Deep Thoughts: Snails and [Redacted]

[JoAnn VanDersarl <jmarella at attbi_com>]

I'm going to qualify this as topical since most of us have MTS snails 
in our planted aquariums.

I tore a tank down several months ago and bagged the used flourite 
for later use. I put the bag outside on top of some landscaping rocks 
where it's very hot. That bag sat outside in the heat for several 
months while I procrastinated about moving the original tank and 
setting it up again. It's hot here and with the heat reflecting off 
the house, it had to have been well over 100 degrees in the bag for 
much of that time. Finally, recently I decided to reuse the flourite 
(perfect for the infamous algae tank). I rinsed the Flourite and 
noticed alot of MTS shells mixed in.

I have to admit to being a card carrying nerd when it comes to the 
gloppy, creepy or crawly side to this hobby. I had heard that 
Malaysian Trumpet snails can survive out of water for long periods of 
time - sometimes years. After my experiment in algae terror, why not 
add them to the tank and see what would happen? Within 30 minutes of 
adding water, there were at least 50 snails crawling up the glass. By 
the next morning the were four times that many. Many were adults and 
a good number were very tiny babies.

Amazing. Just when one might think the snails are dried out and that 
they have succumbed to the heat, someone comes along and adds water 
and brings new life to an otherwise awful situation. Before you know 
it, snails are everywhere.

For those of you who have added water, thank you. If you haven't 
lately, please do. It really does make a difference for the 
defendants.

[Redacted]
[Redacted]

JoAnn