Nassarius, whelk, or other?

[GiraffeShepherd]

Greetings and salutations!

I was hoping that some of you would be willing to help me ID my snails.

I added between 6-12 what I purchased as "nassarius" snails to the tank about 6 years ago. It is my understanding that it is uncommon for them to procreate in our systems, but I seem to have many more than I started with.

I had honestly thought that most of them had died because I would rarely see them. I have been lax in my care of the tank due to some health issues, but I am recovered and now trying to recover my tank.

I cleaned my sump and replumbed last week and there were maybe 2 dozen of them, and one of my drains was clogged with them, and there were several in my protein skimmer that had lied dormant for months, with many seemingly too big to get in there in their full size.

They dont seem to be harming anything, corals are mostly mushrooms, but I do have a single zoa colony that has been grumpy for several months. I read somewhere that some snails/whelks eat zoas?

Strange to go from never seeing any, to suddenly seeing more than I ever added.

 

[kevgib67]

Greetings and salutations!

I was hoping that some of you would be willing to help me ID my snails.

I added between 6-12 what I purchased as "nassarius" snails to the tank about 6 years ago. It is my understanding that it is uncommon for them to procreate in our systems, but I seem to have many more than I started with.

I had honestly thought that most of them had died because I would rarely see them. I have been lax in my care of the tank due to some health issues, but I am recovered and now trying to recover my tank.

I cleaned my sump and replumbed last week and there were maybe 2 dozen of them, and one of my drains was clogged with them, and there were several in my protein skimmer that had lied dormant for months, with many seemingly too big to get in there in their full size.

They dont seem to be harming anything, corals are mostly mushrooms, but I do have a single zoa colony that has been grumpy for several months. I read somewhere that some snails/whelks eat zoas?

Strange to go from never seeing any, to suddenly seeing more than I ever added.

I have Tonga nassarius snails that have bread like crazy, although smaller than the original I bought they behave exactly the same as the big ones and come flying out from under the sand when food is introduced into the tank.predatory whelks do not go under the sand and are nocturnal. They kill and eat snails.

 

[Uncle99]

While they do breed and can lay eggs on rock or glass, they have a long planktonic period of 1-2 months which usually results in them being consumed by others, or filtered out.

 

[GiraffeShepherd]

Greetings and salutations!

I was hoping that some of you would be willing to help me ID my snails.

I added between 6-12 what I purchased as "nassarius" snails to the tank about 6 years ago. It is my understanding that it is uncommon for them to procreate in our systems, but I seem to have many more than I started with.

I had honestly thought that most of them had died because I would rarely see them. I have been lax in my care of the tank due to some health issues, but I am recovered and now trying to recover my tank.

I cleaned my sump and replumbed last week and there were maybe 2 dozen of them, and one of my drains was clogged with them, and there were several in my protein skimmer that had lied dormant for months, with many seemingly too big to get in there in their full size.

They dont seem to be harming anything, corals are mostly mushrooms, but I do have a single zoa colony that has been grumpy for several months. I read somewhere that some snails/whelks eat zoas?

Strange to go from never seeing any, to suddenly seeing more than I ever added.

I have Tonga nassarius snails that have bread like crazy, although smaller than the original I bought they behave exactly the same as the big ones and come flying out from under the sand when food is introduced into the tank.predatory whelks do not go under the sand and are nocturnal. They kill and eat snails.

Interesting! After more research, im starting to lean towards predatory whelks... ive never seen them burrow in the sand, they move slow, and their siphon is mottled, but not "tattooed" like pics ive come across, so the jury is still out.

Thinking i will leave them for now as they dont seem to be harming anything and i lack any other cuc besides bristleworms and maybe 2 hermit crabs i see sporadically. May try and remove them before adding any other inverts though.

 

[GiraffeShepherd]

While they do breed and can lay eggs on rock or glass, they have a long planktonic period of 1-2 months which usually results in them being consumed by others, or filtered out.

Im starting to lean more towards whelk, mostly for their mottled siphon. I wouldnt be surprised that if they were nassarius and they did reproduce though.

