Acro eating snail...i couldn't believe it

[whotzler]

I just found the exact same snail chomping on the encrusting base of an acro killing an 1" square. This acro was perfectly healthy just 12 hrs ago so it wasn't eating algae. I have pics but it looks exactly like the first in this thread. So did any one end up with an infestation or once removed they were never to be seen again?

 

[Charterreefer]

Just when you think you have a grasp on the pests and dangers. I got a small mariculture colony a couple of weeks ago and had noticed what I assumed was a small hermit on it periodically. I tried to grab it a few times but it was to far inside of the acro branches. Thought it wasn't an issue so I let it be. I was able to grab it yesterday evening and realized it was a snail. I thought hey cool little freebie. I dropped him on the sand bed and got dressed for work. When I was leaving I stopped for one last look and saw the little bugger and crawled onto a frag that was on the sand. I thought you confused little critter and went to work. When I got home this morning I was inspecting the tank with my blue light and saw tissue missing on another prized stick. This little snail was crawling around the acro leaving a trail of missing tissue in his wake. Who ever heard of a acro eating snail!!! I goggled it and sure enough that's what it is. Just for pest eliminating purposes I put him in a bayer dip at 15 ml to a cup for 15 mins. Worthless he still crawles. I'm going to add pics so maybe others will recognize one in their tank and get it out sooner than I did. SMH what next lol

Is there any possibility the snail could be eating the algae that can grow on the coral after parts of it has died?

 

[KMench]

I’ve had these things as well. Bane of my existence :mad:

 

[whotzler]

Is there any possibility the snail could be eating the algae that can grow on the coral after parts of it has died?

In my case this acro is right up front I examine my tank daily maybe hourly sometimes lol, but 12 hrs ago this coral looked extremely healthy, and now a in your face white chunk. I'm not saying its impossible but not very likely IMO.

 

[whotzler]

Does anyone have an ID on this guy?

 

[KMench]

I can second their destructive power. I posted on here about a giant monti cap I had bleaching. We tested my water params, lighting, etc etc and came up with nothing beside the whelks eating the algae. One day I pulled them all out after I found them on a milliepora and I've been removing them ever since when I see them. My coral keeping issues have dropped drastically. I pulled a whelk off the bottom of this coral last night. It had PE on the top half, the bottom is white from the whelk eating it until I removed it by hand.

 

[KMench]

Pardon my cyano.... I've been feeding heavily since my YLNB was nipping at my maxima.

 

[rmchoi]

First time with anything eating acros. Added this green mariculture coral. It was thriving then slowly started showing STN, so I thought. This was the only one, of 20 other SPS, showing any sign of this. Finally saw the snail, after it stripped much skin off the coral. This tiny animal completely eats the skin off the coral, leaving eaten areas snow white, like STN.

This thread was the first to pop up after a web search for acro eating snails. Shocking to see this snail was the exact same, as the other snails on this thread.

 

[KMench]

@rmchoi Unfortunately they are a pain in the butt. How long was the coral in your tank for before you caught the whelk? Keep a sharp eye out, I've pulled over 50 from my tank now. Took me a while to realize they were the cause of the problem, but now that I know every time I inspect my tank I check for whelks. They seem to like any of the SPS with long PE. They munched the base of my lordhowensis and made it STN, now all I have left is a tiny patch of tissue that is hanging on.

 

[rmchoi]

@rmchoi Unfortunately they are a pain in the butt. How long was the coral in your tank for before you caught the whelk? Keep a sharp eye out, I've pulled over 50 from my tank now. Took me a while to realize they were the cause of the problem, but now that I know every time I inspect my tank I check for whelks. They seem to like any of the SPS with long PE. They munched the base of my lordhowensis and made it STN, now all I have left is a tiny patch of tissue that is hanging on.

The mariculture coral was in a month before I finally saw it....potential exposure to whelk snail eggs?

 

[rkpetersen]

Anyone know if these things are killed or at least knocked off by any of the usual coral dips?

 

[KMench]

Potential reproduction in your tank is what I would worry about. Also @rkpetersen I didn’t try killing them. I didn’t dip the frag because they came on a coral that was about the size of a basketball. It’s dead now.