Predatory fish? Nope! It's the snails that suck in my tank!!!

[CanadianReefer]

Today, I HATE my nassarius snails....

Normally they do nothing but great things in my tank, but today they were naughty.

I have 2 beautiful (NOT cheap...grrr...) squamosa clams. Both were in the sand and doing well. Today, however, several nassarius snails ganged up on one of my clams and I caught them eating him from the feet up. I caught it after they'd devoured about 1/4 of its flesh - and I'm not sure what's left of him underneath it all. I've since sheltered him, but sadly, these things never seem to end well.

I put my other clam on a rock in hopes that he will attach or at the very least, have more protection for his feet. Unfortunately, he was not the nicer of the two.

I may have to snap a photo of what's left of the other guy so I can at least remember how beautiful he was.

Never would have thought that it would be my snails that caused the greatest havoc in my tank!!

I had olive snails once upon a time, but when I decided to get sand burrowing fish, I took them out to be safe. Perhaps I should have done the same with the nerites and the nassarius.

Funny how something like this can have you second-guessing yourself. I'm in the process of trying to acquire a crosshatch trigger... but now I wonder... what happens if he, too, is a model citizen until one day he isn't...

It's amazing how a sudden change in behaviour can quickly turn ugly....

 

[lion king]

Thank you for sharing, nasarrius snails can be a bother I pulled mine because they would steal all the food from corals I would hand feed. But there is another problem; a beast called a whelk is also sold as a nasarrius snail, the activity you are describing sounds more like a whelk than a nasarrius. Check out this link and tell us what you think: http://www.melevsreef.com/node/397

 

[CanadianReefer]

I checked it out - it says that whelks skim across the sand but never bury themselves. These ones are always buried unless I'm feeding the tank. I've also never noticed the tattooed appearance on the snout. I'd say with 99.9% certainty that I have nassarius snails - I think they are simply opportunistic. My goby and his shrimp have been digging tunnels, the clam became a bit exposed and they went for its feet. I looked online and apparently this happens more frequently than you'd think...

As for my clam, though the colour is still bright, it has absolutely no response (won't close if I touch it) so I think it's only a matter of time before it completely dies.

It's been a bad week in reefing around these parts - I've had issues with my new DT, and now this....

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

So sorry to hear. And love clams.

I am a bit confused though. I have a squamousa and nassie snails in the same tank.

The clam was doing ok?

 

[Jlentz]

I'm paranoid about getting more nassarious snails for my sps reef. So far so good on my snails/clam. Sorry to hear about this. I'd guess they are some type of whelk.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Yes, even after I caught them in the act, the flesh of the clam was bright and not slimy. It was opening daily without issue. I've never had any issues with my snails before and they are so beneficial that I'm likely to keep them in. I'll just chalk it up to a lesson learned and protect my clam's feet a little better. I also noticed that my scallop moved about 3 inches to the right and parked himself in a crevis in the rocks. I'm left wondering if the snails tried the same act with him but were unsuccessful?? He's fast when he wants to be!

 

[eatbreakfast]

If all the snails suddenly decided to eat a clam, half would be on one clam, half the other, though I don't think this is the case. Rather, it is much more likely that they sensed/smelled/tasted in the water that the clam was dying, not that the snails initiated the damage.
I've kept nassarius with clams numerous times without issue.

 

[CanadianReefer]

If all the snails suddenly decided to eat a clam, half would be on one clam, half the other, though I don't think this is the case. Rather, it is much more likely that they sensed/smelled/tasted in the water that the clam was dying, not that the snails initiated the damage.
I've kept nassarius with clams numerous times without issue.

It's possible. I contemplated that. The clam hadn't shown any signs of dying but perhaps it was. The shrimp's tunnel digging kept moving it around (albeit slightly), so that could have made it unhappy. My tank is very stable otherwise, and I have all sorts of other sensitive creatures that are doing fine, as is the other clam, so I'm not sure what else would cause it???