clam growth help

[MBX5]

I got this new clam today and on the side I found this tube thing.

At first I didn't think it was alive but then I saw it come out a bit

It kind of looks like a snail but not sure what it is and if it is bad to leave it on or if I should try to remove it? The clam looks fine and opens great so I don't think it is bothering it.

 

[Stoney Mahony]

I have had these also and they have not had any effect on the clam. They will spread however and after a while can become a nuscience. There hard calcium based shell makes it dificult to remove them. I took a pair if wire cutters/fragging pliers and cut/broke the shells off to destroy them. A few are not bad but they secrete a slime(you can see it in your pic) that flows out in the water column. The slime filters the water and catches particles, then the snail reels in the slime and eats the stuff that got caught. The slime got really ugly in my tank b/c I had so many so I decided to kill em. Forgive me, I forget what the actual name of these critters are but I just read an article about them in reefkeeping mag.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

those are vematid snails- they are no worries- live him be.