Snails and Beyond....Such Confusion!!!

[ShmooBeast]

:shark:Ok, as far as snails go, I have admit that I am kind of newb. My gf has a dwarf puffer tank setup now, and we had thrown in a lot of little pond snails right before we got them. The puffers are fat and happy, and that's all good. But I need to know a little more about the life cycle of the pond snail.
You see, she's been looking around the tank and she's found 10 or more egg sacks. Which is awesome. But what stages do they snails go through after that....is it straight to tiny snails and then they'll keep growing??? Or is there a larvael stage somewhere ( I heard that online).

One of the reasons I'm asking is that twice now (near snail eggs) she has seen what looks like a tiny moving white speck. It could be a parasite, but how I don't know. Just don't want anything to go wrong with the tank so would appreciate any input.

I also heard that pond snails can carry parasites....oh the joy.

If it does turn out to be parasites what can be done?

The tank setup is a 20 gallon: 4 dwarf puffers, 3 red cherry shrimp. The pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all balanced, and there is a lot of algae, lol.

 

[daveedka]

The myth that pond snails can carry parasites is all but preposterous. Snails can in the perfect conditions be a transfer vector simply because a parsite may land on them and you come along and put them in your tank. but parasites that may affect fish aren't carried by pond snails. Essentially they pose the same risk as plants, shrimp, contaminated nets, water from another tank and so on. if it happens it certainly isn't a characteristic of snail. People who buy into the myths because of some deep down hatred or misunderstanding will say anything to keep other from getting snails. :rant: :rant:


Baby snails hatch from the eggs fully formed, and that is most likely the little white specs you see. I often take a magnifyng glass and look at the eggs after they get fairly developed. essentially if you have a good enough glass, you can see the little snails shell and all even before they hatch.

If you wish to raise snails and learn a lot about them, here are the two Articles I would reccomend:
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...s&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=118&page=1
http://www.aquasource.org/CMS/modul...ns&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=58&page=1

Dave

 

[ShmooBeast]

yes, I know the baby snails will be tiny white specs...but my main concern is, could they swim around. what she was was a fast moving tiny white spec in the water.
and as stated, if they are parasites, how can one treat when you have puffers, invertibrates, and lots of live plants???

 

[daveedka]

Ah, mis-undertood your question I think. Snails do not, and will not ever swim around. From the egg they are the same as when adults. Same movement, same lifestyle. They will move rapidly ( by snail standards) on the glass, but not freeswimming. I would not suspect parasite unless your fish show signs of parasites. My tanks have a bunch of little creatures swimming gliding etc. some come and go, others are always there. Planara, nemotodes, copepods etc. Some types of these organisms can be parasitic but most are benign critters that come in with plants fish or snails as hitchhikers and just join in the fun of your tank. If your fish don't show signs of a problem, IMO Treatment is a good way to create stress and nothing more. If the fish do show signs, then diagnosis will have to follow. so many different parasites available, and very few broad band cures out there.
Dave