# Are Malaysian Trumpet Snails worth adding to a tank?



## TheGiantDwarfShrimp

I need something to stir up the sand In a 90 gallon planted tank with pool filter sand with mineralized top soil underneath.
I have read mixed reviews of trumpet snails but still need something to sift the sand.
Will they really cover my whole tank and clog my canister filters?

If they are really that bad what else could I add? Its a community tank with neon tetras and cherry barbs so if a fish would be better I would want something small.

Thanks


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## zonamav

I don't have MTS but if you have layers of substrate they are going to mix them together pretty quick from what I understand.


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## Aquaticfan

I run them in my tanks. Never any issues what so ever. Never had them clog a filter, they arent over running my tanks. They do the job they are supposed to. in the substrate and even on the plants eating algae. 

I think most people that have serious issues with them Over feed and just dont do what you need to to keep population in check. I dont do anything special.. But again im not like over run with them. They arent in or on my filters.. Nothing like that at all. I find them beneficial.


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## Aquaticfan

zonamav said:


> I don't have MTS but if you have layers of substrate they are going to mix them together pretty quick from what I understand.



Never have heard that ever myself.. Its not like they are tossing substrate everywhere. They work though it yes.... But not like a mixer. At least not what ive seen.


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## FriendsNotFood

In my experience, yes, they do mix layers together until eventually the biggest grain ends up on top. I've never had a tank without them so I can't compare but I don't do anything to the substrate in the front of my tank where I feed my shrimp and that's what happens. The MTS burrow through the sand to get the shrimp food and mix the substrate in the process. Aside from that and them digging up the occasional carpet plant, I would say they're beneficial. Plus they don't lay eggs, which makes them the perfect snail


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## Aquaticfan

Gotta love a live bearing snail...


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## JasonG75

I Will say that they can get out of control rather quickly. A little over a year ago I bought 20, and thought to myself "Maybe I should have bought 40" lol well I know I am well into the HUNDREDS. If you want some I have no problem mailing some to you FREE.


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## somewhatshocked

MTS won't get out of hand, OP, as long as you're not overfeeding. 

Though, with any snails in your tank, it may be a good idea to consider a pre-filter of some sort to prevent them from getting into your filter if that's a concern.

I find them to be the key ingredient when it comes to sand-bottomed tanks. My plants almost always seem to benefit from their activity and my substrate always looks cleaner when they're around.


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## HD Blazingwolf

They stay well controlled with loaches. I have Botia striata or zebra loaches and I still don't ever see men. I just notice really small ones make it into my sump but they don't get big there as they usually somehow end up back in my main tank


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## HybridHerp

I just seeded my 75 with them I'd say about a week ago
even now, I am beginning to notice that the tank just overall looks cleaner, and that waste is more broken up and more easily picked up by my filters
I'm only using eco complete as my substrate with some of my tanks original larger grained gravel on top just cause I like the look and cause it made me feel better about dumping in all new gravel lol
I say add the mts, and if you find yourself with too many then just pull them out on pieces of blanched vegetables, since they will congregate there when offered


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## izabella87

They are wonderful, and they regulate their own population upon the abundance of food. Dont destroy plants..


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## Complexity

I guess I'll be the lone dissenter on this subject. I started out listening to all the wonderful reasons for having them so I intentionally got them and put them in my 75g tank. I do not overfeed; if anything, I underfeed. But they got way out of hand. They got into my canister filters. They got all throughout my substrate. Given that they eat fish poo, it may be that they were overfeed simply because with a large tank, I could have a large number of fish which meant a large amount of fish excrement. So perhaps that's how they overpopulated, I honestly don't know.

However, over the years I added loaches, only to find that they could not keep up with the snails even though they ate lots of snails as evidenced by the numerous empty snail shells scattered about all over the substrate. Adding assassin snails only became a snack for the loaches so that was a no-go.

