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.>
Nerite snail
2/5/08
Hello Crew,
I just received a Nerite Snail as a belated birthday gift..
My friend had asked for a freshwater snail and was sold this lovely
little
fellow. I'm trying to figure what species he is though. As you can tell
he's in a jar right now, and I tested his water to make sure of it's
freshwaterness. I'm trying to figure out if he's one of the ones that
rathers freshwater or brackish water. Though this seems to merely be a
matter of opinion from what I can tell. Any help would be greatly
appreciated though!
-Collin
<It's almost certainly Neritina natalensis, the most common Nerite
currently sold in the UK trade at least. It's a true freshwater species,
though it does inhabit mountain streams and the like rather than swamps
or lakes, so needs a tank with lots of water movement and plenty of
oxygen. Otherwise a nice little algae-eating snail. Cheers, Neale.>
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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.>
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Slimy brown worms are back! – 06/07/07
Good Morning- Samantha again.
<Hiya Samantha, Darrel here ... again>
I have the baby Red Ear Slider turtles and then the slimy sticky worms
popped up in my tank. Remember me?
<Yes I do, Samantha. Usually when I hear people mention "slimy, sticky
worms" I think of my brother-in-law, but I do remember you and your
infestation.>
Well I've been cleaning the tank regularly and no worms have come about.
<Good. Progress.>
However, when I clean out my tank and also when I dump the water from my
feeder tank I just throw it in my grass in the back yard.
<So do I - often the water waste can be good fertilizer>
Tonight I went out and saw one of those worms on the wall. I realized a few
days after I sent the first email that they look a lot like slugs. I took a
picture, do you think these are coming from the tank water?
<That's a great picture, Samantha and that is definitely a slug. To me, it
looks like a run of the mill garden slug except being much darker brown than
we usually see. So while it's possible that the slugs came from the lawn or
the garden ... if you didn't have slugs in your backyard until after you
dumped slugs and water from your aquarium into your backyard we can assume
that they came from the tank. Slugs need a lot of moisture to survive,
Samantha, so try dumping your water somewhere else for a while -- let's see
if drying out the back yard a bit sends the slugs away.>
I also attached a picture of one of the turtles. Am I correct that it is a
red-ear slider?
<Yes you are .. a very cute picture of a baby Pseudemys scripta elegans (Red
Eared Slider!>
Thanks again!
Samantha |
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Small snail like parasites???
5/30/07
Dear Crew:
It has been a long time since I have had any problems, all has been great since
the death of Maggie, platy. Your site has been a great help, and I have spent
many hours learning about my aquarium and habitants. I recently had a betta die,
who was otherwise very healthy, when I found her she was covered in a white
fluffy like substance,
<Perhaps after the fact... decomposers>
and I noticed these very tiny snail like things on the tank walls. I treated my
tank with Maracide,
<For?>
every other day for 3 treatment days, and on putting the first dose in, noticed
a platy and another betta rubbing their bodies on the gravel.
<Perhaps, most likely, due to the medicine addition...>
all seemed to be going well. Today, I find the tank once again infested?? with
these very tiny worms? Or snails, they do not have backs, and they do have what
appears to be feelers. There is alot
<No such word...>
of them, I can not seem to find out what they are. Do you know what they are?
and what I should do with them? I appreciate and thank you for any feedback.
Thank you for your time.
Charlie
<Likely are worms, very likely not harmful... Opportunistically reproduced to
noticeable levels given the abundance of food (the dead Betta)... will "go" in
time. I would leave them be for now. Bob Fenner> |
Re: Small
snail like parasites??? 5/31/07
Hello Mr. Fenner:
<C und B>
Thank you for your time. I think you were right about the decomposer, I
did not think it happened too quickly,
<Oh yes... many 'things' happen quickly underwater, compared to
terrestrial events>
and I thought it must have been a disease. I treated the tank for ich,
velvet, and other external parasites. The other fish appear to be fine.
I do not know why she died, the tank seems fine as are the water
conditions. After spending many hours on your site last night, it is
wonderful, (me thinks you are too),
<Why thank you>
I wonder if they might be trumpet snails?
<Mmm, maybe... don't look quite long enough to be Malaysians... but
might just be small... Where would they have been introduced? Ah, yes,
on the plants>
I have taken a picture, I hope you can see it.
<Yes>
At night there are hundreds of them, on the plants, glass and gravel, on
closer inspection, they appear to have tiny shells. During the day, only
the very tiny seem to be active, they appear on the glass. I have had no
new additions to the tank in a year, I do not have live plants, and is
it possible they
lie dormant until conditions are favorable?
<Yes...>
I am just baffled to where they might have come from,
<This species mainly lives in/under the sand/substrate by day, coming
out to forage at night>
they are quite fascinating to watch, and my four year old son thinks
they are bees knees!! You are right about them being harmless, they
appear to not bother the fish at all, and vise versa.
<Correct... within not-too-high population numbers they are an asset...
keeping the gravel stirred...>
Thanky ou again for your help. Have a wonderful day.
Sincerely,
Charlie and Benjamin
<Thank you my friend. BobF> |
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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>>
Help to identify snail 6/24/06
Dear Crew,
<Jason>
I'm trying to identify and breed my new freshwater snails. The fish
shop said that they had it for 3 to 4 months, but no eggs were to be
found. I've
searched the Internet, but was still not able to identify it.
Attached are some pictures of the snail. Took it from my phone, so it
is a little blurry. If the photo is too poor, please let me know, so
that I can
borrow a decent camera!!
Notice the "spikes" sticking out from its shell. Each has several of
these "spikes". It is roughly about 1 cm in length.
If only I can get the scientific name, than I can search for more info
on the web!!
Thanks.
Best regards,
Jason
<Hard to be sure, but this looks like a juvenile Ampullaria (Pomacea)
individual to me.
http://images.google.com/images?q=ampullaria&sa=N&tab=wi
Bob Fenner> |
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Re: Help to identify snail 6/25/06 -
Dear Bob,
<Jason>
Thanks so much for your prompt reply. I have attached some better
pictures of the mystery snail. Could you please help verify that it is
a juvenile
Ampullaria (Pomacea) again?
Thank you very much!!
Best regards,
Jason
<I do think this is so. BobF> |
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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
Snail Question
Dear WWM Crew,
<Lynn>
I'm hoping you will know my snail by a description, as I don't have a picture to
send. I've searched the net for a pic or description that suits him but haven't
found anything thus far. I'm asking because I'm quite fond of him and would like
to make sure I'm taking proper care of him.
'Garfunkle' is about 1cm, or 1/2 an inch, and his shell has stripes of black and
orange-yellowish that run from the front to back. There is one small turn in his
shell, toward the back on his right side, where all the stripes end (or begin?).
He has a door that he can close and only two tentacles, and his skin is striped
as well. He doesn't eat my plants, has never multiplied, keeps the (freshwater)
tank spotless, and is growing very slowly (if at all).
I'd appreciate your help if you can offer any info such as: his name, what he
eats, any special needs, where his kind comes from. I'd like to keep him alive
and well as long as possible.
Regards,
Lynn VanAsseldonk
<Have no idea... you might try writing your description on the larger hobbyist
BB's re live plants... like the krib... Send along a pic if you can make one.
Bob Fenner>
