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I have a 10 gallon aquarium and have one medium size goldfish in the tank. About a month ago, I decided to purchase couple of live plants. Once I got it, I simply planted it into the tank without cleaning the plants. About a week later, I saw a small snail. I was surprise to see it but not alarmed. Then, 3 days later 2 more. On a closer inspection, I saw many what looked like snail eggs on the plants and on the glass. Today, I was looking at the tank and found many tiny snails. Plus, it looks like my gold fish was bitten by something. On one side of the fish, it looks like something took a big bite of the fish. So, is my goldfish of 7 years doomed and is going to die? and Will I be able to get rid of the snails out of my tank? I think I have snail infestation...

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    Snails don't eat fish, first off. Most likely a fungus or parasite got introduced with the snails. But most importantly, 10 gallons is way too small of a tank for any goldfish. They are a medium to large bodied fish and typically need a minimum of 30 gallons per fish for the smaller species. Even comets which are the cheap feeder goldfish at stores or unfortunately given away at carnivals can reach almost a foot in length and are extremely messy fish. For the sake of the fish, I strongly suggest rehoming the goldfish to someone with a larger tank and keep only small fish in this size tank.
    – Jestep
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 1:49

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These snails are able to reproduce on their own so there's a few options to get rid of them.

  • Setting up snail traps and removing them yourself, as you see them scoop them out. I.e placing a small dish at bottom of tank with lettuce overnight, they will go to it and you can easily remove them.
  • Purchasing an assassin snail, they don't reproduce like crazy, are small and can thrive in cold water. There are other fish who can kill snails however they need warmer temperatures compared to goldfish. Since you only have a 10gal aquarium for your goldfish I wouldn't stock anything else.
  • Overfeeding can help these snails thrive, so be sure your goldfish eats all of his dinner :)
  • Chemical treatment can be found at your LFS however I'm not a fan of adding chemicals meant to kill something in aquariums, it may harm your fish. -At this point you don't really need to remove the plant, your tank has eggs everywhere now as long as you can keep up with them popping up, purchase an assassin snail and remove the eggs as you see them you'll eventually get rid of them.

These tiny snails won't bite your fish, they will just infest your tank and clog up the filter if not kept under control. As for the bite, if it's on a fin he could have snagged it on something or got bit by another fish in the tank (unless he's alone)? Hard to say without pictures.

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