It got so bad that I finally ripped out everything from the tank and gave away the substrate (with full knowledge of the snails). I then bleached everything in order to kill every last snail anywhere in the filtration system. About 50 teeny-tiny baby snails emerged from the canister filter motor (thankfully, dead). I have just this week put in new substrate, and the fist inhabitants I allowed in the tank were assassin snails. I'll rehome the loaches so the assassin snails can remain to do their job.

It is a myth that overfeeding is the cause of MTS overpopulation. Several years ago, I was working on a tank which caused me to pull out a bunch of rocks. When I did, numerous snails came with the rocks. I ended up putting the rocks in a bucket of water for about 2 months. I changed the water about once a week, but otherwise did not do anything else. I most certainly did not put any food in the bucket. The MTS in the bucket with nothing but rocks *multiplied*! They did not die during that time, but instead, kept right on reproducing. I was stunned. I've heard Tom Barr also say that overfeeding is not the cause of MTS overpopulation, but I don't know how he found out. All I know is that I definitely do not overfeed, and the accidental rocks-in-a-bucket experience made it very clear to me that overfeeding is not the issue.

So while I used to be in favor of adding MTS in tanks, I am now at war with the snails and working very hard to eradicate them completely from all my tanks. I've changed out my 90g and 75g. Assassin snails got rid of them in my nano tanks. So all that's left are my two 29g tanks which already have assassin snails working on the problem. Once I get further along, I will replace the substrate in order to get rid of the dead snail shells.

I no longer recommend Malaysian trumpet snails for tanks. They're great for the first year or so, but after 5 years or so, they can take the tank over, and no means of removal works other than completely starting over. It's not something I can in good conscience recommend to anyone anymore.


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## HybridHerp

hrmmm, well we shall see how this works out for me then, since I have the same size tank, though I am a tad concerned due to the fact that my intakes for my filters are right at the surface of the gravel...if I find snails in the filters I will take steps to keep them out
as far as assassin snails go, I never fully understood the purpose of keeping them for snail removal, since the assassin's will still reproduce themselves


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## Complexity

Assassins reproduce at a much slower rate than MTS so they can be controlled whereas MTS cannot be controlled.

It's like replacing a rampant weed with a flower or bush. Sure, they're both plants, but one is uncontrollable while the other can easily be removed if ever desired.


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## drewsuf82

I'll vouch for the loaches tearin up populations of them....

Mine are now secluded mostly to my filter and babies that disappear rather quickly in my tank, although they do well to clean what they can in their short lives

I'm actually thinking about trying and upping my population a bit on the snail side of it in my tank the only thing holding me back is knowing that 95-97% of them would be food rather quickly


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## TerriM

I'll side with Complexity on this one. I deliberately got MTS too. I do not overfeed my tanks. I have 3 tanks set up. One of them is a bit overcrowded with fish and I have experienced the huge population bloom in that tank. Other two I never see them. Same water parameters, same feeding schedules. Sand in 2 of the 3 tanks, one of them with the MTS gone wild. I can't figure it out. I got some Assassins, but only two and don't think they're making a dent in the population at all.


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## HD Blazingwolf

i also deliberately added them to my tank, BUT my loaches apparently ontrol the population.. i don't feed my loaches except what they may find on the substrate occaisionally. AND THEY ARE FAT.. litterally.. FAT they have a slender backbone area but the belly is twice the normal size and they dont have parasites.. they just eat snails all day


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## JasonG75

This is how I plan to remove some of mine. I am in AWE every time I feed my fish, about 30 min later ALL the snails come to the surface in PILES. What i plan to do is get a suction hose, and vaccum them into a small 5gal tank so I can either A. Sell them or B. Take them to the LFS for Puffer Food.

I wish I could throw a small puffer into my tank.


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## Jim_PA

I added 15 to my tank, and I thought they would do OK, but I don't think so. I think my Zebra loaches got them all.


