?snails?

Question
We have a large tank that has been established for about a year.  We have mollies, pleco's, some bottom feeders, tetras (all to total about 25 fish), and three live plants.  The most recent addition to the tank was about 10 neon tetras, (of which two have survived others became fish food!) but that was over a month ago.  

Here's my question.  This morning, I noticed some small (1-2mm) orangish snail-type creatures clinging to the glass, plants, and castle.  There seem to be about 10-15 of them (that are visible).  We don't have an algae problem, but I'm wondering where they could have come from, why it took so long for them to show up, if they were from the last addition to the tank, are they going to harm my other fish, and how/should I get rid of them?  The tank was at a balanced place, and I don't want it to get overrun with snails!  Help!

Thank you for you time and expertise,
Shari

Answer
Hi Shari;

I apologize for not getting to you sooner. The AllExperts system is having a problem and not getting my questions to me.

Snails come in on live plants. The eggs are often not seen and are very tiny. They are so little that it takes awhile for them to be noticed sometimes. The tiny baby ones hide in the gravel. They aren't usually a problem unless you see more than 20 or so. If you keep your fish a little bit on the hungry side they will eat them while they are small and still soft-shelled. You can also put a lettuce leaf in the tank at night to attract them and remove it with the snails and throw it away in the morning. They overpopulate only if you overfeed your fish anyway. Just keep things balanced and it should be fine.

Avoid chemicals to eliminate them. They really are not a good thing to use and have not been very effective. It is a controlled amount of toxic junk that is not healthy. Besides, if it actually kills the snails you have all those dead bodies in there that will wreak havoc on your tank's biological balance. Yikes!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins