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Re: Tom Barr's MTS snails and Algae.

>they are - they are still small.. prolly about 1cm in diameter and have
>clear shells just about up to the spiral where it is dark brownish.  I don't
>know what sort of snails they are (if they are good or bad) and if I should
>get any clown loaches to kick there buts :o)

T. Barr wrote:

>Why? They will eat your algae. If they look like a spiral coming to a point,
>they are MTS's. If they look like a football or a rugby ball they are pond
>snails, and if they are round and about 1 cm max diameter they are the
>Ramshorns. All of these are great for plant tank and they DO NOT eat plants
.>......even the most delicate of plants. Other snails may eat your plants
>but these three don't  ever........unless your plant is dying/rotting
>already. They are easy to keep, propagate fast, make good fish food for some
>fish, dirt cheap and do not harm even the most delicate of fine needled
>plants unlike many of the fish such as SAE's Flag fish, & barbs etc.

My reply:

I always believed that this was true too but an unusual occurance happened
recently: tiny holes began appearing in the leaves of some of my delicate,
leafy plants like rotala m. The NEW leaves exclusively.  I couldn't fig it
out.  It's one of my 48"Lx20"Wx12"H tanks w/ just four Florida Flag Fish
(FFF).  Well balanced, no wormy insects, no bugs etc. The tank had been in
operation for 11 months and has a moderate pop of MTS.  

One night, I investigated and found a swarm of baby MTS around the surface
rim and around the tops of plants.  I observed no direct feeding on the
plants by the snails, but by morning the swarm had disappeared and there
was additional leaf damage.  Keep in mind I don't ever feed the fish.

Just when I was about to whip out the loach, this all STOPPED as suddenly
as it began!  No more leaf damage and no more Baby MTS's swarming.  Now,
MTS are integral to my aquariums' ecosystems and I have never before
observed anything like this so I'm reluctant to draw a hasty conclusion.  I
thought I'd throw this one out to see if anyone has observed this phenom.

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