I had been running no mechanical filtration, skimmer was inop, and fish consisted of a foxface, 2 tangs and a clownfish. Corals are mostly mushrooms a couple leathers and a zoa colony. So i feel that if they were nassarius, they would have had a chance.

 

[exnisstech]

It's my understanding nasarius have a large foot that trails behind them and has a piece of shell on it so they can close up their shell. Whelks lack the long trailing foot. This is info i gathered when I wanted to make sure I was adding nasarius and not whelks a while ago.
If you look closely to you can barely see the piece of shell sticking up on the foot of this nasarius that I have.

 

[BZOFIQ]

How dangerous are these whelk?

I might have these in my system as possible hitchhikers from FL

 

[GiraffeShepherd]

How dangerous are these whelk?

I might have these in my system as possible hitchhikers from FL

My understanding is that they are predatory, mostly to other snails. Ive also read that if theyre starving, they may consume dead or dying coral tissue and ive found limited claims of them eating zoas.

I had a clownfish pass away a few months ago and they swarmed it.

Im not an expert, im going to see if i can pull some out tonight to see if they have the trapdoor like @exnisstech mentioned.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I think you may have pointed me to a problem I'm having in my tank.

It would completely make sense as the symptoms match what I am experiencing

https://tbsaltwater.com/blogs/reef-not-safe/whelk-snail-whelk

 

[BriDroid]

The smaller nassarius vibex breed in my nano tank for sure. I only put in 6 or 8 a year and a half ago and I have more of them in there now than that. They’re not prolific, but I do see tiny ones from time to time.

 

[exnisstech]

I had a clownfish pass away a few months ago and they swarmed it.

Its my understanding that nasarius are carnivores so I wouldn't think it unusual for them to go to work on a dead fish. But I've not had any deaths in my tank where mine are.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I think you may have pointed me to a problem I'm having in my tank.

It would completely make sense as the symptoms match what I am experiencing

https://tbsaltwater.com/blogs/reef-not-safe/whelk-snail-whelk

I should mention that I definitely have these in my tank!

 

[jmcdona6]

A whelk (pretty sure off TBS rock from a while back) killed one of my clams the other week. Not the end of the world to have them (part of the bad that comes with the good). But I would recommend sumping them if you even question what it is.

 

[kevgib67]

Im starting to lean more towards whelk, mostly for their mottled siphon. I wouldnt be surprised that if they were nassarius and they did reproduce though.

I had been running no mechanical filtration, skimmer was inop, and fish consisted of a foxface, 2 tangs and a clownfish. Corals are mostly mushrooms a couple leathers and a zoa colony. So i feel that if they were nassarius, they would have had a chance.

Here’s a predatory whelks ( not all whelks are predatory such as nassarius snails) that I pulled after catching it eating a bumblebee snail.

 

[Uncle99]

Im starting to lean more towards whelk, mostly for their mottled siphon. I wouldnt be surprised that if they were nassarius and they did reproduce though.

I had been running no mechanical filtration, skimmer was inop, and fish consisted of a foxface, 2 tangs and a clownfish. Corals are mostly mushrooms a couple leathers and a zoa colony. So i feel that if they were nassarius, they would have had a chance.

That is absolutely possible under those conditions.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Maybe somebody can confirm for me???

Took 15! out of the system last night/this morning.

I was chasing water issues, perhaps these are responsible for some of my zoas doing poorly and snail shells everywhere.

 

[X-37B]

I just found one on an acro. There was a white 1/2" trail and a round white spot when I removed it. It was eating the coral.
I remove them when I see them. A mantis trap will catch them. I caught several trying to remove a mantis over the last 2 years.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Are fish safe with these around - I moved them to my qurantine tank???

 

[GiraffeShepherd]

Are fish safe with these around - I moved them to my qurantine tank???

My understanding is that they are safe for everything but some corals, and other snails. They will also consume dead fish, but they are not a danger to fish.

Im leaving them in my tank for now, but will remove them before adding anything else to my tank

 

[GiraffeShepherd]

Maybe somebody can confirm for me???

Took 15! out of the system last night/this morning.

I was chasing water issues, perhaps these are responsible for some of my zoas doing poorly and snail shells everywhere.

The mottling on the siphon looks like predatory whelk to me, though im still not an expert