Reef Aquarium Facts #337 Don't put a murex snail in your tank unless you'd like to decrease your sna

[revhtree Verified Admin]

We are going to continue discussing the reef aquarium facts submitted by our members. Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts?

Fact #337

Don't put a murex snail in your tank unless you'd like to decrease your snail and coral population! We bought one because of the cool shell but it was assassinating our other snails by drilling a hole in their shells and eating the yummy contents.

Truth or False? What else might we need to learn on this subject? Please also share any pictures that may pertain to the subject.

 

[Connie]

That is very true. They will clean your tank out in a matter of days.

 

[Raptor72]

I bought the empty shells for my hermits to move into. It's neat to watch them maneuver around the tank with this speared shell.

 

[Mrfresh]

That's crazy and good to know

I don't think I have ever seen those for sale

 

[tapeworm123]

I’m looking for these to clean out vermited snails. Any help finding them ?

 

[Troylee]

I’m looking for these to clean out vermited snails. Any help finding them ?

Holy thread resurrection Batman! This is 10 years old haha! To answer your question I don’t think these would help.. manual removal and bumble bee snails are hit or miss in that battle.

 

[ScubaFish802]

We are going to continue discussing the reef aquarium facts submitted by our members. Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts?

Fact #337

Don't put a murex snail in your tank unless you'd like to decrease your snail and coral population! We bought one because of the cool shell but it was assassinating our other snails by drilling a hole in their shells and eating the yummy contents.

Truth or False? What else might we need to learn on this subject? Please also share any pictures that may pertain to the subject.

I found one similar to this on live rock and a member (I think ISpeakfortheSeas) pointed out the same thing. Still roaming my sump last I checked - there are quite a few small black snails that make their way down there from the DT I have seen it climb on them and I assume the rest is history.

 

[tapeworm123]

Holy thread resurrection Batman! This is 10 years old haha! To answer your question I don’t think these would help.. manual removal and bumble bee snails are hit or miss in that battle.

Tryed it didn’t work I have over a thousand. Bumble bee don’t work and removal is impossible.

 

[Nano_Man]

This is good info Thanks

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I found one similar to this on live rock and a member (I think ISpeakfortheSeas) pointed out the same thing. Still roaming my sump last I checked - there are quite a few small black snails that make their way down there from the DT I have seen it climb on them and I assume the rest is history.

Yeah, that was me.

I’m looking for these to clean out vermited snails. Any help finding them ?

I only know two species of Muricid snails that for sure eat Vermetid snails (see the quote below), and I don't know that you could source them. If you're willing to experiment with other species, though, then you can find some to try in the links at the bottom of this post.

The only things that I've read about which confirmedly prey on Vermetid snails are Carpilius convexus (a crab), Mancinella armigera (a muricid - A.K.A. murex snail), and Menathais tuberosa (another muricid snail). For hopefully obvious reasons, none of these are fully reef safe, as there's a very good chance they'll eat CUC and any bivalves you may have (and with the crab, pretty much any other invert they can reach may be in danger as well). It's presumed in the report I've read that other Carpilius spp. will eat them as well, and there are likely a number of other muricid snails that would eat them too. I have no idea if these would be coral safe or not though.

So, while they're not common in the hobby, you might be able to get some Carpilius crabs, or you could try getting some predatory snails and see if those help. Some of the smaller predatory snails may be able to reach places where fish would struggle to, but there's no guarantees. I've heard some people have luck with bumblebee snails, some with emerald crabs, and some with wrasse or butterflyfish (possibly pufferfish too) - those might work, but from what I've heard it's very hit and miss - as you've seen (it may depend on the species of vermetid). To my knowledge, though, none of the likely to succeed possible predators are totally reef safe. Either way, biological controls may help to limit the population, but I wouldn't expect a complete eradication.

(Just as a note for the links, a number of different snails - not just Murex/Muricid snails - eat other snails, so some of the other predatory snails found in the links below may be worth a shot too.)
https://www.saltybottomreefcompany.com/snailshttps://www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com/saltwater-snails/https://gulfspecimen.org/specimen/mollusca/snails-welks-conchs/