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Malaysian Trumpet snail questions

7K views 32 replies 9 participants last post by  driftwoodhunter 
#1 ·
I'm considering posting a WTB for some MTS, but I have a few questions first.

These will be going into dirt tanks - I've already been assured they do well in them (my substrate would benefit from them I'm sure), but does anyone here actually have them in dirt tanks, and have they brought soil above the cap when moving about = mucking up the water, leaving silt on top of the cap?

Also, if they overpopulate, can they be removed with the same trick that works on other snails - namely luring them with skewered veggies or lettuce and removing them in groups? I don't want to ever introduce assassin snails as I have a population of ramshorns I adore.

Thanks!
 
#5 ·
Why do you hate them? I have no experience them them at all....

I also have a fairly thick cap (1" minimum) of natural creek gravel;



 
#6 ·
Once you have them they're hard to get rid of. People say oh you're just feeding too much. Even in a a heavily planted 55 gallon that had no fish and therefore no food added they maintained a population of about 17 billion. The only way I've gotten ahead of them is with Assassin snails. There are others out there that hate them too. Including stories of attempts to bleach them, freeze them and dry them out. I have no idea why they don't breed out of control for some people. Maybe they like my water.

I've also noticed no benefit to having them. In tanks with sand that's 2 - 3 inches I still get icky spots in the sand. They don't seem to have had an affect on any type of algae I've dealt with.

I don't have any dirt tanks but, I just thought I'd make sure you knew that there are people that regret intentionally adding them to their tanks. Oh, also I've ended up infesting all my tanks somehow. Even my brackish tank and I thought they couldn't live in the salt.
 
#30 ·
The issue isn't that you're not providing food. In a 55 gallon tank, there's a ton of surface area for biofilm to grow. Tons of room for bacteria to develop in the substrate. That's an endless food supply.

Once you have them they're hard to get rid of. People say oh you're just feeding too much. Even in a a heavily planted 55 gallon that had no fish and therefore no food added they maintained a population of about 17 billion.
 
#7 ·
Cindy - I have them in my Dirted tanks and in my submersed bare bottom grow-out tank that I grow plants in Clay pots in. Never have I see MTS dig up dirt. In my tanks the Cap is 1 to 1.5" deep. In the clay pots maybe 1/2" deep.

About the only observation on this I would offer in my tank with Sakerete all purpose sand with has fine sand to very small pebbles. I feel it separated faster with the snails.

I cull about every two months. Algae wafter in a net over night. I pull everyone out sm. & tiny ones go back in to work...adults got out.

The benefits of a healthy snail population (MTS & Ramshorns) far out weights any perceived negatives. I would not own a Planted tank without them.
 
#14 ·
On another member's thread (which I shamelessly hijacked, but apologized for!) I posted the same two pics as I did here, and Diana felt the snails would have no trouble getting past my cap to the soil. I'm watching youtube vids as well - they are mostly useless so far- one vid said how the snails decimated his plants! $100's worth, eaten up! lol Even though so many people see them as pests, and I understand they can reproduce fast and in great quantity, I think I will still try to get some. I believe that a greater biodiversity can only help my tank. Having the snails root under the cap will help my soil, their waste will fertilize my plants (I am strictly low tech) and hopefully they would get food missed by my fish on the cap, before it adds to the ammonia levels (although I think my ramshorns do that). Speaking of which, one of the vids said they add a tremendous amount to the tank's existing bioload - so don't add them to tanks if you are concerned about the ammonia that the snails make. Confusing? Yep!
 
#20 ·
Right, snail poop is going to create an Ammonia spike.
:icon_mrgr

Send that person a link to my Tonic Ten Tank and their head will explode.
:hihi:
haha! I never thought of your Toxic Ten - that would make their head explode! :hihi:
 
#15 ·
haha - and if you're a brunette like me, it would be cheaper than hair color!
 
#16 ·
I love MTS, easy to catch bunches with an algae wafer or cucumber slice. They move very slowly, so i don't think they would really mess up your substrate much at all. And with that pretty rock 1 inch thick, the dirt they do displace will just gather between the rocks, shouldn't make it all the way up top.
 
