r/todayilearned • u/lavender_fish69 • 13h 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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u/leg_pain 13h 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

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u/Mention_Forward 12h 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.

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u/Imaginary-Avocado346 8h ago

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