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## HybridHerp

JasonG75 said:


> This is how I plan to remove some of mine. I am in AWE every time I feed my fish, about 30 min later ALL the snails come to the surface in PILES. What i plan to do is get a suction hose, and vaccum them into a small 5gal tank so I can either A. Sell them or B. Take them to the LFS for Puffer Food.
> 
> I wish I could throw a small puffer into my tank.


I'm not 100% sure on this but I think I've heard of mts shells cracking the teeth of some puffers, which if that's the case I doubt it would help anything


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## JasonG75

HybridHerp said:


> I'm not 100% sure on this but I think I've heard of mts shells cracking the teeth of some puffers, which if that's the case I doubt it would help anything


yea not sure as well, I know Bladder shells are softer.


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## TheGiantDwarfShrimp

well I am not sure about MTS from all of these bad experiences. There is a lot of waste in the tank so that could be a problem and I also plan on adding malawa shrimp once I have bred enough to start a population in the 90 gallon. is there anything else plant and shrimp safe that will at least sift the top 1/2" of the sand?


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## sso

they wont burrow through the substrate if its allready compacted.
mine is a thick gooey mess, lol, soil mixed with alot of [censored][censored][censored][censored], covered with 1cm size gravel.

the mts cant travel through it, i rarely see them digging.
ive been changing plant locations lately though and poking bit through the soil meanwhile and there arent many co2 pockets, just a few bubbles and the plants are happy as ever, its been this way for awhile..

so i dont think even alot of mts would do anything in that case. they are pretty strong buggers, but i see them doing better in a finer substrate and maybe without the soil (mud lol)
i got one of them with a plant, when it got big enough it cloned itself (As they do, similar to the marble crayfish) 
and now i got lots of them,i dont consider them a pest, they are rather small and dont eat the plants, just the algae and detritus. plus they look rather neat and are pretty interesting sometimes. (saw a tiny bugger the other day lifting a much larger rock for some reason, kept pushing at it for quite awhile. )

but if the soil was really compacted and not too fine, or had some soil, mud, that was beginning to be a problem, it might just work better, taking the soil out and rinsing it, semistarting from scratch.


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## Complexity

sso said:


> they wont burrow through the substrate if its allready compacted.


I don't know about that. My substrate was about 5 years old. So how much less compacted could have it been that any other tank, especially after I ignored the tank for a couple of years (no trimming, no planting, half the time not even feeding the fish which is why I am positive I did not overfeed)?

And yet, my substrate was full of snails. Most were deep inside the substrate. The ones I saw on top were the dead ones. I think that's one reason why I didn't catch on to how bad the problem was because the snails were under the substrate and I couldn't see how bad it was. But once I got loaches to start eating them, their dead shells began to pile up, making it clear that the problem was really bad.

Here's the text I got from the guy who took my old substrate (will full knowledge that it had snails):

_"I screened the EC over the weekend. You made the right choice in replacing it. A thousand assassin snails would not have won that battle lol. They're all in snail heaven now tho!"_​
Get the snails if you want. I did. Maybe you'll be happy with them. I was at first. But if you regret your decision as the years go by, understand that it's extremely difficult to change your mind. You literally have to dump your substrate, bleach everything (killing your bacteria in the process), and start all over again. I can handle any and every other snail (pond snails, etc), but not Malaysian trumpet snails.


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## fusiongt

To me this is not worth it. I hate those snails - they breed mad crazy. I got them by accident on a really old tank of mine and my clown loach didn't touch them... puffers would eat them but never had luck having them survive. Eventually got tired of the tank and those snails were a factor in that.


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## TheGiantDwarfShrimp

Is there any other invertebrate or small fish that would be good for sifting through the sand and is plant/ shrimp safe? or do I just need to move the sand around myself?


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## JasonG75

Sorry DwarfShrimp, I cant think of one. ONLY MTS. I gottem if you want some.


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## Complexity

What about kuhli loaches? I know they love to rummage through the sand, and I don't think they're destructive (double check that to be sure).


