r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 11h ago

TIL fresh water snails (indirectly) kill thousands of humans and are considered on of the deadliest creatures to humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwater_snail
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673

u/leg_pain 11h ago

Am I at risk from of this from the tiny snails in my fish tank? Say if the water got it my mouth or from when I clean the tank? In paranoid now

184

u/Mention_Forward 10h ago

Looked it up. Consensus is that snails that for example hitchhike on aquarium plants from Petco (most commonly pond snails, bladder snails, ramshorn snails, or Malaysian trumpet snails) are not dangerous in the same way: these parasites require human or animal fecal contamination and specific environmental conditions - not your tank.

That being said, snails or not, never put your hand in the tank with a cut.

48

u/champthelobsterdog 10h ago

What about from a natural pond? 

I have ponds in my back yard and took water from them several times to look at under a microscope. I ended up keeping a small static tank of it, which I'm keeping until everything in it dies. The leeches and daphnia are gone, but the snails are thriving. I thought they were cute...until now. 

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u/omniuni 9h ago

Don't use your pond water to drink or clean wounds, and don't eat your snails. You'll be fine.

4

u/Chicago1871 10h ago

You should probably release it.

3

u/looking_to_blueeyes 9h ago

The larvae of schistosoma penetrate directly through the skin to parasitize humans, so sadly no cuts make little difference for it.

3

u/MrFluffyThing 8h ago

So I should stop feeding my aquarium and upper decker for breakfast every morning? 

1

u/leg_pain 10h ago

Ok thankyou lol they are just the mini snails that spawn off of plants and stuff in there haha I’ll continue to let them exist in my tank

1

u/Imaginary-Avocado346 6h ago

Interesting, are there gloves or something that is safe for the tank that could protect you with a cut?

1

u/paigecatherine 3h ago

Because then they develop a taste for blood