Sometimes aquarium snails can be damaging to your fish tank. Snail usually eat the algae, which reduce the algal bloom problem, dead and decaying plant matter, and finish the uneaten food.
Why are Snails Bad for my Aquarium? Some snail species are not suitable and considered bad for aquariums. The problem arises when these peaceful creature causes a mess in your tank like their growth rate increases with time and overfeeding affect the water quality. These snails can disturb the filter function and damage the live aquarium plants.
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Why are Snails Bad for my Aquarium?
People keep the snail as a pet because it makes your aquarium environment attractive, beautiful, and fascinating.
Trouble arises when you ignore this little creature for a while and cause a chaotic environment for you. This snail outbreak is an indication for you to change the aquarium water parameters.
Species that are bad for aquarium
Snail is good as well as bad for your aquarium due to several reasons. There are the following species that cause the problem for aquarists. It includes the bladder, Malaysian trumpet, and pond and apple snails.
Bladder snail
These are small in size, approximately ½ inches. They reproduce quickly and multiply to make the overpopulation.
They have good eating habits which produce lots of waste, which leads to a rise in the nitrogenous waster level like ammonia and nitrates. These wastes overload the aquarium biofilter and disturb the water quality.
Malaysian trumpet snail
They resemble the unicorn horn and long in size. Trumpet snails also craze about the reproduction and growth rate is high.
It is difficult for you to get rid of them because they can live without a diet for approximately one (01) month, and their destruction is challenging.
Pond snails
They also reproduce and grow to become adults rapidly. They belong to a lymnaeidae family, and their size is around 1-2 inches. They can disturb the aquarium plants.
Apple snail
Apple snail species belong to the Ampullariidae. They can lay eggs around 300-600 at one time and reproduce efficiently. If you cannot do enough control, you face difficulty removing the new population crawling all over the tank.
How are snails bad for your aquarium?
Here are following reason which affects the aquatic life of your aquarium. It includes over breeding problems, damaging the underwater inhabitants and plants, affect filter intake, overfeeding, water parameters disturbance, and any others.
Nuisance issue
Aquarium snail leads to infestation if their growth or breeding does not control at a time. They show to make the hundreds or dozens of baby snails.
When they enter your aquarium is a relatively harmless and cool creature. If you do not maintain the check and balance, then it causes an issue for you.
It is also possible to enter into your tank with the fish, plants, and decorated rocks or in the cluster of eggs form, which then hatches to become baby snail.
You have to observe these plants while buying and finding out anything present and washing it with suitable solutions like alum and bleach.
You can handle this situation by adding some snail predators into the water like loaches, fish species. You have to place those water species that require marine water for their reproduction, like the Nerite, Clithon species, and others.
Disturb filter function
They have the bad habit of crawling into the aquarium filter intakes and close the tube. In this way, the proper functioning of the filter disturbs.
Some snail species find their food and creep into the filter intake tube to pick up the food remnants.
Sometimes they hibernate into the filter and make it overload. Algae also grow into the filter, which is scratch out by the snail.
You can overcome this problem by removing the algal content from the filter with time and cleaning it properly so that your snail finishes’ entrance source. You can also follow the rule of thumb to control the overstocking issues for 10-liter water volume add one snail.
Damage to aquarium plants
Snail species do not cause any problems if these present in a limited amount. Many aquarists or hobbyists purchase the snail to increase their aquarium appearance.
Some snail, such as the apple snail, love to eat the aquatic plants when they finish the existing food in the aquarium bottom. Damage to submerged plants is a leading issue for the marine habitat.
These plants are beneficial for live organisms like fish, and much other produce O2 and CO2 and many others like ammonia, which is best for them. Plants help to reduce algae growth and give shelter for your fish.
Ramshorn, a pond snail, can eat the aquatic plants if any other food is not present. Suppose you do not overcome this problem, then algae growth increases, which reduces the many useful gas content essential for your fish and plants.
Another option is Diatomaceous earth, which contains finely ground fossils helpful to prevent the plants from eating. It can dehydrate their body through scratch out of soft snail body.
Harmful for aquarium inhabitants
Some snail species like the pod, Ramshorn, and many other harms the aquatic inhabitants like plants and fish species. Some snail species like Assassin snails attack the other snail and eat them.
They can eat a sufficient diet available in the aquarium and produce waste at a faster rate. The rise in waste level, increasing the ammonia in water, which is not suitable for your fish health. The snail species which is responsible for this activity are mostly the bladder snail.
Overfeeding problems
Snails have a good appetite, and they can eat a sufficient amount of food. Its overeating causes digestive problems.
Other than the remaining fish food, dead fish, and decaying plant organic matter, they consume the fruits and vegetables.
If you notice that your snail sticks to the fruits or apple slices for prolongs time, like an hour, then you have to put away from it.
You are overfeeding results in too much waste. If the water is not clear or changes, the nitrogenous waste like the ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates level becomes high, damaging the aquatic life.
You have to provide a sufficient amount of food that fish and other marine inhabitants can eat at a time, like shrimps. Make the water clean and vacuum the gravel regularly but avoids excess water change from the aquarium.
Excessive water change makes the water demineralized, and the parameters also disturb. Every problem has a solution. If you limit the overfeeding part, several issues can solve like the leading cause of overproduction.
Snails can cause diseases
The snail is a tiny but bad creature that affects both humans as well as aquatic lives. It makes approximately 2 million deaths per year.
A freshwater snail can cause parasitic diseases like Schistosomiasis. These parasites usually leave out their body and enter the water.
This type of parasite completes its life cycle in its body. They do not cause the disease; its laid eggs are responsible for the dissemination, and various symptoms develop like fatigue and many others, leading to death.
You have to overcome this with the help of introducing predators in the tank. In this way, the rate of infection decreases.
Escape from aquarium
Apple snail has escaping habits and disturbs the wild and agricultural lives. Nerite snails also escape out from the fish tank if the lid covers; they don’t care.
They usually cover over the water surface line and have the ability to escape out from the aquarium.
Bad smell from the aquarium
Overfeeding a snail can lead to foul water. It can eat the excess diet and increase the ammonia level, disturbing the nitrogen cycle essential for aquatic life.
It also raises the water parameters and affects the water quality. Excessive food leads to decompose with time, and the gas pockets under the substrate rocks cause toxicity for your fish.
Giant snails need an excess amount of feed and feel hungry all the time. You can overcome this by providing the low amount with suitable quality and remove the debris and decaying matter from the tank, which disturb the eco-system.
Excess algae growth also causes the problem of overcrowding of your snail. You have to overcome clean the algae crew from your fish tank.
Hermaphroditic snails
Some snail species are hermaphroditic. It means they can reproduce sexually and sexually and have both characteristics of male and female. It includes several species like the pond, trumpet, Ramshorn, and many others.
Species that reproduce sexually you have to avoid as a pet in an aquarium because you can’t handle them. You can control the situation by introducing the predator into the aquarium.
The Clea Helena has the best appetite for other snails, but some problematic exceptions available regarding this species. These snails are bad for your aquarium because they need an excess diet for their reproduction so that it may cause a mess for you.
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