Sundial snails

[Harpo]

I have, or more correctly at this point HAD a nice assortment of zoanthids and palythoa in one of my tanks. I had noticed that they were dropping in numbers but had assumed competition and/or alleopathy since the other inhabitants of the tanks had been growing very rapidly. Today I took a few frags off a branching hammer in the tank. After I finished I found almost a dozen Sundial snails in the water I had been fragging in.

A survey of the tank shows at least a 75% reduction in the zoanthid numbers. I would assume the remainder are toast. My question is if I allow the snails to consume the remainder how long can they survive in a tanks with no zoanthids? Is there anything else they can survive on? How long would you wait before putting more zoanthids in the tank?

Thanks, Mark

 

[LoudProudNPunk]

wow that really sucks, sorry for your loss.

 

[fishnfst]

Tagging along for more info... Do you have any pics of the sundials? I've seen a few pics of adults but am looking for pics of juvies...

 

[Harpo]

Fishnfst: Sorry no pictures. They were all similiar in size and were presumably adults.
Mark

 

[650-IS350]

can't you just catch them in the act? Spy on them while the lights are off with a red light?

 

[coralfarm123]

How big are these snails you found? I haven't heard of Sundials reproducing in the tank or anyone having that many. Are you positive these are not collinista snails?

 

[DaveJ]

Have you seen the thread on the Wrasses?? Some of them eat the pyramid snails that prey on clams, only stands to reason they may go after sundials as well or stand a chance of helping with it.

For the snails a simple dip in RO/DI should help considerably as they are sensitive to osmotic changes.

 

[A.T.T.R]

i would love to have some of those for my reef tank O_O i hate zoas in my acro display

 

[Rackyrane]

Do you have a QT? You could try removing the zoos, dipping them in FW (RO of course) and then putting them in QT until the DT was clear of sundials. There are some good threads on wetwebmedia.com. There's a picture and some info here:
http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/snails/photoalbum_photo_view?b_start=1.

I would try the FW dip first and follow the info from the above sources. Also, you can ask questions on wetwebmedia.com. I have before and Bob Fenner himself answered me.
Good luck.

 

[Stinkyfish1]

I've noticed that emerald crabs will eat their larva that the snails always lay in-between the polyps.

Not sure if how much they will help after the problem is real bad though.

 

[Harpo]

Stinkyfish1: Interesting observation. There is at least one good sized emerald crab in the tank that i only see every few months. There is a large patch of fairly dull colored zoas on the rockwork that hasn't been touched. I'll try to see if the emerald crab hides in that area.
Mark