My snail grew tentacles?

[Gribbles]

Could someone identify what is on this snail? Hydroids of some sort? Thank you!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Colonial hydroids. Remove the snail from the tank ASAP. Personally, I wouldn't risk trying to remove them from the shell as you likely won't get the entire animal(s) and they'll just reappear. If you are able to humanely euthanize the snail, that's the way to go unfortunately...

 

[Cthulukelele]

Those things are the DEVIL

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

You could pull snail, keep it in seperate container and epoxy the shell for about a monthto starve them. Then pull the epoxy off if trying to be humane as well if you cant find an etgical way or want to kill the snail.

 

[EasternShoreman]

take it out ASAP if you can....closely monitor the tank for more...once they take root, they can be tough to control.

 

[Gribbles]

Thank you everyone. I found one more snail the same way and removed them. I'll keep a close eye.

 

[Gribbles]

I've been regularly removing these as I see them. Almost entirely on inverts. Looks like it's been about 5 months since I created this thread.

Today I found a dead emerald crab that was covered in the hydroids mentioned here.

Curious as to other's experience
Are there any steps I can take to mitigate the spread further?
Do these have the potential to overwhelm a tank and cause people to break the tank down?
Is it one of those things that you just live with it once you have it in the tank?
Have you dealt with them and had success?

 

[Solo McReefer]

You're the Hydroid resident expert now

 

[Rjukan]

I've been regularly removing these as I see them. Almost entirely on inverts. Looks like it's been about 5 months since I created this thread.

Today I found a dead emerald crab that was covered in the hydroids mentioned here.

Curious as to other's experience
Are there any steps I can take to mitigate the spread further?
Do these have the potential to overwhelm a tank and cause people to break the tank down?
Is it one of those things that you just live with it once you have it in the tank?
Have you dealt with them and had success?

When I had them many years ago, I found that they were a nuisance but not something to force a tank reset.

They are annoying since they spread by a root system, and I think any slight piece of the root remaining will grow a new colony. I wish I could remember more. At the time I was dealing with red planeria, invasive mushrooms, and bubble algae lol.. so I was a bit overwhelmed. Goodluck!

 

[GARRIGA]

How does one humanely kill a snail? Copper bath? Toilet? Bleach bath? Peroxide bath? Hammer? I think unfortunately goal is get it out because hitchhiker detrimental to the collective.

Joking aside. Had an overrun of FW snails and small amount of copper eliminated most and thinking full fish treatment dosage bath likely kills any fast.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Garden

"Go be with your terrestrial brethren and sisteren"

"So you say you're Turbo, huh? Then turbo your way to the water"

Just got a load of snails from Saltwateraquarium.com, 25% are motionless. Never had that issue with Reefcleaners.org snails

 

[Gribbles]

So I don't wanna genocide all of my cuc just to kill some hydroids :face-with-tears-of-joy:

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Are there any steps I can take to mitigate the spread further?
Do these have the potential to overwhelm a tank and cause people to break the tank down?
Is it one of those things that you just live with it once you have it in the tank?
Have you dealt with them and had success?

I have heard of hydroids taking over tanks to the point of tank breakdowns, but it doesn't seem to be too common; it seems to depend on the species of hydroid, the individual tank situation, etc.

For dealing with them - it's harder when they're on livestock, but you might be able to find a couple of suggestions you can try in the threads below:

Agreed with hydroids:
I've heard smothering the hydroids with kalk paste may work, but here are some other threads with suggestions that might be helpful:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hydroids-a-reference-to-some-strategies.819522/https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/hydroids-how-do-i-eliminate-they-have-taken-over-my-tank.329188/

These may help:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/fenbendazole-dip-for-blue-clove-polyp-hydroids.1020246/Edit: A relevant link in post 7 of the link above:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/here-it-is-fenbendazole-use-against-hydroids.214950/