Pyramid snails?

[CrystalAZ]

I have a maxima clam that is not opening fully. He is open today, so I shined a light into him and think I see a pyramid snail INSIDE his shell. However, I see none on the outside.

Do these snails congregate on the outside of the shell, or is it common that they are inside the clam?

And if so... how the heck do you get them out??

Thanks,

Crystal

 

[Reefcherie]

Hello CrystalAZ,

Inside the shell isn't the most common place to find these parasitic snails, but you could be seeing one. It will look like a tiny (just a couple of mm) white, pointed piece of rice. If one is inside the shell, you probably can't remove it w/o risking injury to the clam. Generally the pyramidelline snails are found best at night on the outer fringe of the shell, hiding under the overhanging mantle. They feed at night on the clam's lymphatic fluid. It is best not to just search in those spots, but also look at the rest of the shell, under the clam and in the substrate. Really healthy clams seem to be able to withstand the attack of just a few of these guys, but when they are present in quantity, that is when the trouble starts.

Cheri

 

[EvilMel]

Do these kill the clam slowly or is it an all of a sudden sort of thing?

I guess it's probably a slow kind of death, but I saw years ago, one of these in my tank. Then a few months ago I finally was willing to get a clam (given to me by a friend) and it thrived for months, even putting on two sets of plates in about 3 months. Then it just started to not open up and within a week or two was dead. Is there any possible way that this was a pyramid / rice snail?

Sorry: not trying to hijack.

 

[Reefcherie]

I think it would have to be a fairly slow death unless you had a very large parasitic snail population and/or a very small clam. Hopefully you'd notice many of these snails if you were inspecting your clam and the surrounding substrate.

These parasitic snails must have a host to feed off of to survive. I have seen them on large turbo snails (one way they get introduced into our tanks), but mostly on tridacnid clams. If you saw a parasitic snail "some years ago" in your tank and haven't had any clams in there all that time, it is unlikely the parasitic snails would have survived all that time with no host.

Unless you saw those snails at night on your clam, I think there may have been another explanation for why your clam died. We might be able to help you solve that mystery (in another thread).

Cheri