Yet another pyramid snail Q

[Bax]

I have 3" maxima I have had it for about six weeks, it began showing some pinch about two weeks into introduction. I did several fresh water dips from which it recovered better & better each time.

Over the last few weeks it's looks have improved, no more pinch, it finally attached to the rock.

So tonight, I rarely get to see my reef at night as it's in my office, I see a pyramid snail, no doupt, it was a pyramid.

Is this an infestation (i.e. is one too many)?

Where do they hide during the day?

How do I treat the max?

Thanks

 

[mbbuna]

what you need to do is remove the clam about an hour after lights out to a bowl of tank water. brush the shell really good with a toothbrush. do this 2 or 3 times a week for 2 months(even if you dont see any keep doing it) then you can slow down to once a week for another month or 2. i know it sounds like a lot of work but this is the best way .

 

[Bax]

Thanks mbbuna
I brushed its shell like crazy when I got it. And inspected it with a magnifying glass very carefully. The snail sighting really caught me by surprise.

 

[Bax]

There are three other clams in the tank, should I brush them as well?

Here's some eye candy just for looking ... thanks

 

[mbbuna]

inspect them a few times a week, if you find any snails then you will need to do the same to them

 

[Bax]

Thanks, I'll keep a close eye on them too, ... not that I don't stare at them all day long as it is!

I have to cut the max away at the basal gland so I can inspect him after six weeks of trying to get him to attach!!!

 

[Johnsteph10]

Cut the byssal threads, not the gland. Try to cut as close to the point of attachment as possible. If you cut the gland you can hurt your clam and even kill it if it is already stressed.

I know it is a dumb question, but did you see the pyramid snail ON the clam, on a snail, or just in the tank?

 

[Bax]

I saw it on the shell of the clam.

2-3 mm by just less than 1mm in diameter, very white shell

sound like a pyramid ....

... I thought so

I cut it away from the rock tonight, inspected it carefully and saw no snails. I did brush it well and set it back on egg crate so I can remove it again as needed

 

[discus010]

Pyramid snails can burrow themselves in the sand and I notice them come out at night after the lights go off.

A six line wrasse or a yellow coris wrasse will eat them.

 

[jasper24]

I have pyramid snails and can tell by my clams mantle when they are on him. It kind of droops. Mine always seem to try and attack the clam at the opening on the backside of the shell. Once per week I take it out and tweezer the snails off. Sometimes there are 5 sometimes none. It seems to be an ongoing process.

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7031251#post7031251 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jasper24
I have pyramid snails and can tell by my clams mantle when they are on him. It kind of droops. Mine always seem to try and attack the clam at the opening on the backside of the shell. Once per week I take it out and tweezer the snails off. Sometimes there are 5 sometimes none. It seems to be an ongoing process.

you need to brush the whole shell to remove any tiny ones that you cant see and any egg sacks. i would also do it at least 2x's a week

 

[Bax]

mbbuna

I have done this twice since you recommended it and have seen no additional snails. The Max is looking pretty good too. I will keep checking and brushing as well.

 

[Bax]

OK ... last night I got a chance to go by the office at night & check on the clams. I did find one snail on the rock near the max but no others. I brushed all the clams.

Well I just got back from the office today and upon inspection found two snails on my derasa!

Now I am panicked!

Is it a bad idea to place the clams in an HOT aquafuge I have where I can easily clean them daily, isolate them from the sand & rock substrate and wait out the snails?

How long will it take for the snail population in the tank to diminish?

I could place all clams in the QT, but then I'd just have the same problem there.

These had to come in on the maxima, if I could tell you how many times I inspected & brushed & FW dipped this clam!!!! CRAP!!!

 

[onegreenray]

I had these last year.

i found that if you get two coris wrasses they will remove the problem. but get the larger ones they can eat the bigger snails better and defend them selves better against the other fish in the tank.

also i found that the pyramid snails only seemed to go up the rocks at night only about eight inchs from the bottom. try moving all your clams up in the rock work.
my coris wrasses took care of all the snails in about 2 months.

also at night check the sand bed as that is where they hide during the day. if you see them on the rocks or the sand siphon them out. this will make the repopualtion harder for the snails.

do you run actnics on the tank? what i also did is a couple of times during the week turn on the actnics in the middle of the night after the sanils came out. the coris wrasses would wake up and go to town on the snails.

hope this helps some. i know the fear of losing your prized clams.

