My Betta died from snails

[ldysamsara2003]

I originally posted my question on 5/15/06 under *Urgent Help Needed*.

Today I see numerous small snails in my Betta tank. Apparently one or both of the snails I had in the Betta tank laid eggs. I am somewhat perplexed, as firstly I didn't see any egg sac (as I have in the past with snails) and the snails were so teeny I would not have thought they were big enough to procreate.

In any event, it appears my Betta must have eaten some and either got constipated from them or they blocked his intestional passage or both. It makes sense to me now, seeing all these snails.

I just wanted to share this here as I could have avoided all of this heartache and the death of my dear Muskrat if I hadn't put the snails in the tank with him. A lesson learned the hard way. I will never put a snail or any other creature in my Betta tank.

[amanichen]

I've had several bettas who regularly ate snails (it was sometimes quite a show.) However, I've never had any of them die from causes that I could attribute to the snail presence. It's possible that if a betta ate a tiny snail, the shell could make it constipated, but again, I've never had a fish die from what I thought was a snail constipation.

I read your thread:

healthybetta.proboards19.com/index.cgi?board=bettadiseases&action=display&thread=1147400101

...but didn't see anything to indicate that the snails were the problem. You even say that the snails were trapped in the filter -- did you remove them?

[ldysamsara2003]

Hello amanichen and thank you for your help!

Originally, I didn't know what happened to my Betta. He died on Sat. and the 2 responses I got here have pointed towards constipation.

Today I saw numerous small snails in his tank. I surmise that the snails laid eggs while they were in the tank and he must have eaten some, causing intestional problems. The 2 original snails were removed last Monday morning, right about the same time I noticed Muskrat was not himself.

Hope this makes sense now. Having never been constipated before and with no changes in his food, I can only think he might have eaten too many or part of a snail shell lodged somewhere and could not pass.

My thanks again for your help.

[tagMAN]

i think im having snail problems too i didnt buy any but i think i got some with the live plants i bought i rinsed them out and every thing but im noticing small tinny things sticking to the side of the tank no bigger then like a tip of a pen and im noticing algie too..idk if i should be worryed

[ldysamsara2003]

Hi tagMAN,

That is a common problem when you purchase live plants. They are notorious for having the multiplying type snails on them.

As amanichen said, there are many ways to kill them, I'd google it for more information. I'd also google how to clean the plants prior to putting them in your tank. That should hopefully avoid any further infestations.

Good Luck!