My new tank has hundreds of tiny white snails and pods of every type and size imaginable -- especially on the glass. I need to clean the glass but I don't want to harm the snails. Any suggestions?
If they are the collonista (sp) snail's you can touch them lightly with something and they will let go and fall to the bottom. You may try that, it won't hurt them.
The Collonista pics I have found all seem to be a dark golden or brown. The ones I have are white and very tiny. So far I've been unable to get a picture sharp enough to see identifying characteristics.
Don't worry about them, there are probably 10 times as many in the rest of the tank. My 10gal at work is covered up with the tiny tiny snails you can barely see. but like Marti said, you can just lightly touch them and they will fall off
Upon closer inspection using some Walmart reading glasses (don't laugh, you'll pass 40 some day and your eyesight will go downhill too), the snails are not white, they're light brown with darker circles around the shells. The shell is shaped more like a cerith than a collonista. I cleaned a small section of glass and watched the snails that were brushed off. They seemed to be OK as I could see them crawling on the sand.
