Are these snails bad or good for plants

hywaydave

I've only had two of these in my tank for months, one finally died but I now have 4 snails total. At least they not mulitplying like crazy. I just want to make sure that they will not harm my plants and only feed on algae and rotted leaves. I know some people in here welcome the snails in their planted tanks while others consider them pests. The last pic is of one of my amazon swords. It has a some brown spots and a couple holes in the leaves, but the leaves are probably a few months old or more, is this just normal for an aged leaf or is it caused by snails?

DKRST

Nothing to worry about. Looks like the common pond snail (Physidae). The snails will feed on algae and detritus (old food), as well as plant material that's dead. I don't think there is any good evidence that snails will eat plants in the aquarium, although I suppose if they were starving they might. They do seem to help keep the plant leaves clean of diatoms in my tanks.

That snail and the ramshorn snail are probably the two most common snails found in aquaria. While I have a couple of snail-free tanks due to medications used in the tanks, I have concluded it's just about impossible to avoid snails if you have live plants. Don't overfeed and your snail population should stay low. If you see lots and lots of snails, that's a very good indication that you are overfeeding your fish!

GwenInNM

I agree with above. I have snails with plants and I see no evidence of them eating plants. My frustration is I can't see to keep snails in my tank with by Botica Loaches, because they eat them. I'm even sure they are eating the Malaysian trumpet snails, as I've tried introducing them and never have seen one, just a couple empty shells. If I get too many of the common pond snails, in my planted Red Cherry Shrimp tank, I throw them in my other tank, and they are snacks for the loaches.

Gwen

Byron

I agree. I have hundreds of snails in my tanks, mainly Malaysian Livebearing (they are in the hundreds) but I'm having better luck keeping these delightful pond snails now; don't know why, I have very soft water and up until maybe 2 years ago they never lasted long. I've now seen some attain an inch. Considering the egg masses I see on plant leaves, obviously not all of them are surviving, but enough do that they are performing a good task.