What kind of snail is this?

[driftwoodhunter]

I've only ever ordered ramshorns, but I have pond snail hitch-hikers in another tank. Much to my surprise I found this in my 125 - a tank I just ordered MTS for. Is it an MTS, or an Assassin? I've never seen either one in person so I don't know the difference. I found it on the surface of the substrate, I think eating the calcium-loaded veggie sticks with the ramshorns. I don't think it was actually after the ramshorns, but who knows!

I have a very bad problem with snail's shells eroding in this tank - you can see a bit of erosion on the tip of this guy's shell too, as well as color erosion. (I'm taking steps to correct that now). Due to the erosion, I have lots of dead ramshorns - their shells litter my tank bed. I just want to make sure this isn't an Assassin snail, helping add to the litter of empty shells...thanks! I have him in a time-out in a cup of tank water until I find out what it is...

[theericafish]

This is an assassin, I don't think that is one. Most of mine have a white "foot" and a shorter shell.

Looks like a mts to me.

Other than their feelers they also have a horn like tube coming out of their shell in the front.

[driftwoodhunter]

Thanks for the clarification. Even though there is erosion on the shell, it never had the stripes yours has. I'll have to check the tank out after lights out with a flashlight. I hope there are more! I will probably plop this guy into the tank with all the pond snails for now, it needs MTS too. (while I meticulously hand pick the pond snails and their eggs out - how tedious!)

[theericafish]

Depending on what you are keeping in the tank you could try crushed coral in your filter to raise your gh and kh/ph so your snails shells stop eroding. Worked well for my 10g, but the ph is up around 7.5, kh 4 and gh about 8.

[driftwoodhunter]

I have all tetras in the tank, except for 6 fish (out of 48 or so), so I like to keep the pH a bit lower, although I keep hearing pH is relatively obsolete now. However I think it effects ammonia/ammonium, so I try to keep it low-ish just in case. Last time I tested (last week) my pH was 6.8 to 7.0, kh was 3 and gh was 6. I did add a cuttlebone to one of the filters and broke little pieces off of it & dropped those in the actual tank - hoping the snails would cruise the bits. No dice, they ignore them. Once I put a rinsed, broken egg shell in the tank and they feasted on that. I think I might add another one tomorrow after the water change...I need to retest the water before the w/c to see if the cuttlebone has had any effect yet. I'm just learning about gh, kh, etc. so it's a learning curve for me yet!

[theericafish]

I'm keeping neons and ember tetras, they do alright in the high ph but were also raised in local water so they seem pretty used to it. After raising the gh and kh I did notice that the offspring of my original snails were getting much nicer shells. Imo, tetra fish will breed better in lower ph but seem to be able to tolerate a wide variety of ph.

Most of the time they eat the fry before they can even grow so not breeding isn't too much of a problem for me. D:

[driftwoodhunter]

I'm sure my fish are all farm raised - my lfs gets their fish from Sunpets and I don't know where Petsmart gets theirs, but I don't have any typically wild caught species. I'll keep an eye on the snails since adding cuttlebone, but it's good to know that the crushed coral did the job, just in case. I love my snails! lol

[steven p]

Mts have spikes by their door and a pointier shell.

[driftwoodhunter]

Originally Posted by steven p

Mts have spikes by their door and a pointier shell.

It looks like there are several different kinds, or am I wrong? I only just started Googling images, but I found this, and I thought it looked like my snail (minus my snail's erosion)



if it isn't MTS, and it isn't Assassin, what could it be? I know it's not bladder or pond, because I have far too many of them in another tank to compare to - haha.

[steven p]

There's a bajillion species of snails I'm sure.. I just went and grabbed a handful of snails from a tank near me. These are creme shell dominant strain and I don't see the normal row of tiny spikes... I was gunna take a picture but heck... Lemme see if I can find a couple

[theericafish]

http://www.planetinverts.com/malaysi...pet_snail.html

[steven p]

Just as I was about to accept insanity, I found one with the spikes.. but it seems that trait has nearly vanished from my snail population.

My phone decided to link some other image from my host... Its the one in front of the pink pebble.. everything looks congruent upon this closer examination..

[driftwoodhunter]

Ah...well perhaps mine had the tiny spikes and they eroded along with the tip...I tossed it into my 29g, and it did upend itself & burrow under, so there it goes...I guess I don't care what it is, so long as it isn't an Assassin. (which it isn't). I am looking forward to a healthy population of MTS though!