 

[mbbuna]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7038629#post7038629 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bax
OK ... last night I got a chance to go by the office at night & check on the clams. I did find one snail on the rock near the max but no others. I brushed all the clams.

Well I just got back from the office today and upon inspection found two snails on my derasa!

Now I am panicked!

Is it a bad idea to place the clams in an HOT aquafuge I have where I can easily clean them daily, isolate them from the sand & rock substrate and wait out the snails?

How long will it take for the snail population in the tank to diminish?

I could place all clams in the QT, but then I'd just have the same problem there.

These had to come in on the maxima, if I could tell you how many times I inspected & brushed & FW dipped this clam!!!! CRAP!!!

i wouldn't remove the clams, there better off where they are. just keep checking them and removing any that you see.

wrasses can help but the main problem with wrasses is that they sleep at night, and pyram snails come out and feed at night. its been my experience that at best Wrasses will only control pyrams, not eradicate them.

you can also scoop up the sand from under the clams and discard it.

 

[Bax]

Coris wrase isn't an option for this tank as I am at my stocking limit.

The maxima is probably 12 to 16" up the rock work and the snails are still finding him.

I'll leave the clams be and keep on brushing. What worries me is that I can't always get to the office at night to do this so I can for the most part only brush them during the day. Not as effective apparently.

And how long do these snails last with out clams to feed on?

 

[onegreenray]

if you can get there at night a few times a week siphon what ever snails you see in the sand bed. don't turn the lights on over the tank just use a flashlight. if you turn the main tank lights on the snails will dive back down in the sand bed before you get a chance to siphon them out.

my problem with them took about two months to get rid of. i think like any other snail if they run out of one food source they may find something else that may substain them but not as well as there natural food source.

 

[Bax]

Well here's something interesting.

On Mondays, I always try to carve out a little time for tank maintenance. So today I am giving the glass a good cleaning and notice that one of the astrea snails has several pyramids on it. (Now I looked at a few after reading here they might be on the snails & saw none at that time). So, I one by one picked out all the astrea snails that I could get my hands on. Seven in all. Not all had snails, but I removed no less than 21 pyramids from these astreas. Brushed'em all real well and put'em back.

I remove and brush the clam shells ever day since having been advised here weather I see a pyramid or not.

I haven't seen any on the clams since 3/25

I am going to change my photo period, slowly, to give me more time in the morning to inspect the clams before the lights come on. I've been having to drop one of the kids at school and I haven't been getting to the office until 8:15 to 8:30 AM when the light are already on. And this time of year it's kind'a obnoxious to blow off the family and wait until they go off at night to clean my clams.

Anyway a daily AM brushing and inspection will have to do for now for both the clams & astreas.

 

[Bax]

So I've been dealing with this pyramid issue about a week now. An interesting observation, is that I have sn only a few pyramids on my clams. But my astreas cone snails are pyramid magnets!

My new technique is to l puck the astreas each morning and remove one to several pyramids every time. So the cone snails are the pyramid bait!?!

I am also brushing the clam shells even when no pyramids are evident every other day or so.

Anyway, I now fully see the long term process that this will be, I gotta long road ahead, and am about to become very familiar with my astrea snail population.

 

[Bax]

An update:

I've been at this a month now. Daily, I inspect all astreas as there are always a few with pyramids, they are inspected, pyramids removed, brushed, washed, (then my hands rinsed as the little buggers are allways clinging on for another shot at gettingback into the tank) and returned to the rockwork to attract more vermin.

The clams are inpected at least twice a week, rarely have I found even one pyramid on a clam ... until yesterday.

Not only did I find one, I found several, some brown in color and much larger than the white ones I've been finding but still ,3mm. Are these the mature breeders? They are all through the sand bed. I scooped out a cup of sand from beneath the clam and found several in the sand.

I know "it's a process" but I feel like there is no end in sight and that my beautiful clams are doomed.

Words of encouragment would be helpful right about now ... sniff ... sniff