Why Do Nerite Snails Poop So Much And How To Deal With It?

Last Updated on September 2, 2022 by cmoarz

You ever wonder why does my nerite snail poop so much? Or maybe you’re looking to get a nerite snail and you are wondering if nerite snails poop a lot. This article will give you a brief introduction to the nerite snail pooping habits and why it’s not so bad compared to a mystery snail.

So, How Much Do Nerite Snails Poop Anyway?

This answer isn’t as straightforward as you would think. A lot of factors go into how much a nerite snail poops.

Factors such as:

• How much do you feed your nerite snail
• How often do you feed your snail
• How big is your snail, is it full grown?
• How many nerites do you actually have?
• How big is the tank, what seems like a lot of poop in a small tank might not be in a big one?

With all that said, I can tell you with a straight face that nerites are poop machines. They are always pooping and will poop within a few hours of eating because of their very short digestive tract.

However, Their bioload is still considered fairly low compared to other snails, but if you are an aggressive feeder or have a smaller tank it can be very easy to overfeed your snail.

Their poop generally isn’t as strong as a fish or a mystery snail, and won’t contaminate the water parameters nearly as much as others.

But with that said, You still need to clean it up.

Luckily it vacumes up real easy.

And if you think that maybe a nerite snail isn’t right for you and decide that maybe you should get a mystery snail instead I have news for you!

Mystery snails are larger than nerites and they also poop more and poop bigger. They poop just as often as nerites, if not more so, With more bioload to boot.

Snails just poop a lot no matter what kind of snail you have

That’s just how it goes. If you are interested in getting a nerite for your beta tank or another aquarium, then just know that the maintenance involved, while not super high, still exists.

How to deal with it? That’s where this article comes in.

I will provide multiple ways for you to clean it up, and I’ll make sure to keep it simple so that all of you can enjoy having nerites without any headaches.

First off, Having a good filter is paramount to cleaning up after these guys. You want a strong mechanical filtration with filter floss.

Snail poop tends to break up into very small floating particles, which makes filter floss perfect for catching it all.

Secondly, if you have a graveled bottom, You need a vacuum you can plunge into the substrate to get all the nasty sinking bits.

It can build up quite quickly because the rocks and gravel capture it all. For sand, it mostly just sits on the surface unless there is an outside agitation, such as a bottom feeder or something else that lifts up the sand often.

Last but not least, Don’t overpack them into the aquarium. You should keep a max of 2 nerite snails per 10 gallons. You can go higher with larger tanks, but you can’t add more to smaller tanks.

For example, a 20 gallon can easily hold more than 4 nerite snails, but a 10 gallon can only hold 2.