It's not like they cause any harm so I don't see why people have problems with them.
Mysterious snail outbreak
- Thread starter jcarson
- Start date
They are part of a natural ecosystem. They help to keep the tank clean. In saltwater you want all the little critters (well maybe not all) that come in on live rock. These are referred to as cleanup crew. Its a normal thing to do in a reef tank set up, buy a clean up crew consisting of snails and various crabs and shrimp. You hope for copopods and good worms on your live rock to help with uneaten food and detritus. Very rarely do I hear of fresh water people talk about a clean up crew and its usually just snails. Sometimes you can't add things like shrimp and crabs because of the fish you keep, but snails help. And its a good indicator of tank health if you suddenly get a boom in population of snails something has changed or your tank maintenance needs to be looked into.
I am also a fan of MTS, because they spend the daylight hours buried in the substrate, where their rummaging around keeps it from going anoxic, and help break down detritus into more usable forms for plants, and beneficial bacteria.
However I am worried about the 1 drop of water as stated by .avatar--xss { width: 21px; height: 21px; line-height: 21px !important; margin-right: 2px; }
Yep, more than likely. I have MTS in my tanks, not by choice but years ago it started in one & most likely spread to others via my python. I keep such a thin layer of substrate these days that I really don't need them to keep that sifted, nor do I overfeed, so most of mine gravitate to my filter media and live off the detritus. I don't have enough to be an issue, it's pretty slim pickings in my tanks so not that many survive.
Not really. I did have too many once, but it literally took years and years for them to be a problem. I just dropped something in the tank they would eat and remove it the next day taking literally hundreds out at the same time.
I like a fairly deep substrate so find them useful.
The best way to get rid of them if you wanted is a natural method. Loaches, puffers or assassin snails could do the job.
I have a tank with MTS that has 4 clown loaches in it, that have been sharing the tank with snails for several yrs. IME outside of possibly assassin snails nothing will completely eradicate a case of MTS, as their natural predators can't get to the ones that are living & reproducing in your filters.
