Bad boy snail?

[prsnlty]

Well I found this guy wandering the glass today. Have never seen one in my tank before and have no clams (wanting one though). Is he a bad one to have?

It's the best picture I could get

 

[Kworker]

Looks like a pyramid snail but I don't think you would find them roaming on the glass..

Check the rest of your snails to see if you find snails like these on them, usually they are clustered along the opening of the snail and its trap door.

 

[prsnlty]

That's what I thought it was. Why would they be on the other snails? Do the kill them too?

 

[prsnlty]

Yes!!! They are on them :mad:

 

[Kworker]

Yes!!! They are on them :mad:

I am dealing with end of issue now. The are parasitic and end up killing the snail. They also attack clams, and I am unsure about any other inverts.
Apparently there are multiple species for different inverts, like the ones on snails wont go after clams and vice-versa. However, I can't comment on that since besides shrimp I only have snails as well.

I moved my snails over to my frag tank (which also contains a sixline wrasse who is known to eat them),
I am running my Display with no snail or clams (don't have any). Eventually they will starve off by not having a host to feed off of in the display. I have not been able to find an accurate amount of time it takes. I narrowed it to 3-6 months. Supposedly their egg cycle lasts 120 days so they will need to hatch and starve.

I use a new toothbrush to brush them off every other day or so. I have been doing that for about 2 months and still going and lost a few along the way.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

 

[prsnlty]

Thanks a lot for the help :) it's funny I've never had them before and have no new snails. They, like the bad stars I now have, just seemed to appear out of nowhere :(

Jackie

 

[Kworker]

Thanks a lot for the help :) it's funny I've never had them before and have no new snails. They, like the bad stars I now have, just seemed to appear out of nowhere :(

Jackie

If you added anything else new there is always possibilities. Could of also been there a while. IME it takes a while for them to kill.

 

[prsnlty]

That would mean it came from a new LFS that I purchased some LR and snails from a few months ago. I also never had asterina stars before then. I dipped in bayer then hydrogen peroxide soaked the rock for 12 hours but didn't do anything but float the snails. I wasn't sure if the snails could be dipped. I don't know if that would have killed the pyramids or not anyway. But I did inspect them and didn't see anything. I got some aptasia from there as well. All I can say is that I doubt I'll be purchasing anything else from this place again...

Now I am afraid to use anything from my tank when I switch up to my 180g being built :cry:

 

[Kworker]

That would mean it came from a new LFS that I purchased some LR and snails from a few months ago. I also never had asterina stars before then. I dipped in bayer then hydrogen peroxide soaked the rock for 12 hours but didn't do anything but float the snails. I wasn't sure if the snails could be dipped. I don't know if that would have killed the pyramids or not anyway. But I did inspect them and didn't see anything. I got some aptasia from there as well. All I can say is that I doubt I'll be purchasing anything else from this place again...

Now I am afraid to use anything from my tank when I switch up to my 180g being built :cry:

Honestly dont think you can put too much blame on them. There a many diseases/parasites for everything in this hobby that a LFS would have a very hard time to negate. Best way to go about everything this point forward is to QT everything including corals. If you bought corals that had the pyramids on them that could of been it at all. Anything wet that you added to the tank from another tank.

Pyramid snails arent talked about that often. I never heard of them during the year worth of research I did prior to starting the Saltwater part of the hobby. Luckily it was the only thing besides a zoa eating nudi I ran into (disease/parasite wise).

Having two separate QT tanks is a great thing to have in this hobby, one for inverts and one for fish.


People have supposedly knocked out pyramids while keeping the wanted snails in the Display and brushing off the pyramids. I feel the best route is to remove the snails altogether and starving the little buggers. Also you wont have to search for every one of your wanted snails to clean them off every other day. I am also not sure if locating the snails into the sump would help.

 

[prsnlty]

Honestly dont think you can put too much blame on them. There a many diseases/parasites for everything in this hobby that a LFS would have a very hard time to negate. Best way to go about everything this point forward is to QT everything including corals. If you bought corals that had the pyramids on them that could of been it at all. Anything wet that you added to the tank from another tank.

Pyramid snails arent talked about that often. I never heard of them during the year worth of research I did prior to starting the Saltwater part of the hobby. Luckily it was the only thing besides a zoa eating nudi I ran into (disease/parasite wise).

Having two separate QT tanks is a great thing to have in this hobby, one for inverts and one for fish.


People have supposedly knocked out pyramids while keeping the wanted snails in the Display and brushing off the pyramids. I feel the best route is to remove the snails altogether and starving the little buggers. Also you wont have to search for every one of your wanted snails to clean them off every other day. I am also not sure if locating the snails into the sump would help.

