Harmful snail? or extra cuc

[KingNebTheGreat]

My dad found this guy in my tank last night after the lights went out. I was already in bed so he put it in a container in the tank after taking these pictures.

Despite how big it looks in the photos, this guy is about the size of a large grain of rice. The size of him makes me think he might have been born in the tank since I also haven't added any new corals recently that weren't in my qt for a while. my concern is that it doesn't look like any of the snails i currently have in the tank which is nassarius, marble nassarius, 2 types of cerith (those grey ones that hermit crabs like and some pointy white ones), astrea, and trochus.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Jamie9]

I'm no expert at all, but possibly a tiger cowrie? If that's the case...I'd be more worried about it when it gets much larger in terms of knocking stuff over.

 

[Tahoe61]

I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

I'm no expert at all, but possibly a tiger cowrie? If that's the case...I'd be more worried about it when it gets much larger in terms of knocking stuff over.

Yeah that's what i saw from a reverse image search and they do sorta look similar. my main question is how on earth did it get in my display tank.

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

Yeah that's what i saw from a reverse image search and they do sorta look similar. my main question is how on earth did it get in my display tank.

That being the main question if it is a tiger crowie.

 

[Jamie9]

It could have come in on live rock, a coral frag, on the back of another snail for your CUC, really almost anything that's gone into the tank wet.

 

[StartingATank]

I agree. It does look like a tiger cowrie

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

It could have come in on live rock, a coral frag, on the back of another snail for your CUC, really almost anything that's gone into the tank wet.

yeah but i haven't added any new rock in months and the last corals I added were in my qt for several weeks before going in the dp. I did add some snails a week or two ago but i did inspect them and I didnt see anything on them.

 

[StartingATank]

It could have been hiding in the rock until now?

 

[Jamie9]

Yeah, it's amazing what can get past visual inspection and dips. Figure if that snail is the size of a grain of rice now, maybe it came in as an egg or just some seriously tiny baby snail. I found a 1" wide brittle star in my tank the other day and I haven't added anything in quite a while. Also one day some baby cerith's just sort of appeared on my glass when I have no cerith's in my CUC. I guess we just do what we can, and hopefully we get more good than bad!

Pro tip - get yourself an 8 year old child who wants to stare at the tank for hours with good eyes...it's amazing the stuff my son has found in my small tank! (And he already saved me from one aptasia outbreak).

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

It could have been hiding in the rock until now?

i guess. but it doesn't matter too much if it's not harmful. free clean up crew from somewhere

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

Yeah, it's amazing what can get past visual inspection and dips. Figure if that snail is the size of a grain of rice now, maybe it came in as an egg or just some seriously tiny baby snail. I found a 1" wide brittle star in my tank the other day and I haven't added anything in quite a while. Also one day some baby cerith's just sort of appeared on my glass when I have no cerith's in my CUC. I guess we just do what we can, and hopefully we get more good than bad!

Pro tip - get yourself an 8 year old child who wants to stare at the tank for hours with good eyes...it's amazing the stuff my son has found in my small tank! (And he already saved me from one aptasia outbreak).

yeah i've got 4 siblings below the age of 13 who love looking at the tank. They have absolutely pointed out aptasia i didn't notice. also the large tufts of hair algae that i forgot to remove.

 

[Aquadude1]

Nvm. Misread post

 

[KingNebTheGreat]

Alright, well I guess I will update this in a year if it survives and I end up with an adult tiger cowrie. Not super hopeful though because I do have a longnose hawkfish and a sixline that might eat him since he's so small. Either way thank you everyone for the help identifying him!

 

[Tahoe61]

Looks like a Trochus or Collinista, those would be the logical choices.