Snail Surprise

M

mattyg18

New member
So about 6 weeks ago I thought it was neat that I had baby snails in my tank. After posting some pics online you guys told me that they were Sundails. Not good. So i've been plucking them out as I see them and now down to maybe one or two a week. The ones i'm finding in my DT are all very small. I found two in my sump this morning that where a little bigger and was able to get one of them. The other I can't find now but I will. Another thing thats been going on is i'm noticing a dead snail every couple of weeks. I loaded up pretty good with my CUC when I got set up so i'm thinking there just isn't enough food for these guys now. My parameters are good as follows:

Salinity 1.026
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Alk 8.9
Ca 480
Mg 1500

There was a dead one about two weeks ago which I just left for the rest of the crew to clean up. Today I noticed another dead one however after a closer look it was a sundial and he was about the size of a quarter. So either this guy grew really fast (which I doubt) or I purchased him as part of my CUC which would explain why they are in my tank now. Needless to say I was shocked that he was so big, and I didn't notice him until today when he was dead.

I'm happy he's gone now and plan on just keep removing them as I see them. Here are some pics of the two dead ones I removed today. Not sure what kind the purple one is but the remaining snails look like that one.

Just wanted to share that with you guys, and if anyone has any suggestions i'm all ears.
 

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The one with the banded pattern looks like a Trochus snail IMO. (good) I'm not really sure about the dark one though. It's definitely not a bad guy though.
 
Well i'm glad to hear that neither are sundials then. Now i'm just a bit concerned as to why these guys are dying? My parameters are good and every so often i'm noticing a dead one. Is that ok? Or should I be concerned.
 
I've noticed that elevated mag levels cause issues with snails, especially if there was a rapid increase, either from a water change or dosing.
Yes, those are trochus snails you have. I've been finding a lot of little ones in my tank recently (after a breeding cycle over the summer). I thought I lost most to my Tanaka, but have been finding more and more every day. One of the best snails for CUC.
 
Now i'm totally confused. I found a bunch of baby ones also, posted them here, and everyone was in agreement that they were sundials. So i've been removing them as I see them. I'm pretty sure they look just like the spotted one in the photo i've attached.

The Mg has been pretty high for a while so not sure if thats the issue. I'm beginning to think its the hermit crabs that are going to town on the snails as a few people have suggested. Makes sense.
 
mattyg18 said:
Now i'm totally confused. I found a bunch of baby ones also, posted them here, and everyone was in agreement that they were sundials. So i've been removing them as I see them. I'm pretty sure they look just like the spotted one in the photo i've attached.
Click to expand...

Collonista snails are known to hitchhike there way into our tanks sometimes. These stay relatively small, have a mottled pattern much like a Sundial snail but they're harmless grazers. They reproduce quite rapidly too if conditions are right. You might want to compare what you have to some pictures online just to make sure.
 
mattyg18 said:
Now i'm totally confused. I found a bunch of baby ones also, posted them here, and everyone was in agreement that they were sundials. So i've been removing them as I see them. I'm pretty sure they look just like the spotted one in the photo i've attached.

The Mg has been pretty high for a while so not sure if thats the issue. I'm beginning to think its the hermit crabs that are going to town on the snails as a few people have suggested. Makes sense.
Click to expand...

Can you link us to the other thread? :)
 
There are several different species of trochus snails in the hobby. Also, sundials usually don't have a smooth taper to the shell body like trochus or astraea's do, their shell is segmented more overall.
The snails in your other thread look like trochus to me. Also, If you're just finding the babies and smaller one now, your probably rewarded with the results of their summer spawning. There's a LFS that has a bunch of small ones now, just like mine. I'll try to post a picture of the ones I have.
 
After looking at those pics i'm beginning to think they were all trochus snails now. And I must have removed about a dozen or so babies already. I dont recall seeing any type of spike on them like in the photos. The next time I pull one out i'm going to take a long close look at it.

minus9 - if you could post those pics when you have a chance i'm curious
 
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