I have 6 clams. I bought them all from the same place, I was assured that every clam is scrubed down and snail free. So I hadn't been keeping a check on them too much for snails. I also have a six line wrase just in case. Well, the other night I was looking in the tank with a flashlight. I seen 6 of these snails on one of my croceas and 2 on my maxima and 2 on a recently purchased crocea. I have stayed up every night this week watching hoping to get them all out. I have rescrubed the clams just in case there are any eggs. anyway since finding these snails I have only seen one more on my small maxima and I got it also. Is it possible to ever be free of these snails or is it a never ending battle. Also if the six line wrase is supposed to eat these snails I wonder how since they come out at night and at that time the fish all seem to be in hiding. Also can you tell me any signs to look for to let me know that there are still snails around?
paramid snails
- Thread starter RhondaJ
- Start date
Manual removal is your best option IMO. Just do it at night when the snails are active. I used a piece of rigid airline attached to flexible airline to create a syphon, then use a brine shrimp net to catch the snails as the water passes thru the net into a bucket. That way you can re-use the water. Between that and the wrasse, hopefully you can beat this thing. Keep an eye out for egg cases (gelatenous masses) within the scutes of the clam as well. Scrape them off immediately, should you find any.
I've heard of other wrasses (leopard, juvi coris, etc.) eating pyramid snails, but I think it's hit or miss with the six line. Also (if memory serves) the snail eggs hatch in about 2 weeks. The snails can hide in the sandbed or rockwork, coming out at night to feed.
And finally, there is a snail in the cerith family which looks very similar to a pyramid snail. Except it's an algae grazer. I found out about this after I went on a pyramid hunting frenzy and sent Ron Shimek some shells for proper ID. Turns out I mistakenly killed quite a few beneficial snails. So unless you see them actually feeding on the clam (mantle or byssal), give them the benefit of the doubt, or contact Ron about an ID.
HTH
I've heard of other wrasses (leopard, juvi coris, etc.) eating pyramid snails, but I think it's hit or miss with the six line. Also (if memory serves) the snail eggs hatch in about 2 weeks. The snails can hide in the sandbed or rockwork, coming out at night to feed.
And finally, there is a snail in the cerith family which looks very similar to a pyramid snail. Except it's an algae grazer. I found out about this after I went on a pyramid hunting frenzy and sent Ron Shimek some shells for proper ID. Turns out I mistakenly killed quite a few beneficial snails. So unless you see them actually feeding on the clam (mantle or byssal), give them the benefit of the doubt, or contact Ron about an ID.
HTH
Terra Ferma
New member
I have never observed a six-line eating pyramid snails. All it did was eat copepods, and a few clean shrimp that I added! Harbor Aquatics sells the Melanarus Wrasse, which they claim eats these snails. Don't know if they still have them; site has not been updated in a while. In my experience, they take down small clams real fast, so purchasing larger clams might aid in the fight.
How has people's luck been dealing with these snails? People seem to be having a lot of problems with them lately, or perhaps that was always the case.
How has people's luck been dealing with these snails? People seem to be having a lot of problems with them lately, or perhaps that was always the case.
Adam
New member
Hi all,
I also had a bad pyramidellid outbreak. They were on clams and on astreas and turbos (some snails had 20+ pyramidellids on them).
Bob Fenner suggested four line or six line wrasses. He said that juvenile red coris work ok, but get to nasty when they are grown.
Anyway, having heard mixed opinions from others about the effectiveness of six lines, I got lucky and happend apon a four line. In just a few weeks, my tank was free of adult pyramidellids. It has been many weeks since I have spotted a single individual in my tank.
Other than briefly harassing my newly introduced perculas, the four line has been a well behaved pleasant addition to my little community.
Hope this helps, and good luck with your fight.
Adam
I also had a bad pyramidellid outbreak. They were on clams and on astreas and turbos (some snails had 20+ pyramidellids on them).
Bob Fenner suggested four line or six line wrasses. He said that juvenile red coris work ok, but get to nasty when they are grown.
Anyway, having heard mixed opinions from others about the effectiveness of six lines, I got lucky and happend apon a four line. In just a few weeks, my tank was free of adult pyramidellids. It has been many weeks since I have spotted a single individual in my tank.
Other than briefly harassing my newly introduced perculas, the four line has been a well behaved pleasant addition to my little community.
Hope this helps, and good luck with your fight.
Adam
OrionN
Moved on
I second Jim's previous note that there are lots of snails that look just like paramid snails but are just algae grazer. I got 100's of these in my tank. Unless you observer the snail on the clam, you should not remove it. Manual removal was how I got rid of paramid snails from my tank. I siphon them off of larger clams that attached and remove the clam out at night to clean the snails off of them on smaller clams that not attached. I was even able to save some that was almost gone from the snails. I have not have any clam died on my for the last 1.5 years. Right now I got 16 clams in my tank and no paramid seen for the last year.
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