Snails shit too much

[Octopuffy]

Hi

I got 4 x Turbos and 2 x Cerith snails in my small 2ft tank.

They did a wonderful job of clearing the algae but everywhere they go, they left behind lotsa shit.

Does crabs help to eat these shit up? Or other species of snails find shit a delicacy?

I know this sounds funny but hopefully someone can provide some information.

Thanks!

[chrislwp]

Didn't see their shit before.. but I saw it pee.. some green liquid keep peeing.. dont know is it shitting or peeing.

[Rufff]

Mine poop a lot too! Their poop look like chocolate rice (those on chocolate rolls in bakeries). Yeah they did a great job of clearing the brown algae/diatoms but left behind a looong trail of "Poop-dom".

Does a CS eats the snails' poop? Not keen on crabs ... heard they can attack other small fishes. MayB need to siphon out the poop. Hhmm ... any other suggestions?

[Rufff]

Didn't see their shit before.. but I saw it pee.. some green liquid keep peeing.. dont know is it shitting or peeing.

Never seen them pee ... green pee?

Their poop's definitely the chocolate rice coz I was sitting in front of the tank, inspecting the turbo snails when it happily "chomps" on the algae & poop ... moved a couple of milimeters, chomp & poop again (repeated several times). The poop pouch/outlet is at the side of the turbo snail ... if U look closely U can actually see the opening ... then U see the poop floating away ... hehe . When the poop "breaks down" in a couple of days ... it just looks like any common dirt on the sandbed. MayB thats why some pple dun notice the chips in the 1st place ...

[hongqixian]

Hi

I got 4 x Turbos and 2 x Cerith snails in my small 2ft tank.

They did a wonderful job of clearing the algae but everywhere they go, they left behind lotsa shit.

Does crabs help to eat these shit up? Or other species of snails find shit a delicacy?

I know this sounds funny but hopefully someone can provide some information.

Thanks!

You could siphon out the snail waste into a clean bucket and through a filter (maybe filter wool in a 1.5 litre cut-open drink bottle). Then pour the filtered water back. Or attach a weak pump to the siphon to make it easier.

[spicyball]

Huh..so would by having snails contribute to the nitrate problem??

[Achilles Tang]

Snails will contribute to the bioload... as all living creatures.

But I guess herbivores may contribute a little less pollution compared to carnivores.

[Dong gu]

so how many turbo snails to put for a 2ft tank???

[Rufff]

Aiyah, viscious cycle right .

We introduce snails 2 get rid of the algae/diatoms. The snails R so efficient at their jobs, they introduced more poop in the end (more headache!). So not really solving the problem right ...

I guess we need 2 solve the problems of over-feeding, lessen the tank light time etc. - 2 solve the diatoms/algae & not expect the snails 2 solve it 4 us. Yah makes sense ... all LS got bioload, eat sure 2 poop (just like us!)