OMG, not snails! (aquarium)

Something has happened in our little 5 gallon fish tank. Not sure what, but we lost 2 of our 6 neons in the last week. Did a water test, nitrite/nitrate/ammonia seem ok, changed 1/3 of the water anyway.

And today I see, on the glass, a zillion tiny snails. (sigh)  Have stuck a leaf of rocket on the side of the tank to see if I can lure the snails onto it. Don't want to get an assassin snail, as it's only a small tank, and don't want to get snail-eating fish - because it's a small tank.  Have added a bubblestone to increase the O2 levels, cautioned Daughter to not over-feed, have vacuumed the gravel.... not sure what else to do?

No jokes about escargot, please. 

How does that even happen?  Where would they have come from?

We have a fish tank and we have live plants and they came in from them (eggs on them, I am presuming) - They're actually not a harm to our tank and they eat the algae.  But if you have too many, they can overtake and rob the tank of oxygen.
I've been told before that replacing the gravel helps.  And the leaf catching seems like a good idea. 

Yeah, I'm going to give the leaf a few days and then if it's not working go to "Plan B" - which is to get one of those little plastic containers that fast food places (like 5 guys) allow you to have to squirt ketchup into. They're a few tablespoons in volume, and come with a snap on lid. I'll put some sinking wafers or regular fish food in there, punch some snail-sized holes in the lid, and then sink it in the tank. If they do as snails are prone to do, they should swarm it overnight and then I can remove, open, rinse, reload, and try again.

No idea why, after a good six months of having the tank set up we suddenly have had this explosion. I'm happy to have a few snails, as they are scavengers and do eat any algae that forms, but this is waaaaay too many baby snails. Because if it's one thing snails do well, it's make more baby snails!

I'd love to see them! Are they big enough to photograph Nan? 

For the most part they are tiny. And it looks as if I might have two varieties. Possibly a ramshorn and then something I can't quite make out.  The glass looks like it's got salt sprinkled on it. Moving salt. So I know where this is going. But I'm trying to enlarge a photo now - hard to do because the camera couldn't focus on it. Will attempt a post shortly with it.

The aquarium is easily the most complicated part of the whole house.  We recently had a massive neon tetra die off right after we bought some new fish.  It seems that every other fish BUT the new ones died immediately, some seem to have been eaten, some sick.  I wonder because when we went to buy the fish, most of the tanks were covered with a sign that said they weren't for sale because they were undergoing treatment.  But not the tank with the fish we wanted.  Maybe I should have taken the hint. 

Anyway, we just bought two new snails and they are eating the heck out of the algae.  I wish they would have babies.

The aquarium is easily the most complicated part of the whole house.

Yeah, seriously. Anyone who says fish are a great beginner pet are lying. Fish are way more finicky and complex than our guinea pigs and chickens combined. 

https://pix.sfly.com/wfDABG

https://pix.sfly.com/art5-E


Not sure the above links will work, but it's the best I can do, at present. 

Oh, just wait a bit. They' have babies. And babies. And babies. And babies....

You know, goldfish are great. Messy as they poo a lot, but great. And they eat snails.... but are not appropriate for our tank, unfortunately.

Why did I know that there would be a "fish crossing" sign in Nan's aquarium? 

Yeah, seriously. Anyone who says fish are a great beginner pet are lying. Fish are way more finicky and complex than our guinea pigs and chickens combined.

No doubt.  We immediately started our aquarium by buying some fish that grew absolutely huge, then stupidly bought a fighting fish of some type.  They told me he would be fine as long as we didn't buy another one, but he attacked every other fish.  Relentlessly turning my daughter's aquarium into a gory killfest

Why did I know that there would be a "fish crossing" sign in Nan's aquarium?

It's awesome. 

Love your tank Nan!

The aquarium is easily the most complicated part of the whole house.  We recently had a massive neon tetra die off right after we bought some new fish.  It seems that every other fish BUT the new ones died immediately, some seem to have been eaten, some sick.  I wonder because when we went to buy the fish, most of the tanks were covered with a sign that said they weren't for sale because they were undergoing treatment.  But not the tank with the fish we wanted.  Maybe I should have taken the hint. 

Anyway, we just bought two new snails and they are eating the heck out of the algae.  I wish they would have babies.

Yeah, they probably were carrying something your guys weren't used to.  When I was "home" I had two tanks, and always put new anything in quarantine for a least a week before adding them to the main tank. And then being sure to dip them with a net, rather than adding the water they'd been swimming in.

This time we had not added anything new, and we've always had a few snails - which was fine. The fish die-off and the sudden snail explosion is puzzling. Nitrates/nitrites ok - even had a new test kit sent just to make sure the other one hadn't gone bad. As a rule, when there's a problem, the first thing to do is change half the water. Found the one neon dead, scooped and flushed, changed the water while siphoning the pebbles and the sand. That apparently was too much for the other one that died, as he was gone within hours. The other little guys seem fine, tho.  I suspect Daughter has been giving them too much food, which would explain the snails - but not the die-off. These guys should live several years. Hmmmmm.....

So the Daughter got a nice Tetra air pump and air stone and we've added that, just for extra insurance. The in-tank Tetra 3i whisper filter has been great for years, but it doesn't add tons of 02 to the tank.  Still can't quite figure this one out.


What ya don't like the sign?    It's actually my tank, Daughter's fish and sign from her tank in the States. 

Fighting fish.  This particular tank used to be home to a brilliantly blue male betta fish named Paul. He was an ornery little bastard, but we were fond of him.  You do have to be careful with male bettas. Females you can often put in mixed tanks. Males are kind of iffy - especially if the other fish are brightly colored. They tend to be seriously, seriously territorial.   I bet that was pretty ugly, yeah.

It's awesome. 

Love your tank Nan!

Thanks, so do we.        It's actually pretty much recycled - Paul the betta used to live in it, and he died of old age just before we came over. Had made arrangements with West Jet for him to fly in the cabin with us, too! Oh well.

Here's the whole tank - it still needs more plants, I think, but that will need to wait.

https://pix.sfly.com/uBS6hH

The Daughter wants to get a proper, big tank set up, but ...dayam!.... aquariums are expensive over here. And until I know for sure we're not getting tossed out, I don't want to invest in one.  The sticker shock really is amazing. At Petsmart (or it might have been PetCo) every year they had a sale where it was a dollar per gallon-size.  Here we're looking at over 50 pounds for a freaking 10 gallon basic tank only!  People laughed while I was scrubbing this one out and bleaching the stuff, and then having it shipped. Saved me a bunchabucks! 

Aww, it's really nice.  My Copper cat would have LOVED if we had a fish tank.

My husband's cousin recently installed a fish tank that cost £10,000.  Well, I should say her husband did.  They don't have two £'s to rub together but he spent 10 g's on a freaking fish tank.  It's beautiful.  But such a waste.

My inlaws seem to buy a fish tank every-other-year.  Have a fish tank for a year.  Get tired of the maintenance.  Get rid of the tank for a year.  Repeat.