CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I have been curious about this for some time, but never got around to asking if anyone knew.

Every 4 to 6 months I completely clean my 120 gal tank. I mean removing everything and cleaning everything. When I get to the filters I am always amazed there are snails in the filters. My only guess is that they come in on new fish. Could that be right? I never see them in the tank only in the filters. I don't have live plants so I'm pretty sure they didn't come from there. I use tap water so they didn't come from there.

Does anyone have a better theory about the magically appearing snails? And why don't they migrate to the tank?

I very much doubt they came in "on" new fish. Obviously came in on something though, eh? Could be almost anything. Ever get a filter, decoration or rock from someone else? Could have come in as eggs rather than as grown snails.

Ah Ha, the plot thickens. I have been using the same rocks and decorations for over a year, actually moved them from my 55 gal to my 120 gal when I got it in January. I don't share filter media with anyone, so that's not it.

Could they have come in in the water I get with new fish from my LFS? And again, why only in the filters and not in the tank?

Where is Sherlock Holmes when you need him?

HI Indy

Could they come in the water from your LFS/LPS. Sure could have.
Just a note for people, one thing I recomend, when you purchase fish from a store. They should go into a Q tank. This way the water they are shipped in, goes into that tank, and not your main
one. While not going into the great safty measure a Q tank can offer, if you don't use one, then don't add the shipping water to your main tank, just add the fish. There are several methods to do this, they will all require netting the fish at some point.
Back to the snails, the other means most snails arrive is via live plants. I am not sure if you ever tried planting some or not.
Snails once they get into a tank, can be quite troublsome to remove them. Personally, when I had community tanks, I would have snails, (came with the plants) and I never really worried about them. For the most part, the tank population of snails stablized and having them kind of added the "nature" look to the tank.

Thanks Fuzzy,

I agree about the Q tank. I know I have been fortunate not to have had more problems the way I add fish and water to my community tank. I think I will be more careful in the future.

The snails are not a problem, I was just curious how they got there and why they are staying in the filters. Since I have never had live plants I have to think they came with the water from my LFS as you said. Thanks for the discussion!

ah snails... they are a troublesome foe.

ive got me lovely 29 gal planted tank. its looking ace....bar two things.

1. the green algae all over the glass (i dont want a pleco that will out grow the tank, and i dont want the hastle of bristle noses so i get a whip tail which does nothing but claim a nice large territory and defend it to the death)

2. the hordes of snails. only ever see them on the bog wood in the day, but they swarm the glass at night.

my plants are a little damaged but nothing too majour.
i have two loach that eat them if they get hungry (im actually starving them now)

best way to kill the little buggers is to dip everything you put into the tank (barr fish) in a solution of potasium permanginate (you can get it from chemists, its used for softening feet.

its a bright purple powder and really does kill snails.

you wont see any snails in your tank indy cos its full of cichlids, and they do an amazing job of killing the buggers.

next time you clean your tank out wash everything in the solution and it wipes out all snails (and their eggs)

the eggs are ofton disturbed off plant leaves during capture at the fish store, and scooped up into the water.

quarantine tank it the answer on that one im afraid.

i bloody hate snails lol... really is a pitch battle.