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## Complexity

Turns out kuhli loaches are fine for planted tanks!

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myfish/2-Kuhli_Loach_Acanthophthalmus_kuhli.html


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## JasonG75

Complexity said:


> Turns out kuhli loaches are fine for planted tanks!
> 
> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myfish/2-Kuhli_Loach_Acanthophthalmus_kuhli.html


 
LOL I have 4 in my tank..


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## Complexity

JasonG75 said:


> LOL I have 4 in my tank..


Do you know if they eat snails? What about putting them in a tank with Eco-Complete substrate (I'm thinking that's too rough for them).

I had kuhli loaches when I had tanks as a kid, and I remembered they were silly crazy (they have that loach personality). I wouldn't mind getting some now if I thought they'd be okay in my substrate and didn't eat my assassin snails.


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## JasonG75

Complexity said:


> What about kuhli loaches? I know they love to rummage through the sand, and I don't think they're destructive (double check that to be sure).


They dont "get" into the soil like MTS. MTS lives in the soil, until its time to come up to feed. I have a dirted tank capped with Black Beauty, you will only see a few snails on the surface throughout the day. Once the food hits the ground, they come out of the soil like corpses.


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## JasonG75

Complexity said:


> Do you know if they eat snails? What about putting them in a tank with Eco-Complete substrate (I'm thinking that's too rough for them).
> 
> I had kuhli loaches when I had tanks as a kid, and I remembered they were silly crazy (they have that loach personality). I wouldn't mind getting some now if I thought they'd be okay in my substrate and didn't eat my assassin snails.


 
Mouths are to small for mature snails, now they might hit up the baby snails but I have never witnessed it.
Eco should be fine, granted I dont like the sharp edges Eco has.
They wont eat assassins, too big. Make sure you have plenty of cover for them cause they hide A LOT and come out MORE when the lights are off.


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## Complexity

Isn't Black Beauty sand pretty sharp? I wonder if that's why they're not wanting to burrow as much. The ones I had as a kid absolutely lived in the substrate, and some of the people commenting on them from the link I gave expressed the same thing. But if the substrate is too sharp or the edges are too rough, they won't want to burrow in it (which is what I'm concerned about with my eco-complete substrate).


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## Complexity

JasonG75 said:


> They wont eat assassins, too big. Make sure you have plenty of cover for them cause they hide A LOT and come out MORE when the lights are off.


Hmm... but they might eat the assassin babies.

I definitely have a lot of hiding places. I have pelvicachromis in my tanks which are cave dwellers so I start out by putting as many caves as I can, and then I plant around the caves (hiding most of them). For loaches, it's also easy to scatter a dozen 3" long 3/4" black plastic pipes. They love to hide in them, and you really don't see them in a fully planted tank. It's funny when you take all the plants away from one of my tanks and suddenly all these hidden caves and pipes appear! LOL!


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## JasonG75

Even in sand my Kuhlis never burrowed, however my dojo did...completely up to his head. Yea I would say BB is sharp, but then again Kuhlis wont dig as deep as MTS. I can look under my tank (at the bottom) and see snails.


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## Complexity

I've never had a dojo loach. How do they do in a planted tank? I'm going to let go of my current loaches (because they eat the assassin snails), but I'd sure like to get some other kind of loaches that won't eat snails. Loaches are so much fun in the tank! I already miss having my old ones in the tank.


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## JasonG75

Complexity said:


> I've never had a dojo loach. How do they do in a planted tank?


 
They burrowed more than I liked and since I have a cap and they are pretty good size I ended up giving him to a friend. But I really enjoyed him. They are called Weathered Dojo's (the one I had) and you always knew (if you didnt look outside or listened to the weather) that it was a about to storm because he would run laps in the tank moments before it started storming.


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## Complexity

Sounds just like a loach (with a weather barometer! LOL!) I swear they're such silly and cute little guys with waaay too much energy. They're like the little kids of the tank, always inquisitive, always playing.

