32") white scales on the substrate and drift wood. They look like mini-barnacles. While I'd like to know what they are, I'd really like to know how to rid my tank of them before they multiply any further. FYI, my 30 gallon aquarium is a planted community tank.
Your advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Best Regards,
John Amico
<Not barnacles (which are marine), but likely some other species/phylum... probably a mollusk of some sort. Not harmful... do send along a close-up pic if you can. Bob Fenner>