Blotches on tank walls, Adding Snails to clean?

[dillonmatt78]

This is our first time having a pet. A colleague of my wife's made this shrimp tank for us about a month ago using this page as her guide, http://www.petshrimp.com/opaesetup.php. A picture of the tank is attached, it's approximately 1 gallon of distilled water containing 10 Supershrimp, a blob of algae (bottom left) and some coral for calcium. She might have added too much of the bacteria water from the original breeding tank because prior to that, the tank was mostly clear.

After about a month, we started to notice some dark blotches on the sides of the tank, they are visible in the picture below. My questions are,

1) Would snails be able to keep the tank clean?
2) What kind of snails (name)?
3) How many snails?
4) How do you introduce them in the tank?
5) Can such snails survive in the low-oxygen brackish water of the tank?
6) If snails are not the solution, then what other methods should we be considering to keep the tank clean?

Thanks!

[Varanus]

The snails Mustafa sells are acclimated to this sort of brackish water and can be introduced directly into the tank. They do help clean, but that will only do so much if you are feeding more than necessary as that introduces excess nutrients that lead to excess algae and other growth. How often/how much do you feed?

As for how many snails, the 10 pack Mustafa sells should do fine given how small they are.

[dillonmatt78]

Thanks for the reply. When the tank was set up a month ago, they were fed once, I believe a very small amount of fish flake food. We do not intend to feed them for another 3 months. What are the dark blotches visible in the tank? How do you introduce these snails into the tank? Well purchase a pack of 10, thanks.

[Varanus]

Thanks for the reply. When the tank was set up a month ago, they were fed once, I believe a very small amount of fish flake food. We do not intend to feed them for another 3 months. What are the dark blotches visible in the tank? How do you introduce these snails into the tank? Well purchase a pack of 10, thanks.

Was the food all consumed within a few hours? If so then (only after the blotches on the tank are gone or mostly gone) you would probably be fine feeding every month or so if you wanted to, though your plan should be fine as well.

As for what the blotches are, I can't tell from the picture. They could be algae or bacteria.

The snails should be able to be simply put in the tank, they are quite tough. You can add the water they come in too for added good bacteria.

[dillonmatt78]

I didn't set up the tank but I believe the initial food added to the tank was gone in a short period of time. The tank may have been left in sunlight for some time which may explain why the water is not clear. Do the snails you mentioned above reproduce? Would that be a problem if there are too many snails in the tank? Thanks

[Varanus]

I didn't set up the tank but I believe the initial food added to the tank was gone in a short period of time. The tank may have been left in sunlight for some time which may explain why the water is not clear. Do the snails you mentioned above reproduce? Would that be a problem if there are too many snails in the tank? Thanks

They do reproduce, but they won't overpopulate provided the tank isn't overfed.

And yeah, leaving the tank in direct sunlight may have contributed to the growth of whatever that is on the tank walls or clouding of the water. But too much organic matter (food) for a given time period/population still seems like the most likely cause, as the tank is recommended to have 12 hours of light a day anyway.