Now you're making me sad about letting go of my loaches. I've had two of them for about 5 years and four of them for nearly 4 years. :icon_cry:


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## sso

Complexity said:


> I don't know about that. My substrate was about 5 years old. So how much less compacted could have it been that any other tank, especially after I ignored the tank for a couple of years (no trimming, no planting, half the time not even feeding the fish which is why I am positive I did not overfeed)?
> 
> And yet, my substrate was full of snails. Most were deep inside the substrate. The ones I saw on top were the dead ones. I think that's one reason why I didn't catch on to how bad the problem was because the snails were under the substrate and I couldn't see how bad it was. But once I got loaches to start eating them, their dead shells began to pile up, making it clear that the problem was really bad.
> 
> Here's the text I got from the guy who took my old substrate (will full knowledge that it had snails):
> 
> _"I screened the EC over the weekend. You made the right choice in replacing it. A thousand assassin snails would not have won that battle lol. They're all in snail heaven now tho!"_​
> Get the snails if you want. I did. Maybe you'll be happy with them. I was at first. But if you regret your decision as the years go by, understand that it's extremely difficult to change your mind. You literally have to dump your substrate, bleach everything (killing your bacteria in the process), and start all over again. I can handle any and every other snail (pond snails, etc), but not Malaysian trumpet snails.



hmm, well, my substrate is a bit of a gooey mess, i rarely see them bother with it, plenty crawling all over the tank though.

but i dont see what the problem was besides alot of snails, were they doing anything bad besides being lots of them?


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## shrimp pliskin

Just contributing my experience - 

I have a sand substrate in my 20 gallon and the MTS have been awesome. I started with literally two snails that I plucked out of a pet store tank and now I have dozens and dozens. At one point they were out of control, clogging up filters and such but I cut back on how much I was feeding and started performing population control by crushing the tiny ones on the glass as well as setting up lettuce traps. 

Today the population is unnoticeable. The substrate is free of snails until feeding time and when the lights go out. And I don't have to worry about pockets of gas building up in the sand.


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## JasonG75

Complexity said:


> Now you're making me sad about letting go of my loaches. I've had two of them for about 5 years and four of them for nearly 4 years. :icon_cry:


 
If I didnt have enough bottom dwellers (6 peppered cories, Bubblebee cat, 4 Kuhlis) I would be all over a couple of Clowns (by far my fav) however I know that one day they will out grow the 75 and I would have to give them away. PLUS I have 6 Nerites, and I love Nerites as well. I HAVE A snail tank.


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## TheGiantDwarfShrimp

So would kuhli loaches stir up the top sand and be safe with plants, shrimp, and the mud under the sand or with a capped substrate is manually stirring a better choice?

Thanks for all the responses


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## JasonG75

TheGiantDwarfShrimp said:


> So would kuhli loaches stir up the top sand and be safe with plants, shrimp, and the mud under the sand or with a capped substrate is manually stirring a better choice?
> 
> Thanks for all the responses


 
I really dont see what you are trying to accomplish. if you are trying to avoid air pockets, or toxin build up in the lower part of the substrate (forgot the proper term) stiring the cap does nothing to affect the results. 

Tell me what you are trying to accomplish.


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## sso

shrimp pliskin said:


> Just contributing my experience -
> 
> I have a sand substrate in my 20 gallon and the MTS have been awesome. I started with literally two snails that I plucked out of a pet store tank and now I have dozens and dozens. At one point they were out of control, clogging up filters and such but I cut back on how much I was feeding and started performing population control by crushing the tiny ones on the glass as well as setting up lettuce traps.
> 
> Today the population is unnoticeable. The substrate is free of snails until feeding time and when the lights go out. And I don't have to worry about pockets of gas building up in the sand.


yeah, this is what i thought, that they would be best in sand.


