Not another Moss lover !

[Green Baron]

I thought I have gotten rid of all the Moss eater from my tank when I removed the last SAE but recently I noticed the snails in my tanks have developed a liking for Christmas moss as well ! Initially it was just 1 or 2 Ramshorn snails and I usually removed them manually at night. Over the last 2 weeks, I noticed more and more snails feasting on my Christmas moss wall. Just now I saw about more than 5 of Ramshorn and Malayan Trumpet snails feeding on the shoots of my Christmas moss Anybody has similar experience with snails ?

What fish other than Puffer is good for getting rid of snails ?

[stormhawk]

Gan, there's at least 2 guys on this forum who loves ramshorn snails, especially those big black and brown ones. That would mean Ronnie and me. I don't quite like the trumpet snails but I have quite a number in one of my small tanks. Have been using them for water testing for quite some time. They're very subsceptible to an increase in salt content, especially when one feeds BBS together with the brine solution. That kills them all the time. Depending on which ramshorn snail you have, I believe you would have some people that would just love to adopt them. :wink:

Could you post a pic of the ramshorn? Just to confirm if it's the one that we usually use for scavenging fry tanks.

[Green Baron]

Hi Jianyang,
The one I have are those you usually find in planted tanks. They are 2~3 mm in diameter, greyish in colour and semi-transparent. Will try to post a picture tomorrow.

[RonWill]

Gan, are those snails similar to the following pic?

Click pic for larger image

I'm culturing these for their useful role as scavengers and algae control in raising containers. When I'm out of plant material, like moss, lettuce and cabbage, I'll feed them floating pellets and dog food.

While others seek to exterminate them, I raise 'em! Save 'em for me if you're bent on total eradication!

[Green Baron]

I am afraid they are not the same as yours :-(

[stormhawk]

Gan, I think I roughly know what's hitting your tanks. There's a trick to getting a whole lot of snails at one shot. Drop a piece of boiled lettuce or like Ronnie, use a dog pellet. They'll gather at the lettuce/pellet. In HUGE numbers too. Thats a pretty quick way to kill em. For MTS, the only way to eradicate would be using flubendazole, if I remember clearly. But in doing so, you kill almost every other invertebrate in there. Shrimps included.

[RonWill]

For MTS, the only way to eradicate would be using flubendazole, if I remember clearly. But in doing so, you kill almost every other invertebrate in there. Shrimps included.

Jian Yang, exercise caution when propagating info that's not proven, experienced first hand or cannot be repeated with said results.

All my tanks are MTS-free for two reasons; these burrow into the substrate and are hell to eradicate, but more importantly, they are egg-eaters... including killie eggs!

I've not used Flubendazole on MTS but the treatment is proven shrimp-safe in my recirculating system. I realized that the hard way when treating for velvet symptoms and none of my ramhorn survived the ordeal. Stumped, I conducted subsequent experiments on ramhorns but will not vouch for the similar results on other species of snails (ie. YMMV )

Gan, I'm not sure which snails yours are but if these are the 'button-like' snails that travel with their shells flat to the tank, I wouldn't mind getting some of these since I couldn't get a population going. A pic is always better than plain guessing.

FWIW, do attempt biological measures/control like introducing a blue-eye puffer, before resorting to chemical/medical treatments.

[Green Baron]

I will take a picture tonight. I prefer biological to chemical control.

[felixe]

How about this guy?

http://miek5.new21.net/zb41/bbs/zboa...?id=tip&no=260

Glossiphonia sp.(?) ... a kind of leech.

[dts_spawn]

cool man! but i don't think we can get them in s'pore :P

[Green Baron]

As promised, these are some of the snails in my tank :


L-R : Ramshorn , Horn , small Ramshorn, ??, small Malayan Trumpet, ??, 2 Malayan Trumpet snails.

[timebomb]

Gan, other than the Horn snail, I have the other snails in my tank too. I never have problems with my snails eating the moss so chances are the Horn is the culprit.

Loh K L

[Green Baron]

I am sure Ramshorn and Malayan Trumpet are the culprit as I have seen them eating ! and I have been removing them every night but they are back the next day. However, this only happens to Christmas moss in one particular tank. Maybe they have acquired a taste for Christmas moss :-)

After Ronnie expressed interest in the snails, the Ramshorn disappeared totally from the moss, as if they it has read Ronnie's post ! After searching through the whole tank, I only managed to find a few to pose for the photo.

[RonWill]

How about this guy?
http://miek5.new21.net/zb41/bbs/zboa...?id=tip&no=260

Hey Kim! That's one awesome... urm... whatever-it-is! If an enterprising person starts to bring these in as the end-all to the snail problem, I'm gonna blame you for showing us the pics in the link... way cool tho!

Adds new meaning to the phrase, 'sucking it dry!'

[RonWill]

Gan, are you sure that the 1st snail, from the left, is a ramhorn? I know these are in almost every planted tank but I thought those cultures I'm raising are ramhorns!.... <gulp!>

After Ronnie expressed interest in the snails, the Ramshorn disappeared totally from the moss, as if they it has read Ronnie's post ! After searching through the whole tank, I only managed to find a few to pose for the photo.

ok... now that the snails are scared sh*tless and probably died of shock, you'll be receiving my statement at the end of the month, for services rendered.

Anyone else has snail problems?

[Green Baron]

After seeing your snails, I think mine are not Ramshorn. Any snail expert here can help to name the snails in my photo ?

[zmzfam]

Gan,

your 1st one on the left is the ramshorn snail. It is so name because the shell is spiral similar to the shape of the ram's horns. Here's something to read about : Snails

[Green Baron]

Gan,

your 1st one on the left is the ramshorn snail. It is so name because the shell is spiral similar to the shape of the ram's horns. Here's something to read about : Snails

Maybe they are all Ramshorn snails ! The same Common name could have been used to refer to all snails of that shape. However, trying to ID them through photo is like trying to ID Mosses without the help of an expert !

The other thing about Internet is that there are a lot of professional looking sites with inaccurate and unverified information. Take the information on the net with a pinch of salt. Always verify the information against reliable source and reference book.

[hammy]

RonWill wrote:
I'm culturing these for their useful role as scavengers and algae control in raising containers.

Hi Ronnie,

How effective are these snails in algae control? And what kind of algae do they eliminate?

Selwyn Sng