filter for plants?

Question
QUESTION: hi Karen. my question is quick and easy. im planning to get some vallisneria and Id like to put it in a tall (3 ft) thin (4 in. wide) vase with my betta. being a vase it doesn't have a filter and there isn't really any place to put one. do i need one? should i just hold off on the plants? cant i just change the water regularly like i do ne way for the fish?

ANSWER: Hi Dan,
The plant itself will help filter the water quite well and it should work out well, provided the plant gets some decent light for a long enough time each day.

Just be sure to keep with water changes and watch for old leaves on the plant, make sure they don't get a chance to decay.

I really hope this helps!
Best wishes,
Karen~

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: ok so i got the vals and theyr planted nicely in gravel. when u said dont let the leaves decay... i got some mystery snails which eat decaying leaves... this could be a stupid sounding question but... shouldnt i let them be so the snails will have food? and if u have time for one more... i also got these little tiny snails and i dont know what they are. theyr brown and about the size of an M&M.. maybe even smaller. iv checked all over google already and i cant find any ID sites that help. got ne suggestions?

Answer
Hi Dan,
Well, the snails will eat the decaying leaves for sure. But they may also need to be fed sinking pellets or vegetables in order to get enough to eat. Keep in mind mystery snails are big polluters and you'll need to be sure to make plenty of frequent water changes to keep up with them, especially with a smallish container. The little snails you described most certainly sound like Ramshorn Snails, which frequently get into aquariums all the time by bag water from bringing fish home or they almost always hitch-hike on plants, they also lay their patches of eggs on plants. They aren't really bad at all, they are just scavengers that clean up bits of organic matter, fish food, and algae. If they have too much fish food available then their population can explode so watch out for that.

You can read more about them here-
http://fishpondinfo.com/snail2.htm#rams

I've found ramshorn snails can vary in their color from bright red to dark brown to almost black, sometimes they have speckles on their shells also.

I hope this helps!
Karen~~