#17 ·
Mine goes in a scrunchi (sp?) But not pulled all the way through on the last twist. Girls with long hair know what I mean. It just falls and needs redone. Ok, I'm going to quit talking about snails in my hair now lol

On the subject of horrible evil immortal MTS, they DO NOT eat plants.

Now on the subject of Latvian hair tips, well, I don't know anything about Latvian hair care or capped substrates for that matter.
 
#21 ·
Mine goes in a scrunchi (sp?) But not pulled all the way through on the last twist. Girls with long hair know what I mean. It just falls and needs redone. Ok, I'm going to quit talking about snails in my hair now lol
Well, my hair falls to the middle of my back. I'm so forgetful that if I leave it in a regular ponytail and it brushes the back of my neck I scare myself - lol! Guess I love the horror movies too much :icon_roll
 
#22 ·
I dunno, I've been reading about your postal horror stories! Do you think they would live long enough to get to me? I'm not in any hurry at all, this is just a thought I've been tossing around for some time. The latest MTS thread got me thinking again...if you think they would survive the cold, we can do a paypal thing after the holidays.

btw, how are you feeling?
 
#23 ·
Still sicker than a dog...blah :( but I have been on here today trying to figure out something about lighting my tank. Anyway...they don't carry MTS here so I had some shipped to me last winter from a hobbyist. They seemed dead honestly but didn't smell foul so I put them in the tank and sure enough a few weeks went by and BAM! I got snails! More than I'd like to have. Some days I wish I hadn't ever got them, but they aren't that bad. I just need to keep up with them. I have given some to my LFS so they will start to sell them around here next summer I bet ;) They will have so many they may just give them away!

So...if you decide to get them...you have been warned. They will suprise you one day. You look in the tank and see a couple here and there, then another day you take a look and you see hundreds! Just imagine how many more ya don't see :icon_eek:
 
#24 ·
They will get into your filter and are big breeders its hard to get rid of them, if you live in a cold climate you could do it by removing the substrate into buckets along with any sponges (the young love hiding out in sponges) and placing everything outside during winter and let it freeze for a few days that should do it or boil everything. Do allot of reading before adding them once there in there in. some people don’t like them they only eat decaying plant matter and love algae. The smaller once will remove allot of algae from leaves there so tiny they can climb on the smallest leaves and get into every spot. You can also remove some manually at night after the lights go out just pick them off the glass.

By the way no worries my thread is your thread :)
 
#25 ·
argh! I am so wishy-washy! I still need to think on this. I like snails, but I don't want ten thousand. I just had a vision of finding ten thousand behind my Hamburg Mattenfilter, lol. Although that would make baiting them easy :icon_wink

Even so, I like snails...I don't know. I trust Frank, and if they work for him...
 
#27 ·
argh! I am so wishy-washy! I still need to think on this. I like snails, but I don't want ten thousand. I just had a vision of finding ten thousand behind my Hamburg Mattenfilter, lol. Although that would make baiting them easy :icon_wink

Even so, I like snails...I don't know. I trust Frank, and if they work for him...
Yeah...definetely take your time and think about it. Mine don't get into my filters or even climb the glass, but they are everywhere else...in the plants, on the dw and rocks and burrowing along the top layer of substrate.

Okay...I feel like crud. I'm logging loff. Talk to you later.
 
#26 ·
oh...one thing I should mention...they actually compete with my kuhli loaches. If the kuhlis don't eat fast, the MTS will smother the loaches food. I do hate that. I know many experienced aquarist say they only breed according to the amount of food fed to the fish. Not true in my experience. These things continue to breed and it is my opinion that I see them at all hours because there isn't enough food for them so they are constantly searching, stealing food from my fish.
 
#28 ·
I agree with your points here, feeding algae wafers or shrimp pellets to bottom dwellers becomes very difficult because the snails cover the food. And they don't breed according to the amount of food added because in the tank I wasn't adding any food to there were still hundreds of teeny babies floating on the surface every day.
 
#33 ·
I did! I snagged an RAOK for some calcium montmorillonite, and the person is going to throw in a few mts for me. I can't wait! We'll have to come back here at a later point and compare notes - LOL
 
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