Snail in the tank

[lalalaura]

I have a 1.5 gallon tank with an algae problem. I clean the tank twice a week but try to avoid doing HUGE water changes and scrubbing every inch so I don't stress my old guy out. He's over 3 years old but still very happy.

I also have a 10 gallon tank that has a problem with snails. Do snails eat algae? If I put one small snail into my betta's tank would that be a good idea? He's pretty laid back so I think he would poke at it once or twice then leave it alone.

[Micho]

Algae is a sign of a healthy tank, but if you're facing with algae bloom then this might be a problem. I guess you could plop a small snail out of the tank and add it in temporarily, but be warned that snails do indeed poop a lot and increase the bioload. As for your Betta poking at him, he has a shell so he's pretty protected your Betta cannot harm him.

If your ten gallon is currently having a snail infestation I would recommend grabbing an assassin snail and putting it in your tank, that should take care of your snail problems.

[lalalaura]

It's not an algae bloom I don't think. Just a lot of green/brown stuff on the fake plant and decoration. This is algae right?

Are snails a bad thing? They are super small and I kind of like them :P. Mind you there are quite a lot..

[Micho]

If it's just minor algae I wouldn't mind it you could get an magnetic algae scraper if it bothers you that much.

Snails they reproduce too fast, if there's too many of them your tanks bioload will increase and may cause in ammonia spikes, etc. I would suggest you kill them before an infestation occurs.