Petshrimp.com Discussion Forum

Can anyone give me an ID on the TINY ramshorns that seem to be popping up with increasing regularity in the US? They're obviously Planorbids, but they remain small - I've never seen one over 3mm, myself - and they don't seem capable of reproducing to plague levels. They hold their shells nearly parallel to the substrate. Nice guys, just a little small. Want a photo? Try page 119 of Nature Aquarium World book 2. It looks like they've been in Asian aquariums for a while.

Do they look like this?

dang those guys are pretty awsome....

People on other aquarium forums have been mentioning these cute little guys/gals. I myself have a few, which I thought I picked up when I brought in some duckweed from a local creek. Funny how these tiny little snails have been making the rounds. I don't know exactly what they are either.

Actually those are just babies. Although I do have some new ones that dont get very big at all. The ones pictured above get about 3/8 inch diameter. Here is a pic of an adult. I may have shown this pic before. This one had a broken shell, but made use of the hole.

Yes, those snails in your first pic are the ones to which I'm referring. Having dealt with them in the lab for a few years and at home for a year or so, I'm 99% certain they aren't the young of another kind of ramshorn. Unless they are some paedomrophic form, but even so, the way they carry their shells nearly parallel to the substrate is unique.

I too have a few of those snails. First time I saw them I took a double take, because of the way their shells are parallel to the surface. It looks like they are dragging there shells around or are too weak to carry them. Must of been hitch-hikers on some plants I received.

lampeye wrote:Yes, those snails in your first pic are the ones to which I'm referring. Having dealt with them in the lab for a few years and at home for a year or so, I'm 99% certain they aren't the young of another kind of ramshorn. Unless they are some paedomrophic form, but even so, the way they carry their shells nearly parallel to the substrate is unique.

I suppose they could be a different type, I only assumed they were babies of the larger one, because that is the only larger sized ones I saw in the tank. All were collected via live plants from a wild pond in Kansas. I did have one other type of snail that was about the same size but had more of a pointy spiral shell.

Most of the little ones end up clogging the pre-filter sponge in my DIY filter sump . This was on my 120 gal turtle tank with a 1250 gph pump. I could always tell when the pressure went down its time to clean out the snails.

I am glad I came upon this!

I noticed these guys after I bought a plant at the LFS.
A few months later I got some "free" brown ramhorns.
started seeing those little white ramsnails, hope they were white babies of the big guys I have.

Anyways, these small guys I have are both in a whiteish shell and a brownish shell. they mostly carry their shell parallel with the substrate or what ever they are climbing on. I have had some for a few months and the largest is about 3mm in diamets.

The small white ones I am refering to look just like the picture with the coin.

I have so many differnt snails floating arround in my tank, all are non plague levels, and it is nice to get information on one of my "mysterious snails"

They actually have a brown, translucent shell, but they seem to be prone to pitting or other weathering of the shell, giving it a white appearance. I think these guys need a very high Ca++ level or very frequent water changes to keep from looking that way.

I think these guys need a very high Ca++ level or very frequent water changes to keep from looking that way.

Can they get the Ca++ from tap water or do they need some additives?

I had these many years ago. I do not know the exact species. But I do know that they are not the young of a larger species. There are many species of ramshorn looking snails just in Germany. Maybe hundreds all over the world.

I also have micro-rams. They are not babies of a larger species. They never grow very large. I was worried they would interbreed with my red rams, but this never happened.

The cajun crays keep them under control.

I have them in several colours- reddish flesh with transparent brown, reddishflesh with a metalic-pinkbrown shell and then a few metalic white, soemtimes with metalic gray or white stripes with white flesh. I am pretty sure there is not CA problem going on, it can either be a differnt snail, or something else "contributes to its loss" I have one of each kind of "mysterious snail" in a breeder for observation for the last few weeks. Unfortuanly I do not think I have a lense good enough for photo them to get the proper ID or diagnosis, I will see what I can do.

Thanks Annako, I also might have some of these type of snails and will be waiting to see what you find out.