Snails

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Blakewater

Blakewater

Aimara
MFK Member
Apr 27, 2018
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As I was doing some maintenance on my 75g sump I noticed that, for the first time, I appear to have a small family of snails lurking on top of the media. They havent gotten to the main tank I believe due to my sterilizer but I was wondering if theres any type of fish or organism I can leave in my sump to take out any of the snails. I dont really mind them, as I suppose theyre helping break down any waste, but I hear they can damage pumps. If Im wrong feel free to educate me, thanks!
 
What kind of snails are they? Ive had snails in all my tanks and I havent had an issue fresh or salt. Most pumps will crush the snails big enough or just blow the smaller ones out. But I have found empty mts snail shells in the out puts of the returns and also in the pump housings during mantanience, their shells are super hard and strong.
 
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Definitely need some pics. If they're something like ramshorns then you have nothing to worry about!
 
twentyleagues said:
What kind of snails are they? Ive had snails in all my tanks and I havent had an issue fresh or salt. Most pumps will crush the snails big enough or just blow the smaller ones out. But I have found empty mts snail shells in the out puts of the returns and also in the pump housings during mantanience, their shells are super hard and strong.
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I agree with this, snails in filters help break down debris like pant matter and old food into more usuable forms for beneficial bacteria.
If MTS, they help keep substrate from compacting, and from going anoxic, provide food for many fish, and are a normal component of any healthy biotope.
I encourage them in refugiums, filters, tanks, and sumps.
Although I have trouble keeping enough of them, because most of my cichlids eat them.
 
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While loaches and puffers are a good choice for killing snails I believe it would be more beneficial to get assassin snails instead. They will eat the other snails, won’t over populate the tank as they take a good while to breed, and to top it off they can be returned or re sold with ease.
The same could be said of clown loaches but I believe the snails make more sense than the other options regarding fish.

Just my $0.01
 
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