Ilyanassa obsoleta Snails WARNING!!!

[Whitebird1]

After over a year of having major problems with a rash, diagnosed as contact dermatitis we finally came up with the source. This rash would happen when ever contact with reef tank water was made, and grew progressively worse with each exposure. Multiple Doctors, a Dermatologist and at last outbreak, a visit to the emergency room. This was misdiagnosed each time and a course of steroids was the normal treatment.

Ilyanassa obsolieta Snails, AKA Mud Dog Snails, harbor a parasite, a type of Fluke that when released into the Reef Tank environment cause swimmer's itch, also known as "cercarial dermatitis," is a rash caused by the swimming larvae of certain types of flatworms, called schistosomes, burrowing into a person's skin. The larvae are actually looking for birds, and end up in humans by mistake.

The snails are easily collected in shallow waters of our bays and are present on both coasts. Throw a bunch in the tank as part of the clean up crew, now the parasites larva are concentrated in the tank, swimmers itch is a nuisance but in this circumstance, very BAD.

Removal of all of the Snails are recommended.
Links to further reading.
Following pics are a graphic but should show how bad this can be.
http://www.exoticsguide.org/species_pages/i_obsoleta.html
http://www.exoticsguide.org/swimmersitch.html

 

[redfishblewfish]

Greg, glad to see that they finally figured out what was wrong. I had heard rumblings that you were considering getting out of reefing, believing it was the corals causing your problem. So I guess no more snails for you. I also don’t believe it is restricted to this one type you mentioned. I believe the parasites can infect other varieties as well in there lifecycle of snail to bird to snail. The parasite coming from the snail actually can not live in humans and dies….and that is what causes the itching in most, and with some the dermatitis…and in your case, very severe allergic response. Again, glad to see they finally figured it out.

 

[psteeleb]

wow - thanks for posting this warning

 

[Whitebird1]

Thanks, guess im still in the hobby. I believe that with a bird as part of the life-cycle that other snails in the tank will not be infected, correct me if you find out differently. After removal of all the infected snails the larva only survives for 12 hours.
I waited over two weeks to post to make sure this was the problem and that it did not happen again. Im healing nice now with some scarring.
As a note, the fellow reefer that recognized the symptoms also had it to a lesser degree and one that we are in contact with has it so bad he may have a skin graph on his hand.

 

[mutateddogbone]

woa totally crazy, you can see where they burrowed into your skin

 

[RiddlerJoe]

Wow thats a bad rash. Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to never purchase those!

Riddler

 

[widmer]

Well I guess the hermits win this round of which one is better...

Thanks for sharing, that sounds like a really rough coincidence. Did they end up giving you any sort of antibiotics? Metronidazole, stibogluconate, mebendazole, etc? How did you end up determining exactly what it was?

 

[Whitebird1]

I found out what it was when a fellow reefer stopped by and said ' Thats a really bad case of swimmers itch" at that point we pulled 200+ Snails from my 6 tanks and flushed them.
Treatments that failed
2 types of steroid creams
Antibiotics, 3 types
Steroid treatments of 10 days three separate times
anti inflammatory shots
Anti Bacterial pills
Skin biopsy on my hand ( Hurt like H#ll)
Psoriasin Gel
Doctors did not have a clue!

 

[The_Codfather]

I found out what it was when a fellow reefer stopped by and said ' Thats a really bad case of swimmers itch" at that point we pulled 200+ Snails from my 6 tanks and flushed them.
Treatments that failed
2 types of steroid creams
Antibiotics, 3 types
Steroid treatments of 10 days three separate times
anti inflammatory shots
Anti Bacterial pills
Skin biopsy on my hand ( Hurt like H#ll)
Psoriasin Gel
Doctors did not have a clue!

:thumbsup:

 

[The_Codfather]

Well I guess the hermits win this round of which one is better...

Thanks for sharing, that sounds like a really rough coincidence. Did they end up giving you any sort of antibiotics? Metronidazole, stibogluconate, mebendazole, etc? How did you end up determining exactly what it was?

Saw the rash. Asked him when he added the new batch of 200 snails asked when the rash started getting worse and put 2 and 2 together

 

[henrystyle]

Damm

 

[Tanks and Stuff]

Saw the rash. Asked him when he added the new batch of 200 snails asked when the rash started getting worse and put 2 and 2 together

Sid the Savior! Good thing you figured this out. Hope that rash is gone soon Whitebird.

 

[greenbean36191]

You can read a bit more about swimmer's itch from Ilyanassa here too: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php

They aren't the only hosts to the trematodes that can cause swimmer's itch, but they host more species than most of the other snails we keep and a very high percentage of most populations is infected, which is why they're of particular concern.

 

[tkeracer619]

You can thank ebay and some guy in NC for selling those. I tried to get some from him this summer while I was there but he wouldn't let me pick them up. Only deliver. I only wanted to ask him some questions in person and could care less about the snails.

Recently a few suppliers have started to carry them.

As soon as I see them pop up on a site I will no longer purchase from said site.

 

[Hocky]

hrm... I've been having some major issues with dryness of my hands and what not for the last 6-8 months or so. I wonder if I have a similar issue.

 

[tkeracer619]

That is not caused by dryness. It is caused by mites burrowing into his skin and then dying there.

Some people have an allergic reaction to artificial salt water.

 

[Knox_Legend]

I have gotten swimmers itch from swimming in freshwater lakes before and it iches like crazy. It never looked like the original posters though.

 

[chimmike]

the steroid creams and stuff probably wouldn't work if you continued to handle the tank water. Honestly, I've used those snails and whatever I've harvested locally without issues myself.

 

[JeF4y]

And gloves were never a consideration?

("Doc, it keeps hurting when I hit my thumb with this hammer!")

 

[tkeracer619]

Why would you hit your finger through gloves with a hammer when you can just hit the nail on its head?