Snails eating my beautiful maxima clam!

[Chrisfish]

I can't believe what I walked up to! My beautiful blue maxima clam had been devoured by 3 nasarious snails (sp?) has anyone heard of them doing this??

 

[m0jjen]

If its dead they will eat the corpse, most of the CUC will get a bite of it

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Do you have a picture of the snails? Let's make sure they are regular nassarius first. If they are, there may have been an issue with your clam that they detected.

 

[Chrisfish]

If its dead they will eat the corpse, most of the CUC will get a bite of it

Oh believe me it's a goner:(

 

[Chrisfish]

It's not the best sorry

 

[Chrisfish]

By the time I got there the clam was pretty much gone and was fine before that .:(

 

[kcnick89]

Are you sure they weren't babylon snails? They are known for doing just that. However if they are nassarius, like mentioned above, they can sense that the clam was dying before really looking like it, and may seem like they are eating it alive when in fact it was already on its way out.

 

[kcnick89]

It's not the best sorry

Looks like a Tongan nassarius to me, which picture does it look more like in person?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+1763&pcatid=1763

or

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+3281&pcatid=3281

 

[Chrisfish]

I just did a search on Babylon snails and I'm pretty sure that's not them. When I ordered them it said they were nasarious snails and the clam looked fine, was secure on its rock and open.

 

[Chrisfish]

Looks like a Tongan nassarius to me, which picture does it look more like in person?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+1763&pcatid=1763

or

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=420+1805+3281&pcatid=3281

Definately the tonga , now I'm worried about my other clams.

 

[Chrisfish]

Definately the tonga , now I'm worried about my other clams.

Oh and thanks for your help:)

 

[Chrisfish]

Do you have a picture of the snails? Let's make sure they are regular nassarius first. If they are, there may have been an issue with your clam that they detected.

Any thoughts?

 

[kcnick89]

No problem. I wouldn't worry too much, it is very likely that there was something wrong with the clam, even if it looked fine. IME anytime a clam starts to go downhill, its over before you realize it started.

 

[Chrisfish]

Ok , well I will be keeping an eye on my other clams just in case and thanks again.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

There are snails that a predatory on clams that are commonly sold under the name "nassarius". Babylonia sp, for one, are called "Fancy Nassarius", "Leopard Nassarius" and "Tiger Nassarius", when they're not nassarius at all.

 

[Chrisfish]

There are snails that a predatory on clams that are commonly sold under the name "nassarius". Babylonia sp, for one, are called "Fancy Nassarius", "Leopard Nassarius" and "Tiger Nassarius", when they're not nassarius at all.

Should I remove them?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

A picture would be great.

 

[Chrisfish]

This is what I ordered, right now they are all in the sand bed.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

If they look like that, the issue was with your clam.

 

[Chrisfish]

If they look like that, the issue was with your clam.

Ok thanks, I'm really sad as I didn't notice anything wrong with it. :(