Blasted Pyramid Snails!!

ange062

ange062

New member
I happened to notice some small white things on the bottom of my crocea tonight. The clam likes to lay horizontal and I saw them on the bottom side "in the dark" but while the lights were on.

No clue where they came from, all of my clams have been in the tank for months. I pulled them all out and brushed them off, but didn't see any on the derasa or the maxima.

Guess I am going to be stuck cleaning the crocea for the next month in hope of eliminating them. The clam showed no adverse signs, mantle extension is still great, color is great, and light response is normal.

Wish me luck!

Here is what they look like, in case anybody was wondering:
DSC_0615.jpg


DSC_0616.jpg
 
keep at it, maybe isolate the infected clams in a tupperware. i'm in week 5 of no snails after about 50 on my derasa and 4 others, so i have 5 clams in tupperware. oh , def'ly pyrams!
 
MILPIL said:
That's why we used to keep Wardley's Wrasse in the clam tanks. They will feed on these snails. JN
Click to expand...

The melanurus wrasse is beautiful IMO and would be a great way to control the pyrams. Unfortunately, it's not suited for my tank as it's only 28g, the sandbed isn't deep enough, it's lidless, and I have several ornamental shrimp. :(

moliken said:
keep at it, maybe isolate the infected clams in a tupperware. i'm in week 5 of no snails after about 50 on my derasa and 4 others, so i have 5 clams in tupperware. oh , def'ly pyrams!
Click to expand...

I spot checked this morning with a flashlight while the lights were off and didn't see any repeat offenders anywhere. I also didn't see any egg sacks when I was brushing, picking, and scraping snails off the clam last night. I'll continue the scrub down every other night for a couple of weeks and see what happens. That crocea was REALLY not happy with me after the cleaning, took it a good two hours to open back up and show some mantle extension. And to make matters worse, the rock it's attached to also has a decent sized millepora colony growing on it, so both the clam and acro have to go through the ordeal.

Unfortunately, I don't have a QT and the space is so limited in my 28g that I don't have enough room for an isolation tupperware, so I am stuck doing this the hard way. :(

Thanks for the positive ID, I was about 99% sure but wanted to confirm. Figured the pics might help others ID if they suspect a problem also.
 
pyrams have ridges on the shell, like yours do, rissoids, their harmless look alike, have more like rice chex.
 
I'm also going to pitch out the wrasse as a possible snail solution. Mystery wrasse would be a good place to start for a couple reasons. It would be ok in a 28 gallon tank as far as room to swim. I read that they do eat these small snails from a source I don't remember. The Mystery wrasse doesn't need substrate to sleep in. It uses a mucus sack like a sleeping bag to shelter itself during sleep. I had one until a week go. I traded him back for store credit. It was just too aggressive for my tank, always chasing fish and killing a fire shrimp bigger than itself! It was a good predator of all things that live on the surfaces and substrate of my reef tank. They are usually more expensive than my lfs at 60 but each clam is expensive to lose as well. I've read these snails can get inside the clam which will really cause havoc. The pyramid? snails are nocturnal so keeping the lights (with a much lower intensity) on 24/7 will get the snails and wrasse to bump into each other more often. The separation with the containers and manual removal is a good idea but I wonder if it will be enough to stop the snails from overwhelming the clams.

Comments x Questions?
 
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sorry to disagree about using any wrasse w/pyrams, but it is not a way to eradicate snails. maybe control to some degree, but not get rid of. 1 snail can lay eggs that will become more snails. wrasses cannot get rid of the egg masses. this is not my info, it comes from fatherree's book. the only way to eliminate the bstrds is a regimen of scrubbing. the isolating helps this process b/c every scrub also involves dumping substrate, which is where many pyrams live in daylight. also where did you read that pyrams "get into" clams?
 
moliken said:
sorry to disagree about using any wrasse w/pyrams, but it is not a way to eradicate snails. maybe control to some degree, but not get rid of. 1 snail can lay eggs that will become more snails. wrasses cannot get rid of the egg masses. this is not my info, it comes from fatherree's book. the only way to eliminate the bstrds is a regimen of scrubbing. the isolating helps this process b/c every scrub also involves dumping substrate, which is where many pyrams live in daylight. also where did you read that pyrams "get into" clams?
Click to expand...

What are your thoughts on pyrams on liverock? The only clam I have found affected so far is the crocea which is attached up in the liverock far from the sandbed so I am thinking the "substrate removal" isn't applicable.

As I mentioned, even though I didn't see anything on them I cleaned the derasa and maxima also, and scooped out the sandbed below them just to be extra safe.
 
they can exist on lr, as i've also had 2 affected that were attached to a lg rock. but both of them had only 1 snail apiece. nevertheless, i cut them off and hav them in tupperware. my derasa in sandbed had 35, yet the hippo 2 inches away had none. never saw any on the derasa until i picked it up. weird
 
Thanks moliken, I figured it was probably a better situation on the LR then on the sand. I haven't seen them return yet, but will be doing another scrub down tomorrow.
 
moliken said:
make sure to burp clam when returning it to dt to remove any air bubbles!
Click to expand...

Yup, I burped all 3 of them and held them horizontal when out of the water :)

Another flashlight inspection at lights out this morning and I still didn't see any snails return. *crosses fingers*
 
i check mine 2 hrs after l/out and 2-3 before they come on, every day. but i don't take them out and scrub more than once a week, prolly like 10 days. but this is 5 weeks no bstrds, so i'm further along. i had them a long time ago, thought i got ridda them after a month of not seeing them, but i still had them. i did the process right the second time--2-3 months no snails, then i feel safe.i went a loong time free, but accidentally introduced them again through a friend's infected tank.
 
I had a problem with these buggers on my Turbo Snails. I think they are the same right?

They killed a few snails and I had to deal with the arduous task of picking them off every few days at night. Now I think I only have two Turbos left down from ~6-8. Occasionally I find a pyramidal snail so I know they are not completely gone.

I have Astrea Snails and they don't seem to feed on them. Will these snails definitely go for a clam. I was just about to get one but this could hold things up.

I also bought a mystery wrasse to help contain this problem. I saw no evidence that he ever snacked on these pesky snails.
 
I have read there are two different types each of which are specific in what they attack. Meaning one type only eats snails and the other only clams.
 
if they are on turbos, they probably are not the pyrams, but rissoids. are they really small, cause pyrams are about the size of a grain of rice, while the rissoids ive seen on other snails are like a grain of sand. that's not the way to positively id them, but generally each are predators of different things.
 
Great thread. Does anyone know the life cycle of pyramids? How long after they have hatched can they lay eggs
 
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