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## TheGiantDwarfShrimp

The top of the sand hardens and turns dark brown. This is happening in the front of the tank that gets the most light so it might be some sort of algae, but the problem is I am trying to grow a carpet of marsilea minuta which is having a harder time growing through the hardened sand. I could do it by hand but I am always afraid of damaging the plants so my thought is a small fish or invertebrate would do a better job all over the tank anyway.


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## JasonG75

OK...I understand now. Nothing that i can think of will fix that other than finding out whats causing the algae to settle on the floor. I had this issue when I had sand (PFS) which is why I went with black sand. Maybe Kuhlis playing around will sweep some away, but I am not sure.


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## Complexity

I don't think it's normal to have the sand harden and turn brown. Not sure if it's algae, but whatever it is, the solution is to fix whatever's causing it rather than find ways to constantly clean it up.

I think it might be best for you to take some really good pictures and start a thread asking for help in identifying what it is and the root cause. Then you can fix the actual problem.

Edited to add: If it is just plain algae from the lights, the best solution may be a crew of amano shrimp. They do a really great job of cleaning stuff like that up.


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## Surgeon

Complexity said:


> However, over the years I added loaches, only to find that they could not keep up with the snails even though they ate lots of snails as evidenced by the numerous empty snail shells scattered about all over the substrate. Adding assassin snails only became a snack for the loaches so that was a no-go.
> ...
> 
> I no longer recommend Malaysian trumpet snails for tanks. They're great for the first year or so, but after 5 years or so, they can take the tank over, and no means of removal works other than completely starting over. It's not something I can in good conscience recommend to anyone anymore.


I have to disagree on the loaches. I have more loaches than most though (clown & yo yo). Apparently I do have MTS somewhere in my tank as I infected a firends tank with them. My loaches keep their numbers so low I have only ever seen 1 or two in years.


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## Complexity

Surgeon said:


> I have to disagree on the loaches. I have more loaches than most though (clown & yo yo). Apparently I do have MTS somewhere in my tank as I infected a firends tank with them. My loaches keep their numbers so low I have only ever seen 1 or two in years.


Question -- Did you have the loaches before getting MTS? Or did your tank get infected with MTS and then you got the loaches?

I think getting loaches in the very beginning may be the key.

I've also heard that clown loaches are some of the best at eating snails, but they grow too large for my tank (75g) so I opted for zebra loaches. They may not be as good at eating snails as clowns.


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## new fish lover

i know im nearly over a year late but do you still have tons of MTS i really need some


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## kwheeler91

Post a wtb add in the swap and shop im sure someone will unload some for free.

For the record yoyo loaches will destroy a snail population.


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## oscarsx

I'm actually considering buying some of these, I've read both bad and good.. and I guess you won't really know until you try it yourself.


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## diverjoe

I am thinking there may be 2 different snails both being called MTS. I have some MTS that look like the pic on the left in this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-rimmed_melania I see the trails in the sand every morning but nothing else. On the other hand, I had a tank that had some that looked like these Melanoides cf. turricula (I. Lea, 1850) Fawn Melania and they muliplied by the thousands. What got me to looking at this is i just bought a few more off the internet and got them today. I ordered 5 and got > 20 of varying sizes between 1/8" and 1" They looked like the bad ones i had before. They are currently biding their time in a tupperware container. Please weigh in if you have one or the other and what you are experiencing good or bad.


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## Qsilver7850

I added some to my 5 gallon Betta tank. They're so strange. I don't tend to see them much, unless I'm overfeeding, or if I peer into the tank at night. Although recently they've been coming out to eat the algae on the glass during the day.

I think they're great. Added some to my new 20 first thing.

I use prefilters and I've never had a problem with them all over my tank or in my filter.


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## s.xiaoh

It may not be the overfeeding that causes population bloom in MTS, but algae. But since algae is often associated to overfeeding, ppl always assume it's the overfeeding and leftover food. Someone before mentioned only their overcrowded tank got MTS problem. Overcrowding often results in more fish waste, so more nutrients in water column, which usually results in more algae in the gravels. Also MTS in bucket multiplying, same thing. Something has to feed the snails or it'll starve, must be algae...

