I was at Petsmart yesterday, and I noticed something. Moving gravel. Then, I noticed that the gravel itself was mostly composed of snails and shells from dead ones. They were the elongated snails. (can't remember what they're called). EVERY tank was this way. HUNDREDS of snails and shells littering the bottom of the tanks. Has anyone else noticed this??? Weird.

Yep. I was talking to one of the guys that works at Petsmart, and he called them "spiral snails." Apparently these little guys reproduce asexually, and spread like wildfire. All it takes is one little snail in one of the tanks (brought in by plants or the arrival of new fish) and there are literally hundreds/thousands popping up everywhere. He says they clog up the filtration system, travel through the pipes to all the aquariums, and you can't get rid of them unless you dismantle/sterilize everything. Kind of creepy.

Wow........ you'd think they'd pluck em out of the tanks periodically though. It just looks poor with all of the shells in there.

I have a feeling they reproduce so much that the employees don't even bother anymore. Every petsmart aquarium that I see is just packed with those snails... on the ornaments, on the fish food, covering the gravel... ew.

Have you ever stopped and stared at the gravel? There's snails under it, and the gravel moves in spots. Chek it out next time, it's creepy. I wonder why other pet store don't have this problem? Well, besides nnnnnn. Those snails just DIE. nnnnnn can't even keep the pest snails alive.

Actually, I never thought of that... but you're right. I don't think any of the Petco stores I've been to have had snail problems... but most Petcos do have horrid ich problems. The one near my house has had some adorable fantails and lionheads with the worst cases of ich i've ever seen... it's like they just came in from the snow.

And about those snails... I used to think Petsmart purposely stocked them to clean algae or something. But after talking to the employee, and looking closer at the tanks, I noticed what you did... that not only was most of the substrate snails and shells.. but half of the snails were alive, and the gravel moved almost constantly.

Eh. I don't know why it gives me the creeps. They're just SNAILS, but hmm.... I guess whenever you see something in mass quantities like that it's just so weird it's creepy, if that makes any sense. (I hope Devs doesn't find this thread.). As for Petco, well, no, I don't see the snails either. Petco and nnnnnn ahve the same supplier and I agree, ick ick ick. I was at PetCO today, and ALL the goldfish tanks had ick and were "Under Observation", and one goldfish tank had VELVET. It was the first time I've ever seen the stuff. Poor fishies.

I get freaked out by lots of little tiny things... spilling a bag of brine shrimp eggs on the floor, huge betta bubble nests, an ant colony after water's been sprayed on them... Oh! And that one time I put too much conditioner in my tank and ended up with a million tiny bubbles... nearly had a panic attack.

Velvet! Wow... never seen that before. The most exotic disease I've seen in a pet store was a betta with dropsy. And a betta with a case of mouth rot so severe that half of it was gone, and the rest of his mouth was cherry red. I was at a small pet store once, and 60-70% of the tanks had the words "sick fish... don't sell" on them. I walked right out of that place and am never going back again.

Hahaha, you're JUST like me when it comes to that stuff. I saw ants like a hundred of em walking ina straight line once for like 10 feet, and I freaked. Then last summer, there was a patch in my yard like 2 feet long, and 2 feet wide, and it was solid TERMITES. My brother in law teased me by grabbing my wrist and pushing my hand towards it. I FLIPPED OUT. Ran all the way to the garage, grabbed some Diazanon (SP?), and dumped it over them. Yukkkkkk..........another one that bothers me is when someone has SOOOOO many zits that you can't even see their skin. And rashes that are bumpy. They give me the shivers looking at em too.

oh yeah. my mom got hives all over her arms, legs, and back once. i will never, ever forget that day. my right arm goes numb whenever i think about it. *shudder*

wow, big infestation, y dont just add some salt


or i heard that there is snail removaltreatment at pet stores too


or maybe copper

Sounds like Malaysian Trumpet snails, or something closely related. They actually aren't bad guys, I purposely put them in my tanks to keep the substrate turned up.

In very warm temps where there is a lot of extra food around they can reproduce quite quickly, but even in large numbers they don't normally cause any problems. The large numbers of dead shells at the bottom imply that the food supply in those tanks is spiking (lots of food, snails reproduce, food disappears, they die).

When numbers get out of hand you can just pull the extras out after dark when they come up to the walls of the tank.

Had a Snail and salt aren't likely to work with these guys. They have very hard shells and a trapdoor they can close up to resist poisons. Besides, when you have a lot of snails, a massive death is likely to be more dangerous to your fish than the waste from the live ones.

They don't eat plants, only extra fish food and brown algae + decaying plant matter. They also don't get very large. If you keep a strainer over your filter intake you just knock out any who have gotten stuck there overnight. In reasonable numbers, you won't see them much during the day, when they mostly dig through the gravel looking for food.

is it pos for any one to get a pic of this plz i would really like to see it

yeah i agree with the gf man...i want to see pics. my petsmart doesnt have these snails in theirs and im interested

Well, I can TRYYYYY..................... I dunno what they'll do if they see me taking pics though. I'll probably go there in a few days, and I'll attempt it.

Actually I go to the petstore about three times a week and they will fish some out for me and I drop them in and my Orandas eat them as treats they give me about 20 or thirty at a time depends on how busy they are. I have about 50 in my 20 gallon and they dont reproduce all that much I like them they are neet. I have four in the ten gallon at work and they havent reproduced much. At the petsmart here they will put big Orandas in all the tanks to purposely eat all they Trumpet Snails, im sure if you ask they will give you all you want. We have a goldfish here at work that loves to eat them.
When I vacum my tank my water is usually pretty clean thanks to my trumpet snails.

Lisa

Well the thing about that is, doesn't it bother a fish's digestive system to eat something like a snail? I would think that the hard shell would hurt going in AND going out!!

I think clown loaches also eat these guys... I could be wrong, though.

i think i can remember some one saying that it helps the fish if they have snails to eat

and errrika1979 why dont you just ask and tell them what it is for they should let you

I have some in my 30 gallon plant tank and yes, they are actually beneficial to keeping the substrate oxygenated. I have a deep gravel/sand bed that would go stagnant without them. They are also a great sign of the health of your substrate–if you hardly see them then you know its oxygenated well and is suitable to live in. When you start seeing them all over the tank you know something is wrong.

I recently treated for ich (didnt faze the snails a bit–they are tough) and as the oxygen level dropped, out came the snails! I did a water change and they went right back under. Pretty cool.

I will try and find some pics. I dont have any of mine since they only come up at night. They come in all different colors and get about an inch long. Some of mine are green. My favorites are a brown and white marbled color.
http://www.petresources.net/fish/plants/mel_tub.html
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/4742/snail_faq.html

nnnnnn shouldn't be allowed to keep any kind of pet. they pack there fish and snails so tight that they don't have any room to move. i feel so sry for them.