Attack of the Mini Snails......Help!!!!!

[Bofa]

Last night I noticed hundreds of small snails everywhere....on my glass...rocks...powerheads....

I think they are eating all my coralline algae...because its all going away.

Are small snails bad? Can Snails have babies? How do I get rid of them?


90 gallon tank.

Cal: 500 Alk: 10 Mag: 1400


Thanks

 

[Bofa]

The snails are very small...the size of half a grain of rice and they are white.

 

[TonyV]

Normal and harmless. Google Collonista snails.

 

[MCSO CST]

I have the same type of snails that i noticed in the past week in my tank. Will follow this tread for answers.

 

[Bofa]

I think they are eating all my coralline algae

 

[S13<3]

yeah its Collonista snails i have more than id like in my 20, they literally cover and walk over anything and everything

 

[username in use]

you should post a photo for a good I.D. trying to id snails based on a description is not a great idea as there are literally thousands of types of snails in the ocean, many of which look nearly identical.

 

[seapug]

if they look like grains of rice with pointed tiny white shels that fits the description of pyram snails. They don't eat coralline or any other type of algae, they eat mollusks like clams and snails. Many types of wrasses love to eat them (6 lines, leopards).

If they look like tiny turbo snails with round shells, they are probably collonista snails. They are harmless film algae eaters, but wrasses with eat them, too.

What you also may be seeing are Asterina starfish. Some people fear them and they will leave marks on coralline algae, but I've never noticed any long term damage to anything from them. They also seem to have a "boom and bust" population cycle.

 

[MCSO CST]

That is what i have in my tank thanks for a clear answer seapug.

 

[disciple]

If they're all over the rocks and glass they are probably not pryam but another look alike type. It may look like they are eating the coraline but may just be skimming off the algea growing on it. I've looked into this since I have hundreds in my tank as well. My 4 to 5 inch maxium is doing fine.

Look up rissoid snails.

 

[greenbean36191]

^agreed. If they're on the rocks and glass rather than gathered around the feet of snails or clams, they're almost definitely rissoids rather than pyrams. Pyrams are obligate parasites so you find them almost exclusively on or near their hosts. Rissoids are microscavengers, so they're not a problem.

Regardless of what kind of snail they may be, they almost definitely have nothing to do with the disappearance of your coralline. There are very few snails that have mouthparts hard enough to eat coralline. The only ones you're likely to encounter in the hobby are some of the keyhole limpets. Your problem is most likely related to your water quality or your lighting.

 

[RiddlerJoe]

I've got these as well and I haven't seen any diverse effect to the tank other than a cleaner look.

Riddler

 

[OwenInAZ]

^agreed. If they're on the rocks and glass rather than gathered around the feet of snails or clams, they're almost definitely rissoids rather than pyrams. Pyrams are obligate parasites so you find them almost exclusively on or near their hosts. Rissoids are microscavengers, so they're not a problem.

Regardless of what kind of snail they may be, they almost definitely have nothing to do with the disappearance of your coralline. There are very few snails that have mouthparts hard enough to eat coralline. The only ones you're likely to encounter in the hobby are some of the keyhole limpets. Your problem is most likely related to your water quality or your lighting.

Here we have it. Correlation does not = causation Check how old your light bulbs are, and your water. You've listed three bits of water chemistry, but what about pH, ammonia, nitrates, etc? These could (in theory anyway) have an impact on coraline algae.

I used to have thousands of those snails come out of the rockwork at night. Little round guys. They served a purpose I'm sure. As the tank matured they went away, though. I sort of miss them.

 

[FranktheTankTx]

God I love it when greenbean36191 makes a post. :inlove: