# Poll - Are snails good or bad.



## Guest (Dec 18, 2005)

Are snails good or are they bad. I see one, it is eating the algae i was having a problem with in one area of the viv. Its a larger viv 68 gallons. Im wondering what the general thought is.


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## Darks!de (Nov 16, 2004)

It totally depends on what type of snail it is. Slugs are generally bad, and land snails may eat clutch eggs. Normal pond snails in the water feature are fine and will just eat algae.

Luke


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## chuckpowell (May 12, 2004)

Your assuming that all they eat is algae. There are all kinds of snails and slugs - some are decomposers, others are preditors. You'd have to know what the snail is you have and what it eats. Personally I use some of the native small snails in most of my tanks and have never had a problem with them. 

Best,

Chuck


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## OneTwentySix (Nov 11, 2004)

I'd also take into consideration that snails are often intermediate hosts for many types of parasites, some of which may potentially be transmittable to frogs. During an invertebrate biology lab, I was anesthetizing an aquatic snail for preservation, and suddenly noticed that the water was just full of nematodes as they were bailing from the dying snail.


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## Guest (Dec 19, 2005)

The most common type of snail Ive seen and had is the small type, brown colored ones that you see in all the fish pet stores. I have been unable to get rid of them for 10 years. They can be good. They can be good becuase they eat extra algea, and fertilize the water features for the plants you might have in there. If for some reason you have a huge algea bloom and a huge snail population, then you decide to clean the algea yourself, the snails will get mad and eat your water feature plants. Not a good thing. So, thats when they can be bad.


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## Cory (Jan 18, 2005)

I believe snails are part of a normal biosphere. Nature has them as well as millions of other nematodes. I have them and they jut create nice lines on my fogged glass in the morning then they disappear the rest of the day.


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## Guest (Dec 19, 2005)

Cory said:


> I believe snails are part of a normal biosphere. Nature has them as well as millions of other nematodes. I have them and they jut create nice lines on my fogged glass in the morning then they disappear the rest of the day.


Is that what those are? I thought I had slugs again. I've never seen snails climb out of the water.


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## clwatkins10 (Nov 15, 2008)

Land snails can eat plants..


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

It does depend upon the snail species, but I've had some tiny flat fellows in nearly all of my tanks that have been around for years without doing any appreciable damage to plants or eating eggs. I have seen imitator tads eat these particular snails right out of the shell if they get into water of the bromeliad where the tads have been deposited. I used to worry about slugs, but as the tanks get older, their populations have stabilized to just a few in one or two tanks that are even noticeable. While there's occasional minor plant damage, it's nothing serious enough to bother attempting to exterminate them over. 

While certain snails may be an intermediate host for parasites that affect other animals, (including the different liver flukes that may be found in cattle and sheep) the life cycles of these parasites are pretty species specific and complicated. I think it would be rare to have the right combination that might infect your frogs. It's possible that they may harbor single cell parasites that may also infect frogs directly, and views regarding parasite control differ on this subject. My personal attitude has been to let healthy frogs handle their parasite loads immunologically. While certain parasites may always be present, (detectable on a fecal exam) the amount of them will be controlled naturally to a tolerable level, which is generally what happens in the wild when conditions for survival are otherwise good. 

So far, the "let the biology of a tank balance out" approach has worked well for me and my frogs, and I've been keeping them for over ten years, still have most of the originals. The losses I've had so far, (and we all have them) haven't involved either the presence of snails or parasites. 

I wasn't sure how to vote however, on whether snails are good or bad. Mine are either good or neutral--but some other species may eat the place up.


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

I'd vote "BAD" for any snails and slugs....I'm sure they serve some purpose in the grand scheme of things, but in my tank environments, only negatives have resulted. Too many times I've lifted the coco hut to check for eggs, only to find snails sitting in the jelly where the eggs used to be. More than a few times I've been watching my orchids throw up a flower spike; come morning I find a stalk nibbled off and a slug burping. 
I get some evil satisfaction when I place a piece of cucumber in each tank before the lights go out; early morning inspection reveals numerous snails/slugs on it to be plucked out.
Scott


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## Saved Soul (Jul 28, 2008)

Hello, 
I agree that land snails and slugs are bad but I have a few Blue Mystery snail's in the pond in my terrarium and they are great =) I keep them in all my planted aquariums to control algae and they eat all the extra food too... Never had any problems with them eating on my plants... I keep them in all my Betta's fry tanks to keep things clean and they never bother my Betta's eggs or fry so I figure they won't bother my frogs eggs or tads if I ever get to that point lol


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## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Snails are a big problem in my greenhouse. They love to munch on new leaves forming. They absolutely love orchid flowers.


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