Snails all have green algae on shells

[ChilledReefer]

Hello everyone, 

 

I have  a red sea nano max 20 gal and have some snails as the clean up crew. Tank has been up for about a month and all the levels are good. The only thing is the snails now all have green algae growing on their shells.  The lights are set to a red sea schedule that goes for like 10 hours but ramps up and down based on the settings.  

 

Should I be concerned about this or do I need to look at reducing the time the lights are on to get rid of it. I also thought about just pulling the snails out and using a toothbrush to get rid of it to see if that solves the issue. 

 

Thanks for any help, 

 

 

[Jaren45]

Usually if you have multiple they'll just clean each other. If the algae is only on them and not the rockwork I wouldn't be too worried, you can manually remove if it bothers you

[Tired]

That's fairly normal, if they aren't sitting still long enough to clean each other. You can gently scrub their shells with a toothbrush if you really want it off, but it won't do them any harm, and IMO it can look neat. Little wandering gardens. 

[Dave21]

I agree with Tired, totally normal. My snails get hair algae, small filter feeders, coralline algae etc growing on their shells. 

 

I used to pluck it fearing the hair algae might spread to the rock but after a while I quit and it never spread. I personally like it and think it makes the tank look more natural. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChilledReefer]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll leave them alone. =)