# Are snails ok..or desirable?



## MGrant (Mar 30, 2013)

I have recently added 14 plants to my 30 gallon and the snail population has exploded. Are snails ok? Will they eat any of the plants? Is it normal for many of the plants to turn yellow? I don't have CO2 but I do use Flourish and Flourish Excell. All water parameters are stable.


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## Manafel (Sep 4, 2011)

Some species of snails will eat plants, it really just depends on what kind of snails you have. MTS are good for planted tanks because they aerate the substrate and eat dead plant matter, they also clean up any uneaten food. If your Plants are turning yellow, you might want to look into a nutrient deficiency. In particular, low levels of potassium, manganese and iron can all create yellowing of the leaves. Flourish and excel don't really have enough nutrients for plants depending on the setup of the tank. You might want to look into dosing with another fert.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Only ones I like are the MTS or Malaysia Trumpet Snails. In general they will not harm anything, to include regular pond snails, and I have only seen them eat on leaves that were not healthy anyway.


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## MGrant (Mar 30, 2013)

I will have to learn about MTS or trumpet snails. Thanks all!!
I guess I will have to also check out the water parameters for iron, magnesium, and potassium. What test kits work best for these checks?


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

I have red ramshorn snails and a couple purple apple snails in my planted tanks. I have no problems with them eating my plants. But MTS are a great choice. Neat looking too.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

If you have pond snails, they are not harmfull to the plants but will multiply till you get tired of seeing so many.
An (one) assassin snail will eat them. More than that will wipe them out. With one you might "control" them.
But I did say might. The problem/w anything live to get them is that the shells are left all over the bottom of your
tank and that in most cases they will be completely wiped out. I keep the native ram snails which I collected.
They don't seem to breed as fast. I never had those MTS so don't know how they populate, but the native trumpet
snails will be over populated eventually as they breed fast also. Some of the native ones eat the plant roots also.
I live in Arkansaw now and the ones they have here don't, but when I lived in Louisiana the one there did eat the plant roots.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

What is the overpopulation point for snails?


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## MGrant (Mar 30, 2013)

I have a picture of these snails! Can I get an ID please?


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## blue water (Nov 1, 2010)

MGrant said:


> I have a picture of these snails! Can I get an ID please?


they look like nerite snails. they are excellent for eating algae from all your plants and gravel,also clean glass. I had a problem with algae and they cleared 
it up. I have about 15 ,they do not eat plants.hope this will help you.


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

"Pond" snails...prolific breeders. I put one Khuli Loach in my tank and they were gone fairly quickly. The KL won't be seen as
they are shy if by their self. Mine came out only after lights off, but was twice as big after a couple of months indicating that
he was not the worse off for being alone.


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