Adding Snails

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rob0829

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Sep 6, 2006
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I was wondering if its ok to add a snail to my goldfish tank before it has finished cycling? Also what type of snail would be good to add that hopefully won't reproduce very much and help keep the tank clean?
 
Snails are fine during all stages of the cycling process. I don't know about the compatibility of snails and goldfish, but mystery snails will help keep the place clean and don't multiply like crazy. They are kinda cute too. You ought to suplement the larger snails' diets though, so you might just want the pond kind or the ramshorn kind if you aren't interested in them as pets. I've just fed my mystery snails zucchini, which the corys love too.
 
I'm pretty sure goldfish will eat small snails. I don't think they're like puffers or loaches that will take bites out of the foot of larger snails. I think they just swallow the little ones whole. So you're probably better off with a moderate sized mystery snail.

Someone should chime in if they know differently.

Yeah, and don't worry about ammonia or nitrite poisoning in snails. I breed common ramshorn snails in little buckets and the water gets filthy. I still change the water several times a week, but they're messy guys. They breathe air by going to the surface anyway, so they don't get ammonia damage to their gills or anything.
 
Snails are much more tolerant of poor water conditions but still will eventually die. They should easily survive a cycle. The goldfish will be fine with snails. Brigs aka mystery snails would be a good choice and they don't eat live plants.
 
Ammonia is TOXIC to just about everything living including snails.
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Actually ammonia at cycling levels will have no negative effect on snails. they don't even notice it. I generally always keep snails in cycling tanks, and in some cases use them for cycling for this reason. ammonia levels would have to be really really high before there was a problem.

Remeber that the issue with fish and cycling is gill irritation, snails don't have gills.
I have kept snails in tanks with 5 ppm ammonia, and even with 2-3 ppm chlorine. they showed no signs of any problem at all.
 
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