Looking for ID of two hitchhiking snails from FL

[Elysia]

I am hopeful that someone here can help me ID two different snails that came to me several months ago on a shipment of macros and gorgonians from Florida.

I do have photographs of them, the main problem being that, when I go to the PhotoGallery to upload them, despite being logged in the form is filled in as "Unregistered" as the user name, and as such won't allow me to upload my images. I can even go into my gallery and see a photo I uploaded in Nov., but for whatever reason I am having difficulty now.

Should I ever get the photos uploaded, I will say that the snail with the black shell appears to be a herbivore and reef safe, while I am questioning the appropriateness of the white shelled ones. There is only a single black shelled one, but I discovered two of the white shelled ones, and now I see baby ones moving about the tank. They can move quite quickly. None of my tanks are overly populated with snails, but the tank that they are in now seems devoid of snail life (may be a coinsidence, but I haven't seen the 2 or 3 ceriths or 3-4 nass for some time now.) I also have noticed one near one of my seaslugs and on a piece of mysis shrimp.

Hopefully I will be able to post their photos after I post this thread. Thanks.

 

[Elysia]

Have Photos!

Have Photos!

Sorry about that. Might have been my DSL that was causing problems with my uploading of images, but I have them uploaded now.

So here are the images of the two types of snails that hitchhiked into my tanks on a shipment of Florida macros and gorgonians. I believe the black shelled snail is a herbivore, while I am a bit more skeptible of the whiteish ones.

I am interested in anyone's ideas about what these snails might be. I am out of ideas. Thanks in advance.

 

[Elysia]

Excellent, that worked! Okay, here are images of the other type of snail.

Again, an idea of what this snail is, I'd like to know -- especially since this one (actually, I have two of them) are reproducing in my one system. :eek1:

 

[pagojoe]

Hi Elysia,

I can't tell for sure what the first snail is, but it may be either a columbellid or buccinid, and could even be a miter. The most difficult view for trying to ID a snail is looking at the bottom of the foot, and the second most difficult is looking straight up his nose

The white one is a marginellid, Prunum apicinum. It may scavenge as well as kill and eat other tiny animals in your tank.

http://www.gastropods.com/7/Shell_1957.html

Cheers,



Don

 

[pagojoe]

I looked through the columbellids a bit but couldn't find a spotted one from Florida. Most of the spotted ones are from the west coast of Central America up to Baja California, but I did find one that looks a lot like yours that is from the western Pacific.

http://www.gastropods.com/9/Shell_199.html

(See the pics toward the bottom of the page.)

If it's definitely from Florida, it's likely in a different family. I'll look some more when I get home from work.

Cheers,



Don

 

[pagojoe]

Here's your most likely candidate from Florida (for the spotted shell):

http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_1916.html

I found a pic of Nitidella nitida that is very similar to yours in one of my printed references, though the ones on the web don't look like perfect matches. If your snail is this species, it is probably safe for your tank. Most of the snails in this family are herbivorous, but some are omnivorous.

Cheers,



Don

 

[Elysia]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13214140#post13214140 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pagojoe
Hi Elysia,

I can't tell for sure what the first snail is, but it may be either a columbellid or buccinid, and could even be a miter. The most difficult view for trying to ID a snail is looking at the bottom of the foot, and the second most difficult is looking straight up his nose

The white one is a marginellid, Prunum apicinum. It may scavenge as well as kill and eat other tiny animals in your tank.

http://www.gastropods.com/7/Shell_1957.html

Cheers,



Don

Thank you so much Don for your work on this. I'm so excited to have more information on these hitchhikers. Sorry I couldn't post earlier -- again, not sure if it is a problem with the DSL, but I'll log in, be welcomed, and then "disappear."

I'll try to get another photo of the black one -- right now he is somewhere in the tank, enjoying the hair algae. I'll try not to take another "up the nose" shot! I was pretty excited to get that one -- it was months after I first saw him, but it took awhile for him to grow big enough to be able to capture him on film. I am fairly certain that he was imported on Florida macro, as the snail showed up following the shipment and it was perhaps 2 or 3 mm long when I first saw it. I did not, however, see it on the macros before putting it in the tank.

As for the others, they apparently are becoming a bit more predatory; after I was able to upload the images I came across one of the larger ones munching on a large Stomatella's detatched foot. Hopefully the Stomatella was able to escape. I've pulled those snails (am still trying to catch all the little ones) and am trying to decide what I am going to do with them.

Thanks again for your help!