Snails-- safe to feed? Should I worry about disease?

Nephthys

Nephthys

AC Members
Oct 11, 2004
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Netherlands
Thanks to some val I bought a few months back, I now find the occasional little snail in my tank. I've been plucking them out and feeding them to my bowl-dwelling betta, who loves them-- he really goes into "attack mode" when he sees a snail. :) However, I've been reading about how snails can spread diseases, and I'm now a bit worried about what they could be passing on to my betta. Is it safe to go on feeding him his favorite snack, or should I just pluck the snails out and discard them?
 
To my knowledge, snails are very safe. If you were to bring one directly home from the lfs and feed it too your beatta there is a thin ( and I mean thin) chance that something may hitchike. If you are raising your own escargot you should have nothing to worry about.
dave
 
I wouldn't worry about it. Snail and fish diseases aren't really transferable. As long as the betta is nice and healthy he should do fine. I wouldn't over feed them to him though. A staple of flakes or pellets is probably better and more nutritious. Of course you could always sepaarte some snails into their own tank and feed them really well with high quality food, but that seems like a lot of work.
 
Thanks! I figured it was okay, but I wanted to hear that from other people. :) There aren't actually that many snails in the tank-- so far, I've only been finding one or two per week-- so they aren't really much more than an occasional treat for the betta. Normally he gets fed flake food, with frozen blood worms once or twice per week. I *have* noticed that he's been even more enthusiastic about making his bubble nests ever since I started supplementing with the snails, though, so I'm happy to hear you guys think it's safe. :)
 
i read online in a couple places that sometimes pond snails can transfer 'worm cataract disease' to fish. snail is apparently an intermediate carrier between birds and fish. something to look into. if the snails are breeding in your tank though, those snails should be safe.
 
about them small snails, if I just leave them, will they multiply to an infestation? or maybe 1 or two will live?
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Snail infestations are a result of excess food availability. As someone else pointed out in a recent thread, this is all available food not just extra fish food. Snails preferred food is algea, and they will thrive on algea in planted tanks. In most tanks, they grow in population to the available algea level (food level) and then their numbers plateau. The next part of the equation is what is your definition of an infestation. I have a lot of snails in some of my tanks, but I don't consider them to be out of control, and am working to increase their numbers. hundreds in a 10g is a problem for me, 50 in a 10g is cichlid treats. The last part of the situation relates to type of fish, Many loaches will keep your snail pop in check, as will many cichlids and beatta's. These fish will do so in most cases no matter how fast snails reproduce.
HTH
Dave
 
I wouldn't worry about a snail infestation-- I freaked out the first time I saw snails in my tank and would obsessively pluck them out for fear of them multiplying out of control. Now I wish I had let a few live, as they appear to be a good treat for my betta! :) I find one or two teeny-tiny snails per week max-- as someone else mentioned, the snail population started declining once there wasn't any algae left for them to eat. A far cry from the mental image I had of snails covering every available surface! :)
 
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