# Can anybody ID these snails?



## Kribensis (Jan 14, 2021)

Hey everyone! I've got something that needs identification. I live in Minnesota, so whatever these are live here. I've seen them in the wild on occasion, but not frequently. In my terribilis viv, I have a quite diverse bioactive cleanup team. 3 types of native springtails, 1 type of native isopods, some dwarf white isopods, some springtails that were only labeled as "tropical white", a few types of beneficial mites, some small native millipedes, an occasional slime mold, some random fungi that I see growing on older leaf litter, and the thing I'm trying to ID, some tiny snails. 

These snails are fairly secretive. They came to the viv nearly three years ago in some moss I was growing. They live in the moss and decaying leaves, occasionally coming out to feed on any dead fruit flies the frogs missed. They avoid live plants, seeming to prefer decaying leaves, dead fruit flies, fungi, and algae. They appear to reproduce slowly, as I've only ever seen 1-4 at a time, and rarely see any at all. 

They have blue/gray skin and a gold/brown shell. The shell is a flat spiral shape that they hold at a slight tilt above them. The average shell length for an adult is approximately 3-4 mm. I believe that they're in the genus _Punctum_, possibly _P. blandianum _or_ P. minutissimum. _Ignore the wet leaf litter, this is a shadier spot and I just misted. The green sludge next to the snail is the remnants of an aquarium plant leaf.























I'll be happy to provide any other details needed. Thank you!


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## Cynefin (Dec 8, 2017)

That fella is a bush snail. A little Zonitoides. They will eat new growth on plants and roots too, and they _can_ get to be a problem if they go unchecked. Pick them out when you see them. They love eating orchids, and are the bane of my existence. 

There is good advice on the forum about putting some lettuce or spinach overnight and trying to catch them at night while they eat it. It might work for you. I've found they mostly like the orchids.


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## Louis (Apr 23, 2014)

I have something very similar to this in one of my tanks but it's unlikely to be the same species as I'm in Scotland. Like yourself, I was concerned when I first discovered them but also found that for whatever reason they reproduce very slowy in the vivarium and have never become a probem.


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## Kribensis (Jan 14, 2021)

Cynefin said:


> That fella is a bush snail. A little Zonitoides. They will eat new growth on plants and roots too, and they _can_ get to be a problem if they go unchecked. Pick them out when you see them. They love eating orchids, and are the bane of my existence.
> 
> There is good advice on the forum about putting some lettuce or spinach overnight and trying to catch them at night while they eat it. It might work for you. I've found they mostly like the orchids.


I thought they were bush snails at first, but they haven't damaged a single plant, and there are still only a small number of them after 3 years. I also have a large number of potted and mounted orchids surrounding the tank, but none of them have any snail damage either. Any other possibilities?


Louis said:


> I have something very similar to this in one of my tanks but it's unlikely to be the same species as I'm in Scotland. Like yourself, I was concerned when I first discovered them but also found that for whatever reason they reproduce very slowy in the vivarium and have never become a probem.


Interesting, maybe they're in the same genus. I've actually grown to like them quite a lot, I just wish I saw them more often.


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## AlexNillson89 (Jan 19, 2021)

Cynefin said:


> That fella is a bush snail. A little Zonitoides. They will eat new growth on plants and roots too, and they _can_ get to be a problem if they go unchecked. Pick them out when you see them. They love eating orchids, and are the bane of my existence.
> 
> There is good advice on the forum about putting some lettuce or spinach overnight and trying to catch them at night while they eat it. It might work for you. I've found they mostly like the orchids.


I totally agree with you, they are similar to Zonitoides. It is best to get rid of these snails as soon as possible.


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## Kribensis (Jan 14, 2021)

AlexNillson89 said:


> I totally agree with you, they are similar to Zonitoides. It is best to get rid of these snails as soon as possible.


They've been here for 3 years now, so I doubt it would be very easy to get rid of them. Would there be any harm in keeping them? I find them really cute, and I've never seen them eat any living plants. They only go for leaf litter, dead flies, algae, and bits of calcium powder left over from feeding time. I actually find them quite helpful, as they clean up the white stains on my leaf litter. They don't breed out of control either, which is another thing that makes me think they're a Punctum species, rather than a zonitoides. I guess maybe they could still be a Zonitoides species, but definitely a less harmful one.


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## Fred33 (Apr 14, 2012)

Not only they eat plants but they eat jelly's eggs when you 've got spawn ;so for me the best way to get rid of them is to put a slice of zuchini or carrot or cucumber on a Petri dish during a night and remove it in the following morning and manually tearing the snails apart ,repeat the operation as long as you see ones ...


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## Kribensis (Jan 14, 2021)

Fred33 said:


> Not only they eat plants but they eat jelly's eggs when you 've got spawn ;so for me the best way to get rid of them is to put a slice of zuchini or carrot or cucumber on a Petri dish during a night and remove it in the following morning and manually tearing the snails apart ,repeat the operation as long as you see ones ...


Thanks for the advice, but they've never touched eggs either. They honestly leave everything alone other than dead fruit flies and leaf litter. They never eat plants or eggs.


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## Nico85 (Jan 6, 2021)

I also have a few snails that are very similar to these, ~5mm in diameter, albeit with a darker body. And my experience is similar: they've consistently remained just a handful at most for almost a year now and I've never seen them eat live plants (although I don't have orchids in my tank). They're quite cute actually. 
Have no clue how reliable this is, but says here mine (and Louis' possibly, in Scotland) might be a carnivore species. It seems unlikely they're 100% carnivore, but it might be they have a varied diet and plants don't really do it for this species. The only remaining question is whether something similar is around MN too


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## Kribensis (Jan 14, 2021)

Nico85 said:


> I also have a few snails that are very similar to these, ~5mm in diameter, albeit with a darker body. And my experience is similar: they've consistently remained just a handful at most for almost a year now and I've never seen them eat live plants (although I don't have orchids in my tank). They're quite cute actually.
> Have no clue how reliable this is, but says here mine (and Louis' possibly, in Scotland) might be a carnivore species. It seems unlikely they're 100% carnivore, but it might be they have a varied diet and plants don't really do it for this species. The only remaining question is whether something similar is around MN too


Thanks for the reply! That sounds a lot like what I have. It definitely makes sense if it’s a (partially) carnivorous species.


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