I QT most things, but never did QT nor have I even heard of QT'ing snails. I've heard of pyramid snails being a clam issue only. Live and learn something new... I guess I'll be tossing over $250 in snails because the snails will also starve in QT. As it turns out this new LFS knew about both of my issues and did not call me for even the slightest heads up before or after the sale (IMO would have been the right thing to do and they have my #). So they have lost my business. I understand some things will escape notice, but they knew, sold them to me and didn't even care. That to me is bad business. I am just thanking my lucky stars I don't own any expensive clams.

 

[prsnlty]

For anyone with pyramid snails on your snails here is the bad news. I pulled every single turbo, astrea and trochus snail from my tank (about 85), inspected and cleaned them. Then I placed them in a dark colored bowl for about 20 minutes to inspect them again once they opened up and started moving to see if there were any pyramids INSIDE the snail. To my disappointment they were full of them!

DO NOT PUT your infected snail back in the DT! Give up and get rid of them. Logic says that even if you QT these snails you're going to lose them anyway because the pyramids are eating them. That's the bottom line.... Sorry :( Now, I have no idea how long their life cycle is without food or if they will eat other creatures in your tank (besides clams), but I would not go out and get more snails until you are sure your system is free of them. Any one know how long this could take???

 

[Kano]

I have a snail that I got as a hitchhiker and it'll eat snails and clams that I've noticed. The snail has gone at least 1 if not 2+ months without eating. It's not a pyramid snail but it's possible they can survive a long time without a food source.

 

[Kworker]

I wouldn't toss them, put them in qt and whatever ones survive, survive. I'm sure a lot of lfs snails get infected with these guys. Once a lfs gets them idk how it can be expected that they remove them from their system. They are after all usually only selling snails for a dollar each.

Just continue brushing the ones you have and carry on through it.

 

[Kworker]

I have a snail that I got as a hitchhiker and it'll eat snails and clams that I've noticed. The snail has gone at least 1 if not 2+ months without eating. It's not a pyramid snail but it's possible they can survive a long time without a food source.

Snail or snails?

 

[Kano]

Snail. He was on a zoa rock and was yellow/orange in color at the time. Was worried he was eating zoas. Pulled him off and put him in the tank and he went to the exact same location. Months/years later I saw him eating a snail. Now I try to keep at least 1-2 turbo snails in the tank so he can eat when he's hungry. It does mean I can't keep clams though :(

 

[prsnlty]

I wouldn't toss them, put them in qt and whatever ones survive, survive. I'm sure a lot of lfs snails get infected with these guys. Once a lfs gets them idk how it can be expected that they remove them from their system. They are after all usually only selling snails for a dollar each.

Just continue brushing the ones you have and carry on through it.

I understand what you're saying. But, when they know about the situation before they sell them to a customer they should tell you about it and leave it up to you at the very least. What if the customer had hundreds of dollars in clams in their tank and it killed them? Or in my case a couple hundred invested in snails. In a month I had plans to move everything from this tank into my 180g build. I don't dare do that without risking the new setup of which I planned to put clams in. It isn't just about the money. It was unethical for them to sell the snails without warning.

I have them qt'd but they won't be going into my new tank. I may put them in a sandless 45 in a couple of months if they live and are clear of pyramids. I just don't trust it.

Jackie

 

[Kano]

If a store knows they have an issue they should let their customers know. I'd rather be aware of it than find out later. If a store sold you a fish they knew was sick and probably going to die it's the same thing. Ethically they should tell you if something is diseased or sick if they know about it. Unfortunately most stores do not follow that policy but the good ones do.

 

[prsnlty]

If a store knows they have an issue they should let their customers know. I'd rather be aware of it than find out later. If a store sold you a fish they knew was sick and probably going to die it's the same thing. Ethically they should tell you if something is diseased or sick if they know about it. Unfortunately most stores do not follow that policy but the good ones do.

Exactly :) And this is why they will no longer get my business.

After I found the pyramids I realized that they were the only place I could have gotten them from to warn them. But they informed me that they came in that way and knew all along. Like it was no big deal. I then calmly let them know how much of a really BIG deal it was and that due to their handling of the situation from start to finish, I would no longer be a customer.

If it were my store, I would have refused the order or at the very least qt'd them and MAYBE sold with warning if I was begged for them. It's a shame, I couldn't be the only customer effected and they had a decent looking store. If they keep up this behavior they won't be in business very long.

 

[Naiad]

See if someone nearby has a six line wrasse you can borrow. He will rid your snails of these pests in no time. Some other wrasse will also do the same but are not as well known. Also the kind that eat snails won't harm a clam. They are host specific. I don't know your stocking plans for the 180 but a wrasse is a good investment for ensuring you get rid of these guys.

 

[prsnlty]

Thank you. I have a six line wrasse :)

Jackie