# Malaysian trumpet snails.



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

hello. In my aquarium. It is not planted but have floating plants in it. Though my Malaysian Trumpet Snails crawled out of the water and alot of them are near the surface of the water. YET I do not know why???? I just changed the water yesterday (day before they started crawling out). ANY HELP? :drool:


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

good question. i found its impossible to kill them, they will even wait out chlorinated water just fine
ammonia levels may be high? but i doubt high enough to bther them

water surface scum? they may be tring to eat that


----------



## JasonG75 (Mar 1, 2011)

What do you need help with? Like any snail they crawl where ever they wish.


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

That is the thing. idk whats wrong. They have never done that before for these past 3-4 months. Just now they did it right after the water change. So it was very suspicious moves that I've never encountered.



JasonG75 said:


> What do you need help with? Like any snail they crawl where ever they wish.


----------



## deeda (Jun 28, 2005)

Did you forget to add a water conditoner product to the new water?


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I have been fighting a losing battle with MTS. Catching them when I could, I have been getting more and more each time I sifted the sand. I finally sold all the fish in a 55 and a 75 so that there are no longer any fish in those tanks. What a mess! All the snails now feel free to roam all over and they are almost covering the glass. Since there were no water changes or other big move made, I feel it has to be removing the fish who would nip at them any time they saw them. I've found in cleaning the sponges in the canisters that the really small ones that are almost too small to see are now embedded in the sponge. To get rid of them I will have to throw out all the soft media and nuke the hard media with bleach.


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

who knows. Maybe its the humid air since i have something covering the tank to keep air moist for my betta fry's; therefore, leaving them not to dry in air. Maybe scum.



HD Blazingwolf said:


> good question. i found its impossible to kill them, they will even wait out chlorinated water just fine
> ammonia levels may be high? but i doubt high enough to bther them
> 
> water surface scum? they may be tring to eat that


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

No im sure i added dechlorinator. if not then my betta fry would of died already.



deeda said:


> Did you forget to add a water conditoner product to the new water?


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

OMg. That just makes me not want to add any into my 20 gallon planted tank.



PlantedRich said:


> I have been fighting a losing battle with MTS. Catching them when I could, I have been getting more and more each time I sifted the sand. I finally sold all the fish in a 55 and a 75 so that there are no longer any fish in those tanks. What a mess! All the snails now feel free to roam all over and they are almost covering the glass. Since there were no water changes or other big move made, I feel it has to be removing the fish who would nip at them any time they saw them. I've found in cleaning the sponges in the canisters that the really small ones that are almost too small to see are now embedded in the sponge. To get rid of them I will have to throw out all the soft media and nuke the hard media with bleach.


----------



## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

Mine do that sometimes - after water changes and often after feeding. I dunno why and after 5 years now have decided I don't care why, lol.


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

I've found it difficult to keep them out of tanks since I used the same set of nets for all my tanks. Even though I could not tell I was moving any, MTS showed up in most of my tanks. The only way I can figure they got over into QT/fry tanks was when catching holding females I must have been getting some of the timy little snails they I could not see. As I was into breeding, I had 11 tanks and now I'm down to two with fish and two setting with water and plants only. All have MTS.


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

My MTS breeding tank. Since it was for breeding African cichlids who munch algae, I left the back and sides covered. Now the MTS seem to go for it but of the two I prefer tha algea. The algea doesn't leave a shell when it dies, MTS does.


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

LOL. mine have crawled up to the rims. lol. dunno why. You cant escape anyways. haha. Ive trapped you. haha. 

Nice to know same things are happening with others.



wendyjo said:


> Mine do that sometimes - after water changes and often after feeding. I dunno why and after 5 years now have decided I don't care why, lol.


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

Wow you actually snatched some with your net. Mines seems to always follow eachother. like in your picture. They are either all at bottom or all at top of water or over water. lol . 

haha. yes algae doesn't leave shells when they die. haha. 



PlantedRich said:


> My MTS breeding tank. Since it was for breeding African cichlids who munch algae, I left the back and sides covered. Now the MTS seem to go for it but of the two I prefer tha algea. The algea doesn't leave a shell when it dies, MTS does.


----------



## DenverTankCollector (Dec 29, 2011)

I have a number of different species and types of snails and raise them for sale to local pet stores. I have found that all snails will try and crawl to where they can get air above the water line when fresh water hits them. If the local water contains a lot of metals, copper especially, then it takes a day for it to settle. Snails don't like the new water until the metals have settled out or been neutralized in the tank, or if the chlorine did not get neurtralized. Give them a day and they will go back down and go to work. 

They will also go up to the surface when the nitrate levels get too high. So if your snails appear along the water line and you did not do a water change, then it is a sign you need to do one fast.....


----------



## fusiongt (Nov 7, 2011)

... they are MTS. Let them die


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

fusiongt said:


> ... they are MTS. Let them die


the problem is they don't EVER


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

HD Blazingwolf said:


> the problem is they don't EVER


 
I do find they do die eventually! 

The friend who brought me a large group of Protomelas was glad to be tearing down his large tank because it was getting so ugly. The dead shells were sticking up out of the substrate and looked like some weird form of coral. 

What we did not figure on was how easy it was to spread them to my tank. We moved the fish in five gallon buckets and did not see any snails being moved but after about a month I spotted one and thought it no big deal. I didn't see what we had done until I started stirring the sand. Then I knew I was screwed but it was too late. Now they are in all my tanks and all my filter media. The only way to remove them is to quit and start each tank over. I hate to do that with my planted tanks.


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

HAHA. I thought that too. but I need them to encourage micro-organisms for my betta fry's to eat. Also algae and wasted food problems from betta fry.



fusiongt said:


> ... they are MTS. Let them die


----------



## SNSDFAN (Jan 13, 2011)

Thanks. Though they might be getting away from the metals. I just changed the water that day before so. yeh.



DenverTankCollector said:


> I have a number of different species and types of snails and raise them for sale to local pet stores. I have found that all snails will try and crawl to where they can get air above the water line when fresh water hits them. If the local water contains a lot of metals, copper especially, then it takes a day for it to settle. Snails don't like the new water until the metals have settled out or been neutralized in the tank, or if the chlorine did not get neurtralized. Give them a day and they will go back down and go to work.
> 
> They will also go up to the surface when the nitrate levels get too high. So if your snails appear along the water line and you did not do a water change, then it is a sign you need to do one fast.....


----------



## PlantedRich (Jul 21, 2010)

How high would nitrate levels have to get to bring them out? With large groups of cichlids the nitrates sometimes got quite high and they never came out until I removed the fish. If high nitrate would kill them , I could easily go that way without having to kill all my good bacteria and recycle. In my planted tank, I could remove the fish and let the nitrate run wild if it would work. That would also get them out of the filter sponge and avoid having to replace them. Right now my only plan to get them out of the sponge is to heat the sponge but I'm not sure which will give first. Sponge or snails?


----------



## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

I poured bleach into a tank and flushed it out a few hours later. guess what came crawling out of the substrate... MTS


----------

