making aquatic snails safe for blueys?

[Spindown]

hey guys, long time to chat

I"ll do an update thread when i have the chance, but for now its a couple of questions.

My friends mom lives on a local lake, where we found some large aquatic snails. They appear to be Cipangopaludina chinensis after some reasearch (i have to dig a little more next week when i get more to be sure). I am aware these are an invasive species, so before anyone gets weird on me, no i'm not planning on selling them, re-releasing them, or otherwise spreading them around. If i have to purge a tank, they will all be euthanized before getting thrown out.

Moving on:

I've read about purging land snails, but i cant seem to find how to purge aquatic snails. I was also wondering if the Metronidazole would be safe to use if I want to make 100% sure they are treated for parasites and then feed to my blueys. (and/or eat them myself). I am planning on breeding these for personal use only, as the one i tried with one of my blueys was a HUUUUUUUUGE hit!!

I'm on a couple snail forums to find out more, but some of them are upset about the idea of someone else eating or feeding off what they consider pets (which i can respect). Hence why i'm asking here

Thanks in advance
~ST

[Katrina]

For aquatic snails, I've heard the usual keep them in clean water with food and have them live a week or two to make sure they are safe. I would think if you get them breeding then any offspring they produce wouldn't have chemicals / pesticides so those would be perfect food.

I'm not sure about deworming them... I've never heard of it, maybe someone like Brad would know more. If parasites are very host specific, could parasites that affect snails also transfer to BTS? Assuming, of course, that they aren't some kind that has a multi-host lifecycle? I don't know enough about parasites, sorry!

Sounds like a great project, good luck! And nice to see you posting again.

[Spindown]

Some types of snails can pass parasites on since they can be an intermediate host. A great example of a reason for people to NEVER EVER eat raw snails was shown on 1000 ways to die, when the people got a parasite from the snail and they ate their brain and the people died. So i'm kinda paranoid since if we can get the parasites, who knows if there are other types!

I'm quite excited about breeding these, since this particular species has "live" birth (aka internal eggs and then releases the hatched young) and once they hit maturity release tiny snails constantly until the female dies. I was squishing up some for my blueys to try and discovered a bunch of ready to go unreleased young inside, and managed to save some and put them in some water. I have to cycle a whole other tank for them, but feeding and care is SUPER easy, especially since i have an extra filter! They just eat algae wafers lol. The one time I'm jealous of my bluey's food...i really want to find out if i can eat these too, I'm a freak and LOVE escargot!!

[Bassman]

How has the snail breeding been going? I'm interested in maybe picking up some apple snails at the pet store and seeing if I can breed them.

[critterguy]

That species has quite hard shells and reproduces at a rather moderate rate. I don't know if I'd bother with them myself.

The apple snail Pomacea canaliculata or ramshorn snails(genus Marisa) would be good bets if you wish to raise big snail treats. But again shells are rather tough-less so in the first species.

[Spindown]

None of my guys who had the gumption to eat them whole had an issue with the shells?
Apple snails are illegal here, Ramshorn do not appear to be illegal but I also have no idea where to find them.
The only reason I can get the aforementioned is they are a local lake. I would have no ability to get the apple snails.
My preferred snail would be Helix aspersa, but they require an import permit from the USDA.

[WanderingChai]

Can you feed snails that breed and are kept in an aquarium? If so, what kind?

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Ramshorn and Apple snails...

[Spindown]

however in most places apple snails will be sold as mystery snails (aka they are claiming they dont know what they are) since apple snails are illegal in the states.
Ramshorn appear to be legal in some states.