Can someone tell me if common brown snails (the small "pond" variety) carry parasites that could be given to my fish? I have so many of these snails that I squash them and my guppies eat them (sorry if that sounds cruel but I think of it as recycling!! those that have had infestations will probably concur ).

So if my gups eat the crushed snails, could they be getting some sort of parasite from them? All of a sudden I have two gups with long white poops which I know from experience is not a good sign. There have been no new fish introduced so this is all I could think of.

Secondly, could me crushing the snail shells contribute to the overall pH of the tank? I use half RO and half tap because my tap is 8 pH, but now the pH is often 8.2 or higher and I can't figure out why. Then I realized the gups don't eat the shells so the shell fragments probably just sit at the bottom of the tank forever. Could this be why? Am I creating bad "tank karma" by murdering my snails?

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Niki

4 tanks, all planted:
20 gal tall
10 gal
2 - 5 gal tanks

anubias, java fern, java moss, water sprite, vesuvius, wisteria, red cryptocoryne wendtii
48 Watt T5HO on the 20

many happy guppies
one crabby betta

Pond snails don't have very thich shells so they don't contribute much to a high ph when crushed. All livebears like a high ph anyway. Bettas will also tolerate it. I've had pond snails for years and never had any problems. If you want to reduce your snail population get a Mystery Snail or small Algae eater, they will both eat the Pond Snail eggs. A high ph in tap water is characteristic of well water or river water in ths USA. A high ph usually means that the water was in contact with limestone at some time in its history. This high ph water is very good for Rainbows, Livebearers, Brackish Water Fishes and Rift Valley Cichlids.