Sent from my XT1053 using Tapatalk


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## AbbeysDad

I realize this is a very old, resurrected thread, but I thought I'd add my nickle...

I have silica (pool filter) sand substrate in my 60g and felt the MTS would be a benefit. Started with a dozen and going on two years, must have hundreds now. They burrow in the sand helping to aerate it and like earthworms on land, their droppings feed bacteria and create plant usable nutrients.

I have come to realize that there are different schools of thought on planted tanks. Some have planted aquascapes that may or may not have fish, and some have fish tanks with plants. Some are more sterile environments while others are more natural eco-systems.

My motivation for plants, in addition to the natural beauty, was/is to better purify the water for the fish. That being 'said', the MTS are a natural part of my tanks eco-system, helping to cleanup excess food, algae, and detritus. I'll confess to over feeding somewhat as I've become an accidental breeder and my tank has grown out and is growing out dozens of fry.
Much like beneficial bacteria, I think the MTS population would self regulate based on the available food and other conditions.

So I see the MTS as more a benefit than a pest....but each to his/her own.


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## s.xiaoh

AbbeysDad said:


> I realize this is a very old, resurrected thread, but I thought I'd add my nickle...
> 
> I have silica (pool filter) sand substrate in my 60g and felt the MTS would be a benefit. Started with a dozen and going on two years, must have hundreds now. They burrow in the sand helping to aerate it and like earthworms on land, their droppings feed bacteria and create plant usable nutrients.
> 
> I have come to realize that there are different schools of thought on planted tanks. Some have planted aquascapes that may or may not have fish, and some have fish tanks with plants. Some are more sterile environments while others are more natural eco-systems.
> 
> My motivation for plants, in addition to the natural beauty, was/is to better purify the water for the fish. That being 'said', the MTS are a natural part of my tanks eco-system, helping to cleanup excess food, algae, and detritus. I'll confess to over feeding somewhat as I've become an accidental breeder and my tank has grown out and is growing out dozens of fry.
> Much like beneficial bacteria, I think the MTS population would self regulate based on the available food and other conditions.
> 
> So I see the MTS as more a benefit than a pest....but each to his/her own.


I think you are right. I myself am considering adding MTS because I would like to change my substrate to sand, but I'm afraid of overpopulation of MTS because I'm having algae troubles and I don't think I'm overfeeding... I already have abundance of ramshorn snails and I'm afraid I'm already in a vicious circle: too much snails create too much waste which create too much nutrient, then to much algae which become to much snail food and so on. It's crazy the amount of waste those snails produce! They are growing their own food [emoji30] 

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## AbbeysDad

s.xiaoh said:


> I think you are right. I myself am considering adding MTS because I would like to change my substrate to sand, but I'm afraid of overpopulation of MTS because I'm having algae troubles and I don't think I'm overfeeding... I already have abundance of ramshorn snails and I'm afraid I'm already in a vicious circle: too much snails create too much waste which create too much nutrient, then to much algae which become to much snail food and so on. It's crazy the amount of waste those snails produce! They are growing their own food [emoji30]


Nay nay. Unless your feeding Acme Snail food <hehe>, the snails simply reprocess the existing organic waste matter.....just like earthworms in soil! So they don't really generate more waste, they just convert the existing waste into food for plants and bacteria to further break down. It may seem like extra bio-load, but I think you can see how it really can't be. If there was little/no algae, excess fish food/fish waste, the snails would starve to death!....and that's how their population is controlled. Perhaps you're feeding your fish too much? Fish will often eat however much you feed them which merely creates more waste. Cut back and see what happens. But be patient as it takes time to see results.

Also, if you think your snails are over populated, you can bait with algae wafers or veggie matter (zuke, cucumber..) then scoop or siphon away.


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