Malaysian Trumpet Snail?

[Dory]

Found a snail in my 29 gallon planted tank and am trying to identify it as friend or foe. I am not sure if it will start to harm my plants. It has been in there for a week as far as I have noticed, but likely there longer as it has been a long time since I have added anything new plant wise to the tank. I have some holes in some of my plant leaves, but not sure if the snail is causing it or if it might be the gold algae eaters I have recently introducted to my tank.

The snail is a trumpet shape, dark in color, and as far as I can tell on google searches, looks most like the Malaysian Trumpet snail, but am not positive this is what it is. If this is in fact a MTS, then is it harmful for my tank? Any help is appreciated.

[shev]

my MTS dont seem to even touch th plants, but if theres nothing else for them to eat I'm sure they would try. they are prolific breeders, theyre livebearers. they burrow a lot and aerate your substrate. its good to have a few, just try and keep them under control. I think vacuuming the gravel will reomve babies because they cant hold on or something.

[sumpthinfishy]

I actually overfeed to encourage mts growth in my tanks. They're great for keeping the substrate stirred, as all my tanks are sand bottomed. And they do not harm plants. As long as they aren't out of hand, they're a wonderful clean up crew.

[ijedic]

Yeah, MTS are great for any tank planted or not, in my opinion. I got mine originally from Rog over at www.applesnail.net and well they do tend to make a lot of babies, but since their addition vacuuming the gravel does not end up in a sufur like smell coming from the substrate anymore. The MTS bury, munch on mulm, and basically airate the substrate to help prevent gas pockets. I've never witnessed them eating my plants at all. They tend to hang out in the substrate on on the glass. Take care, Shannon