Unknown Critter 12/9/03 Hey there crew I got a problem here. about a month ago I noticed a odd looking creature on my LR. It is a snail like creature, it has a half shell on its back which is pink and white, it moves pretty fast moving around like a slug, <sounds like a Stomatellid... harmless as we know> now the weird part is its feeding mechanism, it looks just like a elephants trunk it feeds just like a vacuum cleaner its trunk is attached to the rock with another type of mechanism going up and down inside the trunk. <hmmm... perhaps not a Stomatellid if it has a proboscis> The shell is very small compared to the body which when it is on the move is almost a inch and a half in length. I wasn't to concerned until as of late because now it is growing pretty quickly and spots of my coralline are bare (not bleached) I believe it is eating the coralline because the patches that are missing are circular in appearance. <not the case here... a proboscis on a snail/gastropod is not "designed" to rasp coralline algae... instead look for another grazer (limpet, urchin) with short sturdy mouthparts (radula) to do this job> I will attach a couple pics of the monster if you could please identify him and if I should remove him or be looking for another culprit. <Yikes... these pics or over 5K kb and clogging our mailbox, mate. What's worse is that they are not clear at all. Please do resize all pics to small web-sized images (a few tens to a mere couple hundred kb max) and also please fill the frame with the subject (the snail is tiny here)> The other tank mates include 3 pepp shimp,1 Blood red cleaner,15 or so blue leg hermits,3 star shell snails and 10-15 Nass. snails. The only corals in the tank are a small frag of xenia and a small frogspawn which incidentally just started shrinking and spit out some brownish material (should I be concerned about this) <could simply be digestion or (worse) Zooxanthellae expulsion if stressed> also a small false percula clown. One last thing I believe I spotted a mantis shrimp also I was feeding on day and a very small shrimp came flying out of a small piece of grape macro and snatched a piece of flake. He was brown in color and appeared to look a lot like a mantis shrimp. <most mantis are small smasher species and are fairly harmless... some do not exceed 1" by much as adults and are very harmless in fact. Please read through our archives/Reef Invert book to learn the diffs between smashers and spearers and species IDs> Well sorry for the book I wrote here but your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Jeremy from buffalo <wish I could have been more help... do send a better pic if you can. Best regards, Anthony>

Limpets Hi everyone , I have a tank full of small copepods that I know are beneficial. <indeed... I myself am Cuckoo for Copepods> But , and their is always a but, I have an unknown crustacean that I want to try to identify . <his name is Joey... Joey bag-O-doughnuts> This thing has a hard outer shell that looks like the hats that the Vietnamese people wear , almost to the letter . <a "Limpet" species... do use that name in a keyword search of the web... few pics posted yet on WWM of this critter. Common though> They are oval in shape , about a quarter inch in length ,have a white coloring and look like a pointed hat . Any ideas ? P.S.  Sorry about the ethnic description , but its the only thing I could think of that looked like these things . My LFS said they were Lipids Rich <no worries... understood and clear. And I don't think Vietnam will be calling for an apology... they love those little hats too. Your silly little "snail" is a Limpet dude. Best regards, Anthony>

