Random snail like thing in the tank - what the heck is it?

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Baldrick30

AC Members
Nov 26, 2007
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Hi Folks,

I'm fairly new to all this - had a tank about 2 months. We've got some fairly standard fish - dwarf gourami, angel, serpae and rummy nose tetras and a couple'a catfish. So all in all, nothing too out of the ordinary.

Anyway tonight I discovered that there's some small 'snailish' kind of creature in the tank. Roughly 4mm long, 2mm wide. It's up on the glass but unfortunately where it is I can only see the underside which, as the subject suggests, kinda looks like snail.

Can anyone suggest what this might be and where it might have come from.... and, well I guess most importantly - is it a worry?

Any feedback will be most greatfully appreciated!

Thanks!
Baldrick
 
Any pictures? Have you added any plants or decorations? Snails often hitchhike among them.;) Don't worry about snails. They do tend to reproduce fast when you overfeed.
 
Hey,

Sorry, can't picture it - it's kinda hiding. Beside, I suspect it would just appear as a small blotch in a picture :)

Additions have been pretty minimal - just bit by bit over the past 2 months. The tank's still a little sparse really. The latest addition was a plant about 3 weeks ago.

If it's a snail I guess that's cool - but is there anything else that it might be? I mean, it certainly looks snailish (albeit a tiny snail), but it just spun me out that suddenly there was this random creature on the glass.

Thanks for the help!

Rick
 
Hey msjinkzd,

Wow, not sure what I'm more impressed with - the answer or the photography! :)

It's a little hard to tell, but I think it might be the Ramshorn.

That's so weird though - how did it just pop up now? We haven't had anything new in the tank for at least three weeks?

Thanks!
Rick
 
Thanks...I have a little problem with inverts and taking pictures of them ;)

Its entirely possible that you had snail eggs on your plants you added a couple of weeks ago. The snails are soooo tiny when they hatch its very likely they went undetected until now. I personally like having them in my tank because they eat algae. They should only multiply to large numbers if there is a food source for them (uneaten fish food, excess algae). They die off without enough food. If you notice they are becoming too numerous, you can squish them for a treat for your fish, or pick them out and toss them.
 
Further question: has anyone ever seen a snail with a blue shell? I just found 2 in my tank recently, and they have the shape of a ramshorn, but they have a blue shell. I picked them out b/c I just don't want them, but now I'm starting to reconsider, as they were very nice to look at.
 
flaringshutter said:
yep, blue ramshorns are common. you can keep them if you'd like, they do a pretty good cleanup job.
Click to expand...

How large do they get? It would be cool if they got to be a noticeable size, but if there were too many of them, I'd feel worse about getting rid of them.
 
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