Feeding and Nutrition :: snails

[shellie0474]

I am going to put some live plants in my Turtle tank. I have had the problem in the past with my fish tank, that sometimes the live plants have snails mixed in with them. Will it hurt my turtles if they eat these snails?

[marisa]

The snails in question are small and their shells aren't hard (and provide a little extra calcium). I rinse plants well before putting them in the tank to minimize the number of snails in the tank (they multiply very fast, as you must know). They won't hurt your turtles if they're eaten.

[Chrisbarnett]

Yes they multiply very fast. I used to have a nice tropical tank which I had Anacharis in and stupidly didn't wash. The snails grew and the population exploded. I tried to get rid of them by cleaning out the tank but one would always survive and the population would explode again. I finally got rid of the snails by doing an extreme cleaning and replacement of all gravel, plants and filtration media.

Hope they work better for you, Although I advise against introducing snails simply because they can take over.

[octpusgirl8]

My turtle is on constant snail patrol. I never even realized that i had snails until one day i cleand out the filter and found tons of snail eggs and snails inside. Every once in a while i'll see a snail in the tank, but pretty soon Turtley comes along and eats it up.

[imderanged]

I just brought home some anacris(sp?) today and it was covered in snails so I gave it to Sylar in a seprate container as so not to contaminate his tank with a snail explosion. Now I think he would have prefered a snail colony cause he chewed on the plants alittle, but he cleaned them of snails!