trapdoor snails

[j.w]

Yep those are snail eggs on the leaves. Those snails used to lay eggs everywhere and I had tons of snails. When I had my Clown Loaches they would eat up every snail in the tank and leave not a one left. After they were gone to fish Heaven and I got some plants w/ snails attached the population of snails went nuts! No more aquariums for me........had them forever and just got tired of the work involved. Ponds seem easier to me and don't need to ask neighbors to feed the fish. Goldfish can fend for themselves for awhile now w/ DH being retired and us going places now and then. I'll just enjoy you guy's tanks and all the pretty inside fishies you share!

 

[CountryEscape]

JW, here is a website all about apple snails, which is what yours looks like. It talks about when they die, another one might eat the dead one!
http://www.applesnai...ontent/care.php
The egg sacs I saw on your leaves are not what these lay, so do you have other snails, or what else is in your aquarium, that may have laid them?
Oh, never mind. Looks like your pic was from the past.

 

[sissy]

Yeh mysteries by what I read and most indoor snails lay eggs but trapdoors give birth to living babies .I guess with the mild winter they just kept having babies as I see small snails in my waterfall also and the bigger snails were put in the waterfall but some escaped and are in the pond and the fish just ignore them .I still have 25 mature snails .

 

[HARO]

FWIW, the snail in jw's picture is a ramshorn snail, one of the most common aquarium snails. The egg mass is typical of this species. They grow to about 1 or 1 1/4 inches across, and could teach rabbits a thing or two about multiplying! John

 

[j.w]

JW, here is a website all about apple snails, which is what yours looks like. It talks about when they die, another one might eat the dead one!
http://www.applesnai...ontent/care.php
The egg sacs I saw on your leaves are not what these lay, so do you have other snails, or what else is in your aquarium, that may have laid them?
Oh, never mind. Looks like your pic was from the past.

I was reading that link and says Apple snails can get 2" big. My snails were all teeny tiny buggers no more than 1/4" or so and never got any bigger than that. I think the photo I took makes it look like a bigger snail cuz was real close up photo. Don't have any idea what kind they were.

 

[j.w]

Meant to say 1 & 1/4" big.

 

[taherrmann4]

I have assassin snails in my aquarium that seek out and eat the other snails that over populate the aquarium.

 

[addy1]

I have assassin snails in my aquarium that seek out and eat the other snails that over populate the aquarium.

Do they have little ninja swords?

 

[sissy]

ADDY LOL machine guns

 

[CometKeith]

Last year I bought a few apple (mystery) snails from petsmart and a few fish got sick right after that. I hadn't had any noticable disease for over a year. I have a friend that will never put snails in his pond because of the diseases they carry. I wonder if apple snails carry more diseases than trap door snails, or maybe it wasn't such a good idea to buy random snails. My apple snails got picked off the rocks by birds so they didn't last any longer than the trapdoor variety that the raccoons went after, but they were really good at getting rid of the ugly black slime that grows on my waterfall rocks in early spring.

 

[CountryEscape]

Keith, I think the mystery snails would not have lasted outside in the winter, unless you planned to bring them inside. The trapdoors will last through the winter, however. I've had mystery snails in my aquarium, and the only thing that seems to die after maybe 3-4 months are the snails. I'm thinking of leaving a few trapdoor babies in my inside aquariums and see how they do.
So, do you think keeping them quarantined would have helped, or better yet, if best to quarantine them, what do you do with them besides keeping them in separate water ... is there anything to put in the water to make sure no diseases are brought to my pond? Thanks!

 

[CometKeith]

Country, That's a good question. I think sometimes an organism can carry a disease but not get sick themselves so I don't know if you really can quarantine them. Regarding putting something in the water to get rid of the disease. I never heard of that other than just keeping a good aquatic environment. I have read that farm raised snails are better. I wonder if they just pulled the snails from some of their tanks or if they were in fact farm raised. They were in the aquatic plant section so maybe they were okay and I am blaming the snails for no good reason. Maybe it was coincidental that the fish got sick about the same time. I have had good results with their fish. Re buying snails, If someone is selling a lot of snails they probably are making sure they are disease free.

 

[CountryEscape]

Very good points, Keith. This guy said when he is able to get into his pond this spring, he will have tons of the 2" golf ball sized snails, and if I ask, he will send me 25 of that size! So, of course I told him I will wait. Also, he said when his supply gets low this time of year, he charges more for the smaller sizes. He said to let him know before I order to make sure he is at the lowest price for the season. What a good guy, but this is also the same guy (it seems) that blocked Sissy, and we are still not sure about that. I think her Ebay name must have been close to someone that jilted him and he just did not respond to her because of that! If I get all golf ball size snails, I will definitely keep a few in my inside aquarium to watch them work, and put the rest in my outdoor pond, maybe get 50 as they were less than $2 each, maybe more like $1 each if you bought 50.

 

[CometKeith]

Country, Just a thought. If you have raccoons in your area you might want to try introducing fewer snails into your pond and see if they last. Last year every night the raccoons came to visit my pond to catch my trap door snails they made a huge mess with the plants and my fish got pretty skittish in general. Finally when they caught all the snails things went back to normal!

 

[CountryEscape]

I would do that, Keith; however, I live in the wide open ... and I mean WIDE open! There are no woods (or trees for that matter) for a mile in every direction from my house, just flat farmed fields. I have seen a raccoon once at my house, and that was while I was digging the pond. Yes, he could come back, but I doubt it. He got up on the pipes on the back of my house with the dogs (I had 5 at that time LOL) barking at home. I know he was not sure he was going to make it out of there alive, but I brought the dogs inside the house until he got away before I turned them back out. I do have a super barn for them to have babies in, and if I ever notice the cat food being eaten at an alarmingly rate, I will know that I have "visitors" and be on the lookout. My plan is to get a big dog (or maybe mini Aussie ...) for the backyard, that will help keep critters away from the pond. Need fence .... and dog. LOL Would love to get German Shepherd, but I'm so darn picky on what I want, and can't afford it when I find it, so will have to settle for something different. Golden Retriever is 2nd on my choices at this point, but one of my last Goldens loved to "fish", and she could catch fish, too, so don't want to start that.
Here's the raccoon that was UNWELCOME:

And here is my "fishing" Golden Retriever who raised 2 baby raccoons (Jethro and Ellie Mae) when I lived in rental house: