Acro Eating Snails?

[skyrne_isk]

I definitely saw these snails clustered on a now dead stalk (fleshless, white anyway) of an otherwise healthy A. sarmentosa colony. The snails are pictured here:

The part of the acro they were on now has no skin left, but polyps are still present both above and below the part of the acro the snails were on. Pictured here, middle of frame:

Damage is circled:

I do not know if the snails were causing the damage or were merely feeding on it - but this is an
otherwise healthy pest-free tank with no signs of other SPS predators.

Thoughts?

 

[trueblackpercula]

wow never seen that before..something else to worry about.

 

[Dmorty217]

They almost look like naussarius snails, but if they were on the Acro and then it was bleached they are bad news. Dip the colony

 

[oscar.millan]

They could be eating the algae that grows on dead tissue. Either way, I wouldn't risk it. Out they go.

One of my newb buddies told me that wrasses weren't any good because they ate SPS corals. I came over his house and found a super bad infestations of red bugs and AEFW, looks like the wrasses were doing him a favor and he was blaming them for the damage.

 

[mark54321]

I had the same experience with those snails. I found few in my tank eating my acropora colonies. I guess they were hitchhiker on LR. They came out when the lights were off. Got rid of all of them I could find, no more problems with my acros.

 

[fishresponse]

I think I might be having the same problem tho the snails I found in my tank looked more like a baby Astraea snail.

 

[Big E]

I had one years ago and they are unmistakeable in how they eat leaving actual tracks.

I remember the shell being very pointy and it was small less than a 1/4"......no pattern on the shell.

I think I might be having the same problem tho the snails I found in my tank looked more like a baby Astraea snail.

Baby astreas will have a pattern on the shell even when they are very tiny........less than 1/16". You should be able to tell with a magnifying glass that has a loop.

 

[ryanrid]

We have these in aus they eat acro when I mentioned this on rc before I was laughed at...

 

[skyrne_isk]

We have these in aus they eat acro when I mentioned this on rc before I was laughed at...

And to be honest, when I posted this thread I fully expected some responses to be along the lines of "no way." To be clear, I had to pry these off the dead part of the coral (think turbos on glass) - they were all clustered tightly on the part of the coral that was dead. I was stunned as I had never seen snails eat any SPS.

This was a wild-grown piece that was dipped with TMPCC and then with Interceptor. Not sure how to best get rid of them, but they were pretty large and easy to spot. What got my attention is this piece is growing with great P/E, but had a few dead spots on "weird" locations. Those of you who bring in wild corals know what I mean - stressed corals RTN/STN in a pretty similar pattern - whether from the base up or from burnt tips that spreads down toward the base. But to have a dead spot in the middle? With alive tissue above and below? Has to be a predator.

Anyone know how these reproduce? Egg clusters on the glass and rocks?

 

[skyrne_isk]

I had the same experience with those snails. I found few in my tank eating my acropora colonies. I guess they were hitchhiker on LR. They came out when the lights were off. Got rid of all of them I could find, no more problems with my acros.

I found these around 6PM....about three hours before lights off. Are they mostly nocturnal?

 

[skyrne_isk]

They could be eating the algae that grows on dead tissue. Either way, I wouldn't risk it. Out they go.

One of my newb buddies told me that wrasses weren't any good because they ate SPS corals. I came over his house and found a super bad infestations of red bugs and AEFW, looks like the wrasses were doing him a favor and he was blaming them for the damage.

Agreed - out they go.

The only issue about the algae hypothesis is the tissue was alive on that stalk the day before, so there couldn't be algae. I have been watching this piece closely as it has acclimated for signs of recession - especially in low-light areas.

Any thoughts on whether I frag a colony and toss it in with them? I have a couple big pieces that make this an option. The snails are now in a mesh bag in the grow-out system, so we have options.

 

[Acronic]

Yes, those are small snails that do feed on sps. I dont typically see them much larger than that size. To my knowledge they lay eggs on the coral aswell. Generally people do laugh in disbelief

I would love to see you test them with a frag. Take pics!

 

[femunu]

Acro eating snail is for real. I learnt it hard way. Does anyone know a fish that eats these snails?

 

[downset21]

What are they called? I just pulled one off of my acro.

 

[Sk8r]

Yep/---got my own post about this. They look like little strombus grazers (good snails) but aren't. I think there is a tiny, tiny difference in the shell opening.

 

[Scorpius]

I bet bayer would kill em dead.

 

[downset21]

I didn't have tweezers so I used a turkey baster to try to get it off. He went flying into the live rock so now I'm waiting for him to come back. Lucky bastard. He also left a small area bleached.


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[Sk8r]

I've observed the latest I've pulled: they have a different shell opening than the strombus grazer good guys: the shell opening on these is thin and bells out a bit, as the regular grazer's opening is narrow. And the body of the shell is fatter, notably fat.