Uh-OH... Just found a sundial snail....

[cainchristy]

Hi. This is my first time posting in this forum, so if I get some names wrong, just look over me, K?

Hubby bought a rock of Zoo's (big green ones) for the tank a couple of months ago. They were nice and open at the fish store. He had them under a 400watt MH, which is what I have on my tank. I also have 2 96 watt PC's on there, but my tank is bigger than his.

I placed them on the top, for that is where he had his placed and they WOULD NOT open. So, I moved them lower in the tank after about a month....still will not open. There was a hitchhiker coral on them, kinda looks like a Ricordea. This thing was growing pretty big. It was a soft green disk with pink bumps all over it. I thought maybe this was irritating the colony, so I pulled it off.

When inspecting the underside of the rock, I saw a BIG sundial snail. A little bigger than a M&M, plain, no nuts. I had already checked for pests, such as snails and nudi's, so I don't know if this guy was hiding out and I overlooked it, or if it came from my rock work??

Question is: Is this why my colony refused to open? What are the chances that the sundial snail made little baby sundial snails? I have 3 other colonies that open just fine, this one just refused to open. I'll list my tank parameters just in case you guys need them.

SG-1.025
Temp-80 steady
Amm, Ni, NA-always 0
Alk-4
Calcium-400

I use RO/DI water and perform water changes every 2-4 weeks, I went over this month and had to do it at 4 weeks. I like to do this once every 2. I have a 92 corner with a 20 gallon sump. Skimmer is a G3 ASM. Baffled off section in sump with Chaeto and live rock rubble.

Thanks so much for taking time with the newbie....I'm not new to the reef, but I've not been very succesful with Zoo's. You all have rocks just covered in them, I don't. Mine don't seem to grow or reproduce. The ones I've had the longest, I got at a frag swap this January. I would love to be able to grow them like you all do. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!

~Christy

 

[Azurel]

Does this snail have a cone that covers the opening? Or does it just look like a sundial? I have never seen sundials that big before, that is to say that it is not possiable they are not out there. Have you tried the zoanthid dip before you put them in your tank? There is a sticky at the top of this forum that describes how it is done and what you need to do it. Most of us here dip our zoanthids before placing them to rid of pest that cna't take freshwater....The zoanthids are closed so they don't have to many ill effects.

 

[coralfarm123]

Sounds like a sundial. They can get to be about the size of a dime. Best way to find sundials is to inspect the colony very closely before dipping. Many times freshwater dips won't harm sundials because they just close up in their shell and wait it out. Also, many hitchhiker crabs can withstand the typical 5 minute dip. Visual inspection prior to dipping is just as important as the dip itself. I would just check underneath all you colonies for a while to see if you find more. Good luck, hopefully this is the only one.

 

[akrimmel]

i had one bigger than a nickle and offered him to the sungods. curious to the fw dip, any tips to this trick?

 

[ezcompany]

sungods? lol
u cooked him??

 

[akrimmel]

left him out to feel the wrath of the SUN!

 

[cainchristy]

Thanks for all the tips. I didn't do the freshwater dip, even though I have read that tidbit from Mucho. I did try to inspect the colony, but like I said, I must not have inspected it well enough.

I looked the link up to sundial snails, and it was identical to the ones pictured. I went ahead and checked all of the other colonies, but that is the only one I've found, so far....

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it was the only one, but I'll keep checking now that I've found one. Thanks for all the responses, too. I feel special....