Prehistoric shells in fish tank?

Question

Okai, so this is WEIRD. I have a fish tank. It's rather large. A while ago we found a little shell type thing. We certainly never bought it. It looks prehistoric, kinda fossil-like. I was just looking at the fish tank, and I found at least ten of then on the gravel. Does anyone know what these are? Where they come from? How they got there? It's creepy.

Answer 1

Yep... your weird...this is creepy. Don't worry though. It is most likely a type of invertebrate snail or other animal. Simply dose your tank with a suitable anti-molluscide (quite a fancy name - anything that gets rid of water snails should be OK).

Otherwise, contact your local pet store or aquatic centre. Give them a description of these mysterious creatures.

Good luck.

Answer 2

You have a snail infestation.  The live ones are stuck on the glass. The dead ones leave their shells on the floor.  As the minerals are depleted from the shell, it turns white, like a bone.  You can use chemicals to kill snails or you can buy a fish that eats them- might not be compatible with your other fish, though.  Or you can pick them out by hand using a powerful aquarium vaccuum.  Snails are generally harmless nuisance, but might eat plants, if you have them.  Snails also eat algae.

Answer 3

my one of the fish gave birth and the fish is stuck to a shell