[booth2010]

I was looking in my tank today and noticed an invasion of baby MTS. all of them 1/8" or smaller. The only thing that has been added to the tank in the last 6 months is 3 large (32-36") pieces of bone dry Manzanita driftwood on Friday. Is it possible for eggs to have stayed on the driftwood and then hatched when introduced to water? I dont recall seeing any at all early last week. I dont have any plants in the tank as of now, I am about to do a major tear down and reset of the tank and go planted here in the next month or two. As of now its just a large "stump" of driftwood, the 3 large Manzanita pieces, and river rock substrate. I dont mind the snails at all and welcome the new life to the tank, im simply curious. Thanks all.

 

[Plinkploop]

MTS can settle in your tank bed and seem like they're completely gone- maybe the driftwood addition and the biofilm amassing on it drove a couple back up and an explosion happened? I'm just speculating.

 

[booth2010]

MTS can settle in your tank bed and seem like they're completely gone- maybe the driftwood addition and the biofilm amassing on it drove a couple back up and an explosion happened? I'm just speculating.

Thats the only other thing I could think of. I have what I think is a Corydoras Paleatus in the tank and I believe they eat snails so maybe its just kept the population at bay until the recent explosion.

 

[Plinkploop]

Very well could be. My pond snails only make appearances in my "garbage can" tank when my clippings don't make it and start rotting away, other than that they hide away in the substrate.

 

[AVN]

While some snail eggs will survive drying out for a bit (think hard eggs like apple, mystery, or nerites) The majority of snails and eggs will not survive desiccation, so it's unlikely they came from the wood unless it was used recently in another tank.

Certain species of MTS carry their eggs with them so you won't find the same egg casings you would with other snails. AFAIK they burrow and then baby snails come out of the substrate.

It's likely you had a hitchhiker from a plant or something hiding in your substrate the whole time.

Btw 1/8" is probably an adult MTS, the babies are smaller than 0.5mm

 

[booth2010]

While some snail eggs will survive drying out for a bit (think hard eggs like apple, mystery, or nerites) The majority of snails and eggs will not survive desiccation, so it's unlikely they came from the wood unless it was used recently in another tank.

Certain species of MTS carry their eggs with them so you won't find the same egg casings you would with other snails. AFAIK they burrow and then baby snails come out of the substrate.

It's likely you had a hitchhiker from a plant or something hiding in your substrate the whole time.

Btw 1/8" is probably an adult MTS, the babies are smaller than 0.5mm

Thanks for the reply. I’m guessing they were just hidden in the river rocks for a while and had a population explosion. Aside from a few fish and the driftwood I haven’t added anything wet, including plants, in probably 2.5 years. Currently have no plants in it but a full tank reboot is coming soon. Most of the snails must be babies as a majority are really 1/16”. Some are so small looks like a white spec until you get realllllly close

 

[gFrontosa]

From what I know, MTS give live birth to babies, no eggs are involved. I hate them. I had a hitch hiker from plants I bought and now I have them in almost every tank. I do get some satisfaction in leaving a slice of cucumber that is weighed down with a fork and harvesting the snails the next morning and tossing them in my back yard.

 

[Plinkploop]

Much better to kill them than to risk having them become an invasive species... And the crunch is pretty satisfying lol