Are these parasitic snails?

[theop]

I have been seeing these on my astrea snails, with one snail having as many as 9 or 10. I had assumed they were juvenile cerith snails, but then I read something about parasitic pyramid snails which can attack snails or clams.

If so, is there anything to do other than to pick them off?

What do you think? Thanks.

 

[jenghes]

yes, probably pyramidyl (spelling?) snails. I believe that 6-lines may eat them.

 

[racrumrine]

By the position on the shell, this is definitely a species of parasitic pyramidellid snail. If you search on the Ask Dr Ron forum, he also calls them pyrams.

A Six Line Wrasse supposedly favors small snails. Unless you remove all the animals it can feed on for a few months, you probably can't totally get rid of them.

Manual removal can help. If you remove the snail from the tank, you can wipe the edge of the snail's shell with your finger and give it some relief. If you check all of your snails and clean them, you can cut down on the number of parasites.

I have one tank that has them (they hitchhiked on some live sand I got from someone). Before I remove any snail from that tank, I check each one carefully and pick off the parasites with tweezers. So far, they have not spread to any other tank. In that tank, I have a snail occasionally (maybe once every few months or so) die. Thus, while they are parasites, they don't seem to immediately kill their hosts.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[Paintbug]

they look like Pyramid Snails to me as well. heres some info i found. its about half way down the page.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=362

 

[theop]

Thanks for the info.

I actually do have a sixline wrasse, which is maybe why I seem to only have a few of these. Since most are on the underside of the snail, I doubt if the wrasse could get to those.

I'll pick off the ones that I can see on the snails (I only have 6) and keep an eye out for more.

 

[d4a2n0k]

They are Pyramid snails and some Six-Lines do eat them but the snails are nocturnal. My tank has tons of these damn things and my Six-Line doesnt eat them. My Scotts Wrasse does eat them though but only if they are on the glass during the day.

The only way to erradicate them completely is to take the snails out and use a toothbrush to brush them off. Look for egg sacks as well and brush those off.

 

[theop]

Well last night I picked about 30 of these snails off of my 6 astreas. We'll see if they come back at all. At least now I know what they are and what to do about them.