Nemo-aka the Blue Tang, and Gary the Stomatella Howdy again, fellow Wetheads!   I have a healthy, one-year-old 20-gallon reef tank into which I will introduce (after quarantine) a small juvenile Regal/Pacific Blue Tang (yes, my kids insisted on their own "Dory" fish after seeing previews of "Finding Nemo"). I've been studying up on the Blue Tang's weaknesses, such as Ick, and hazards (tailhooks!), and I feel ready for the new arrival.<good to hear>   The tank's inhabitants (2 little clownfish, a ravenous but friendly Royal Pseudochromis, candy-cane coral, a few small brown/green mushrooms, some Montipora digitata, many scarlet hermits, Astraea+Cerith+Nassarius+Trochus snails, copepods, small worms, mucho coralline algae, LR+LS, etc) will relocate with the Tang into a planned 60-gallon tank very soon,<this tang will need this tank soon :)> and when the Tang acts cramped in the 60-gallon, we'll start an even larger tank.<good> Meanwhile I need to modify the ecosystem in the existing 20-gallon tank so that tang-edible macroalgae has a better chance at growing "a little," while not overwhelming the corals and coralline algae.<agreed>   Obviously, I'm only counting on the tank itself to provide a tiny portion of the Tang's algae diet, but I'd like to have him/her at least enjoy a little more macroalgae decor to nibble upon between real meals. I plan to return a few of my larger snails to the Local Fish Store. -- First question - Does this Tang REALLY eat "bubble algae" (esp. Valonia)?<have never seen this species eat bubble algae...and haven't read about it either> Since I've sworn off bubble-munching Mithrax crabs (too omnidestructive), I'd love for the Tang to relieve me of my occasional bubble-scratching responsibilities.<will probably not eat bubble algae> -- Second question - Is there anything which conveniently dines on the STOMAT ELLA VARIA (sporty little half-snails!),<well I was thinking more towards a wrasse from the genus Pseudocheilinus, I know they eat can/will eat hermit crabs-but they might eat helpful creatures as well> which have been a very helpful ally against algae in my tank but now are too numerous (and keep everything so clean that the larger algae-seeking snails suffer)? This landscape will seem too barren to the Tang. But my instinct is that any carnivore nasty enough to eat Stoma Ella might also attack....corals? fish? my fingers? My hope is that you folks know of a cute, tiny, highly-specialized mantis shrimp (can I ask for iridescent-red?) or whatever that chews Stoma Ella yet eschews other stuff. Fantasy, right? <A mantis shrimp will eventually consume ALL of your small fish and your little crustaceans/snails too>   By the way, one additional REALLY irritating aspect of having Stomatella in your tank is that their low-rider bodies occasionally find their way through even the narrow slots in pump-intakes; the sound made by Stomatellids "paper shells" when they suddenly seize up a miniature pump impeller is "schwing" (as in the movie "Wayne's World"). Easy to fix but a pain.   Concerning Stomatella, I found questions by "C" from Pittsburgh, PA, (and Anthony Calfo's answers) in.... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/algcontfaq3.htm   ....and I'd like to reinforce Anthony's comment about this creature's "highly variable color." I started with maybe 3 or 4 TINY Stomatella (LR hitchhikers), soon had a population boom which subsided, and now there's seven or eight color/pattern variations, each apparently tuned to different LR surroundings. Not exactly crowd-pleasers, but they zip around like crazy, especially when the lights go out. On that note, goodnight and MANY thanks!<your welcome, I really don't believe there is a fish that specializes on Stoma Ella so it would be risking the lives of the other invertebrates in your aquarium, IanB> Bruce Mewhinney

Stomatella Questions Ah, the reference I had read about Tangs eating(?) bubble algae was in a WWM page....<well have been around this species of fish for about 5 years now and have never seen them even touch bubble algae, Bob has been around these fish longer so he might be right.> http://www.wetwebmedia.com/tangfaqs.htm   ....in which Bob Fenner replies to a reader ("Tangs Eating Bubble Algae"). Having said that, I haven't seen my newly-arrived Pacific Blue Tang touching MY bubble algae yet (I'm patient). But he/she is already happily chowing on sprigs of Red Gracilaria algae on a suction-cup clip; also flake algae etc.<normal for them to eat macro algae (softer easier to pick on, etc, bubble algae is to hard for one of those little 1-2" hippo tangs to eat> Back on topic -- Regarding possible predators upon the Stomatella varia snails, I did some subsequent search-engine sleuthing and came up with a few specifics....http://www.mindspear.com/reef/detrivore.htm    ["cleaner shrimp" eating smaller Stomatella?]<re: my other email> http://www.reeflounge.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4267    [peppermint shrimp "cleaned out" tankful of Stomatella]<maybe you should try them> For now I'm going to try peppermint shrimp (not banded coral shrimp), and in future maybe a few of the wrasses as you suggest, or even arrow crabs (in a much larger tank).<good luck with Stomatella control, IanB> Thanks again for help! Bruce Mewhinney

Snail id: Stomatella species "Paper Shell snail" 6/11/03 Howdy oh Wet ones! <not touching that one with a ten foot pole> I have found a bunch of snails in my tank, a type I have never seen before.  I have not be able to get a good picture of one yet, but I will describe it to you to see if it rings any bells.  It really looks like a land based slug, about 3/4 inch for the biggest one, maybe a little less.  It is a light speckled sandy color.  The strange thing about it is that the shell is only about 1/3 the length of the whole slug looking body, and it matches the body color and pattern pretty closely, so it was hard to even see the shell.  It is a rather flat shell, almost like an abalone shell.   <the last observation is the giveaway... you have a Stomatella snail species. Do use that genus name for a better web search. They are wonderful algae grazing snails... as harmless and reef-safe as it gets> It really looks like it has a great big tail because the shell is so small.  Now looking through the WWM site, I did not see any pictures of a snail that resembles it.  Does it sound like anything you have heard of or seen before?  I just want to make sure it is not a problem.  It cruises around the live rock like any other snail, but ya never no.... Thanks, Paul <just enjoy them and watch that S car Go! Kindly, Anthony

