Little crawlers

[Pierre-Michel]

I need help !
I just noticed while looking closely at my tank taht I have an infestation of small snails !
I had only a couple a week ago but now it's :confused:
Tough to post a picture they are too small the biggest must be around 1/16th or about. Their shell is striped and I mean there are a lor of them !!!!
Any advice to eradicate ?
Thanks

[ajx22]

Where are they located?

If you see them on the shells of other snails (like turbos or Astrea) or around clams - then they are a pest and will need to be picked off using tweezers. They are called pyramidellid snails. - This group of snails is specialized to suck the blood of other invertebrates. Some prey on snails, some on clams, others on feather dusters.


You will have to remove the large snail from the tank, and take it over to the sink or garbage can and remove all the little ones...then place the snail back into the tank...and then check all the other snails for them too.

I had this issue a few years ago - and found out the following from Dr. Ron Shimek (photos included):
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=63327

[Pierre-Michel]

Nop they don't look like that !
They are kind of nice so that's why I left them there ... But now they are everywhere glass, rocks, PH, I mean everywhere !
I was under the impression that my reg. snails had reproduce but they don't look the same ... so far as I can tell anyway

[ajx22]

Honestly - your best bet would be to get a photo (or photos) - and post them to Dr. Ron on Reef Central ~ as he is the expert when it comes to critter ID's.

Without a decent photo - they could be just about anything (though I highly doubt that they are babies from anything that you put (intentionally) into your tank.

Good luck,

[Pierre-Michel]

Did my best
Sorry for the quality of the pic !

[ajx22]

I will see if I can identify it too.

Did you post it to Dr. Ron's forum on Reef Central as well??

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=40

[Pierre-Michel]

No since I don't go to that forum !

[Michael_Lambert]

Do they look like these,

I found these in my 150G, have not touched it for 3 weeks, waiting for what ever bacteria that was in there that killed my fish to die off.. so i have not cleaned my glass.. but went to clean it the other day and found tons of these little guys.. i have heard that snails lay eggs on the glass and we kill them becouse we clean the glass.. Now im wondering if one of my snails had babbies..

they are tiny snails, and they have a very Flat shell, These ones are about 2-3 MM very small!

http://extremereef.com/ExtremeAlbums/album04/CIMG0105.jpg

http://extremereef.com/ExtremeAlbums/album04/CIMG0102.jpg

So far i have counted up to around 60 of them in my tank and thats just whats on the glass!.. GOD i hope i dont need to pick them out.. i have some larger upto around 1/2 inch Never see them on any of my corals, clam or other snails!

[tyrisis]

Pierre, I seem to have the same ones, They came in on live rock I bought at the LFS... I have not seen any adverse affects yet Please keep me posted if you find anything

Tyson

[Pierre-Michel]

Tyrisis, I think they also came with a piece of LR but they are all over the place not a nice sight !!!!
Unless they are usefull I want them out of there !
Toooloud, no they don't look like yours !
Thanks

[johnw]

Toooloud - I think those are stomatella snails which are supposed to be OK

[Pierre-Michel]

But they are growing out of control ! Anyone has ideas on how to control them ???

[PlaYer]

I also have plenty of these. I had them reproducing like crazy at the beginning, but they stopped once there were no much algae for them to eat. I still have plenty, but I see less and less, I guess they die without new algae or my hermits take care of them.

[Pierre-Michel]

Thanks for the help !

[Chrismo]

I've had a bunch of what looks like those. Havnt seen any in the last few days though.

Fishlips was telling me his tank has tonnes of them at night, but during the day. nothing. He's had them for a while and his tank looks great so they cant be all bad...

Do your only come out at night?

[Pierre-Michel]

Oh no ! There all over the place during the day also !

[Hark]

I have a billion of the snails too in my tank...they are visible during the day, but definately come out at night.

something i found interesting was that they actually cycle in my tank according to the Ca levels..the higher the Ca, the more snail i see..the lower..the less.

I have a picture of them somewhere, I will dig it up and post it here.

Hark

[tyrisis]

These r the little guys i got....

[Pierre-Michel]

tyrisis your picture is better then mine but that's exactly it my friend !

[Red-Sea]

No harm, I have about 2-300 of them in my tank as well... :rockon:

[Mckitrick]

Tooloud - I've got those too! Kinda like a sea slug with a shell or maybe a flat snail.

Tyrsis - I see lots of shells of those snails in one of my tanks. SOMETHING is eating them and I suspect my wrasse since the puffer is in another tank. I think they're pretty much harmless and they mostly come out at night for me..