Suddenly Snails?

[Hollystark]

I cleaned the outside of my lotl tank yesterday and what I thought were dots of algae through the dirty glass, turned out to be tiny snails. I have newish plants and I had recently switched to feeding my guys in a jar in the tank instead of taking them out to feed in little holding tanks, so I'm not super mystified as to why this is happening now.

Not sure what I should do about it, though. I read that some axolotls will eat them, but that has me worried about impactions. I also don't know how big they get. If they stay roughly the size they are now, barely bigger than the aquarium sand grains, I don't think they will be a problem....but if they get bigger...?

I am starting a beta tank as well and they would be beneficial in that one. Which is good because I had to quick start it with water, media, plants, etc from the axolotl tank when I ended up with a rescued beta yesterday rather than leisurely browsing aquabid while cycling and quarantining a totally separate system. I'm sure some of the snails came along for the ride...

 

[keiko]

Most likely they are the kind of small snails that are in most planted tanks. I can't remember what they're called in english... I have them in my tank too and they're harmless. My axies are not interested in them and even if they would eat one, they're very small. If there seems to be a lot of them, you can just crush them with your finger, but they're pretty impossible to get rid of completely.

 

[Hollystark]

Awesome, thanks! They seem pretty cool actually so I'm happy they aren't going to bother my boys...

 

[Boomsloth]

Most likely they are either pond or bladder snails (both very similar) they don't get that big and can be a snack for most adult size axolotls. Try to match them to pictures online if they don't look like pond snails they might be ramshorn snails which get a little larger and aren't that great for axolotls since they pose an impaction risk at adult sizes.