pyramid snails

[Lunchbucket]

how would i DIRECTLY idendify these. i don't have a clam yet...on sat it will be here. i have seen some pics of them. i have some SMALL cone shaped (long way cone) snails in my tank now...i think they are baby ceriths as i had a cerith lay eggs in my 5.5gal before i added it to the 20H and i was wondering can/do the pyramid snails live in a tank even if there isn't a clam in it? i was wondering.....cause i don't want to add a new clam if i have them.

usually see about 10-20 of them after the lights go out on the glass. never during the day.

thanks
Lunchbucket

 

[holeinone1972]

If you see them on the glass, I do not think you have anything to worry about. If you see them attached to other snails then you may have a problem.

Rob

 

[miniv]

Somebody knowledgeable -

Please post a picture of a pyramidal snail

 

[holeinone1972]

Look HERE!!!!!!!

 

[Lunchbucket]

holeinone1972 - i hope not. i see them ONLY on the glass and i think they are baby ceriths. i will grab one if i can and get a pic

thanks everyone...i am very excited for my 1st clam!

Lunchbucket

 

[mantisshrimp]

Congratulations Lunch Bucket!What kind, how big?Please post pics.

 

[Lunchbucket]

check out my thread

 

[nvillacci]

EVIL EVIL!!!!

EVIL EVIL!!!!

Look HERE!!!!!!!

THE DEVIL I TELL YOU

Id cry if i ever saw any of those in my tank...

I have 2 4" maximas and 2 baby croecias

Course the Filimentous Wrasse may keep them down.

 

[zenya]

Lunch,

This is the little blood suckers that I have to remove weekly from my gigas and no, the wrasses did not help me.Manual removal still works the best IMO. Like Rob said, this bastards don't go on glass since they don't eat algae....clams blood is what they after

 

[StirCrazy]

If you see them attached to other snails then you may have a problem.

Rob

Not nessasarly, I have them attached to my Astrea snails like crazy but not one on my Clam. I sent a sample of them to Dr Ron when he was doing his study on them and he confermed that they are usaly species selective in there food so it they are on one type of critter there is a good chance they will not affect another.. I decided to test his theory out and it held true in my case.. all over my astreas but not one on my clam.

Steve

 

[Lunchbucket]

mine aren't really spiraled like that they are more smooth and i see thier tiny mouths cleaning up algae on teh glass...i will make sure to check my clam often though.

Lunchbucket

 

[miniv]

I brought my little snails to a LFS and thankfully they were identifed as snails other than the pyrams.

I have had baby trochus snails show up in the tank - these are probably the younger versions. They are eating algae down in the sump - they must be eating algae off the clam shells.

Quarantine, Quarantine, Quarantine.

 

[manderx]

i have some snails in my sandbed that look just like pyramid snails. they only come out at night, and there are literally thousands of them (sometimes it looks like more snail than sand in places). they show up real nice against my black sand. i've never seen them on the glass or on a clam (i have 4). i freaked when i first saw them (a cluster or 10 or so on some food that hit the sandbed) and siphoned them out, but later on i saw dozens and dozens, and figured that if they were the bad ones my clams would already be dead. my sixline ignores them, though i have seen him take out some of the bad-guy pyramid snails in the past.


i just took a pic. that's a penny along the top for size reference.
looking at the other pic in this thread, mine seem a bit stubbier. and the others look like they have a little bit of a lip around the opening while mine don't have anything on the edge of the shell.

 

[Lunchbucket]

well checked the tank tonight w/ my new clam (see other thread) and there were tiny snails sort of like this out and about and some ON my clam. they were all in the middle part of the shell and i BELIEVE they were cleaning the algae off of it. there were LOTS of other ones just like this on the glass and other places...didn't really seem to be interested in the clam.

i think they are baby ceriths or some other kind i had in the tank...because i do remember them laying eggs and these guys ONLY seem to be after algae.

Lunchbucket

 

[nvillacci]

Yeah, i turned the actinics on one night an saw those all over my liverok. They DO look like pyramids but not a one where on my Clams..

I have Ceriths in my tank, so that the only thing i an think of....

But i thought Ceriths couldnt survive in our tanks after hatching?

 

[BigDaddy]

My understanding is they are selective of their food, ones that attack snails only attack snail and ones that attack clams only eat clams. So, if your tank is clamless you should be safe. I would inspect your clam thoroughly when it comes in, and any new additions.

 

[gooch]

Hey Lunch,

If they are anywhere near any fleshy part of that clam get them off of it. Even if you think they are not pyramid snails do you want to take a chance. I got the predatory snails on my very first clam order last December. They pretty much wiped out my population before I realized I had them. Now I flip my clams over every other day just to be sure. I havn't had them since my first batch and I inspect them very closely now.

I have found a soft bristle(toothbrush) removes them real well. I also picked the ones off the fleshy parts with a tweezers.

Your bad boy does look like it's gaping.

good luck,

gooch

 

[Lunchbucket]

yeah if i seem then near the mantle they are gone. these are all on the shell...looke like cleaning along happily

as far as the gaping goes it looks WAY better today for as far as the gap on my clam goes - LOL

Lunchbucket