Limpets and Coralline Crew: Well after trying to figure out what I can't grow coralline algae in my tank, I think I have finally identified a suspect.  I have a few of those odd little creatures known as limpets (Elephant Snail, Keyhole, etc.) and according to an article by someone named "Steneck" http://academics.smcvt.edu/dfacey/AquaticBiology/Coastal%20Pages/Limpets.htm These things only eat coralline!!   It really makes sense now because I could see little patches of coralline one day, only to wake up the next morning to find them vanished!  All water parameters, Ca, dKH, etc. are all perfect - no phos, no nitrates, etc.  I guess I'll continue to let them battle it out (I refuse to attempt to remove one of the limpets for fear of damaging him) and see who wins - right now, it's no contest!  You agree that this is possible? <Definitely. These are voracious grazers.  Best, Chris>

Stomatellid Snail... a Good Guy - 9/20/03 I have your latest invert. book and I found the creature I'm looking for which came with some live rock I bought but it doesn't mention whether it is harmful to soft corals or other reef creatures <hmmm... do check again, my friend: page 202 photo caption (underfoot pic) of Stomatella... "a harmless, nocturnal herbivore to be shared among aquarists." They are very strict herbivores in fact and are completely safe with corals> also I have a crab about the size of a quarter that is a grayish black large front claws and a rough texture doesn't like light in fact they seem quite common in live rock I had them before (good or bad) <most crabs are risky as opportunistic omnivores... I rarely recommend crabs for reef aquaria. I suggest you remove it to another aquarium. Kindly, Anthony>

Removing Limpets Hello! How are you? <Not too bad this morning.> I have quite a few keyhole limpets in my tank, and I would like to send some of them to another member of our seahorse group. There were a lot of limpets on the glass of my tank a few days ago, so I thought it would be easy just to swoop them out with a net. Wrong! Every time I even touched them with the net they would lock down with incredible force. I read somewhere that they can lock down with 70 lbs of pressure. Do you have any suggestions on how I could get a few of them out so that I can honor my promise to send some to my co-hobbyists? <If you grab hold of them and twist, you should be able to free up a couple. Removing from the glass is best. It would be very hard to remove them from the rocks without damaging them.> Thanks, Kevin <You are welcome. -Steven Pro>

Limpet Attacking a Flame Scallop? Last night I saw a Limpet attached to the bottom of my Flame Scallop and I didn't think anything of it until I looked at my Scallop this afternoon and when I tried to get the Limpet off of my Flame Scallop he felt like he was locked on my Scallop, and I had to actually pry him off. <Yes, it is very difficult to remove a Limpet from any surface. They have an incredible suction power.> My Scallop looks like he was dying. <Agreed> He is shrinking up on the inside and I don't know what is wrong with him. <Please perform a search of Flame Scallops on www.WetWebMedia.com for the reasons.> He is not responding to touch like he used to, his shell does not close right away when he is touched, and when you try to close him it feels like he is almost locked in the open position. I did some research on Limpet's this evening and I didn't like what I read on some of them. <Perhaps do some research on Flame Scallops. I am positive you will not like what you find about them.> Is it possible the Limpet was boring a hole in him and getting ready to eat him? <Nope, your scallop is and has been starving to death.> My scallop was fine for months until now. <No, you just did not notice its duress.> Please give me your suggestions on what could have happened to him <It is starving just like almost all do.> and what his chances of survival are. <Next to none.> Thank you for you great expertise! Connie <Please research your animals and their care prior to all purchases. -Steven Pro>

Black limpet snail- Scutus sp Hi:  I wonder if you can help me with identification of this new creature in my reef.  The reef is a year old but new things keep popping up.  This guy looks like a leach but is about 4 inches in length and about 2 inches wide and relatively flat.  He comes out at night.  The picture is of poor quality but may help.  He is black and has "frilly" edges.  I blasted him with a gush of water from the turkey baster and he slid back into the reef, so he isn't very shy.  Is he harmless?  Thanks, Jim <your creature is a mollusk of the genus Scutus (almost started to sound like  Dr. Seuss rhyme with the alliteration of 3 of the last 5 words <G>). AKA Black Limpet, is a mostly desirable snail. It may nibble on coral (of course, so do tangs and dwarf angels), but is an otherwise excellent algae eater and breeds well in captivity. Perfect for soft coral tanks... less so for LPS coral displays. Best regards, Anthony>

