I have bugs???? Identification please

[Charliegirl2u]

I have seen this little bugger twice now, have no clue what it is but it looks like a slug or a snail without a shell, two little antenna like the snails but crawls faster, I took this picture but it doesn't show it too well, I reached in and tried to pick it off and that little bugger just sucked itself to the plug it was on and I got half of him, I have never seen my cleaner shrimp move faster and that little angel came over and started going to down on what remained of this bug, it was a feast and pretty cool to watch ..... please help if you know what this is, I saw a picture of a bristle worm at the lfs and it didn't look like this.

 

[Charliegirl2u]

sorry the picture turned out huge again, it is to the right of the red mushroom plug with a gray top and brownish button, oval shaped, wish I could circle it sorry

 

[StanD]

Charliegirl:

The photo does not help much. From your description it sounds like it could be a stomatellid snail, also known as paper shell snails. They can multiply quickly so you may see more, but they are generally considered harmless herbivores that come out a lot more at night. If you have more, bring to a club meeting and pass 'em around. Hope this is helpful.

S

 

[Charliegirl2u]

pass around the bugs or the pictures? ha

 

[DiscoReefRover]

those are good snails

 

[Charliegirl2u]

oh well guess it's shrimp food now

 

[Dtip]

If I understand you right, you're saying that you got half of him, meaning that part broke off? If so, that makes it even more likely to be a stoma snail: breaking off their back end is a defense mechanism: the "tail" wiggles and attracts predators while the rest of the snail tries to make a quick getaway.

These are generally good guys to have: because they are so small, they can clean some places other snails can't fit. They are also one of the only snails that can successful reproduce fairly easily in a normal tank (though this can lead to having too many). If you had one, chances are there are more (they start pretty darn tiny).

I actually was looking to get some a while back from some other generous club members who offered, but decided to hold off until my system became more mature. I'm going to have to track down who it was that had extras they were interested in giving away now that I'm farther on.

 

[DiscoReefRover]

I could scape a few up for ya dtip your in my neck of the woods there just so hard to find when you want to...

 

[Charliegirl2u]

Thanks but that thing gave me the creeps and I had to put on a rubber glove to grap that puppy off that rock and I screamed like a girl and got the willies I'd rather not have them in my tank even if they are good. I stick my hand in there all day long and touch things I'd rather not touch one of them if at all possible.

 

[crazyseany]

Stop being a girl! lol Justkidding

 

[Charliegirl2u]

this is a new tank, it must have come from one of the live rocks that I bought, and maybe more of them too since I have seen it twice now