Hmm - was preoccupied with the intestines question I neglected the second part of your question.
If I may, I will break it down into two components:
1) What else helps aerate the sandbed
and
2) Does your existing crew help or not?
1 - I'm not familiar with cat eye snails, but two types of snails that are used to help aerate the sand bed are nassarius and cerith. Both burrow into the sand when not out and about. Ceriths will eat algae while nassarius like meaty leftovers (so don't get them if you expect algae duty). In addition these snails are commonly mistaken with another similar invert that is - Illynassa obsoleta. Check out this article by Dr. Ron on Nassarius Snails:
snails
Alternatively one could look into investigating whether a fighting conch might help your sand bed. Incredibly interesting invert if you ask me. However - I believe conchs can outgrow a tank so do some investigating before buying.
So three possible inverts to consider - cerith snails, nassarius snails or a fighting conch.
2 - The sandsifting star is one that Dr. Ron feels is detrimental if trying to maintain a deep sand bed. So fyi. If however your bed is for aesthetics then no worries. The star sifts thru the bed looking for critters to eat - the very critters that likely help keep your sandbed clean.
Finally one last option that occurred to me just now is introducing more bristleworms - which nasty as they may appear do help with detris eating.
Good luck!