Question about the supply of limpets. Bob: It seems that I have purchased some Man made Florida rock here and there and received some very unusual creatures called Limpets. I i.d.'d the critter from "The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium" Volume 1. Svein A. Fossa & Alf Jacob Nilsen. An example of the scientific name and picture on Page 188 is Scutus unguis. And yes the animals look very close to a Nudibranch, except they carry a cone-like shell that looks like a volcano. Some species cover the shell with what looks like a mantle. These critters seem to mow down more hair and slime algae than 5 or 7 turbo snails together. Q: Where may one find a supply of these? None seem to be listed on the FFE web pages? I still have one that looks more like a moving volcano that does not wrap it's mantle, and the other was flame orange that did wrap it's mantle. And it looked just a Nudibranch of sorts. Very pretty!! But the seem not to like medications. This animal seems to be very low maintenance and very tolerant of water quality, versus what most Nudibranchs require to stay alive. Am I looking for this animal in the right place? CH >> Well, I looked around for limpets as well and couldn't find anyone listing them for sale... But do want to say a few things about them. I agree totally with your observations... and assessment... these Archaeogastropoda are great and innocuous cleaner uppers. Having worked with local (S. Calif.) limpets with different projects, I suspect that they're not specifically offered for two reasons: They're hard to extract from hard substrates w/o damaging them... and Folks just don't know about their usefulness as yet... Unlike Nudibranchs, many limpets have wide, generalized diets (micro and macrophagous herbivores)... and also unlike the "naked gill gastropods", they don't have a tendency toward toxicity... Instead of being poisonous, limpets have a shielding "home" on their backs... and lastly, as you observe, many live in "marginal" and variable environments in the wild... and are therefore reasonably tolerant of the same in captive situations. Thanks for writing. Bob Fenner

Limpets A year ago I noticed two limpets in my aquarium. It is a 90 gallon (6'x1'x2'). My guess is they came in on the live rock I added 7 months before. The curious thing is this. It took 7 months to see the first 2, and I now have roughly 100 more. They are black with a white stripe on their back and are actually not unattractive despite their numbers. They do a good job keeping the glass, and everything else, clean. They range in size from 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 inch and are found everywhere from the skimmer collection cup (always a few small ones on the cup of a CPR Bak-Pak), to the live rock, to the glass. I have about 80 pounds of Fiji live rock, a 1 inch aragonite sand bed, the CPR, and a couple Hagen 802's for circulation. I also have Naso, yellow, and regal tangs (1 of each--all about 3.5 inches), a coral banded shrimp, a false percula clown, and about a dozen snails and small hermits. There are no corals or anemones. Ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrates are close to 50. S.G. is 1.024. Temp. is 76 and pH is 8.0. I add no chemicals and have 0 algae other than coralline which covers most everything and has to be scraped from my glass at least every two weeks. I have two questions. First, is this an extremely unusual occurrence? In order to identify these things I had to post pictures to a newsgroup since the few inexpensive books I have don't even mention them. Second, I'll be adding a dwarf lionfish and snowflake moray to the system tomorrow. Will either/both decide to make a feast out of the limpets? If they do, it would probably be good for them, since, in their numbers, I think the limpets would be able to sustain enough of a population to meet their dietary requirements. By the way, when I first set up this system roughly two years ago, I dosed Kalkwasser for about 2 months to try and get the coralline to grow, and it didn't. Ever since, I have added no chemicals (other than synthetic salt and frozen food for the fish) to the aquarium, and the coralline is almost out of control. It's a great problem to have. By the way, I have 6 24" fluorescent bulbs. Four were bought at home depot (cheap bulbs), while the other 2 are actinic. I also have a large population of feather dusters growing out of the rock and some have even built tubes of up to 2 inches and are living in the sand bed. Is this extraordinary luck, or did I accidentally hit on the aquarium conditions that the worms, coralline, and limpets thrive in (i.e., low light and not-so-low nitrate)? If my experience is unusual, I'll probably try to replicate the environment (minus the fish) in a 29 gallon, devote some study to all three, and write a paper detailing the conditions for anyone that might want to duplicate them (though their suitability would be limited to a fish only situation). Any guidance would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time. Sincerely, Richard Weatherly >> Wow, what an outstanding query, relating of experience and uplifting story... Congrats to you. And I think you may be on the verge of a great commercial success. I have only seen a few cases where the snails called limpets were so abundant as yours... and they are a blessing... And your lion and eel will not consume them (different diets all the way around), but I would do as you say, and save some of these "Chinese Hats" in another system... if for no other reason, for just safekeeping. And do "share the wealth" and supply some to fellow hobbyists... Your relating of the non-supplement use and results is exemplary by the several meanings of the term... Thank you for writing... please do consider tallying up your observations and sending them to one of the hobby magazines... Very useful. Bob Fenner

Accidental mollusk  Hi Bob,  Thanks for the answers to my previous questions.  Today during my weekly maintenance I noticed somebody new and was wondering if he's bad news. It is some sort of brown slug, 23 mm long, with a 12 mm shell on his head. It is the kind of shell I've seen thousands of times on Southern California beaches but always thought it was one half of a little clam. It is a shallow (almost flat) triangular shape shell. He was chewing around the base of some Halimeda and squirting out clouds of white from his mouth area several times for no apparent reason.  I have him sequestered in my quarantine tank until I hear from you. Should he stay or should he go? I am planning to add one or two "beginner" soft corals in the near future if that matters.  Thanks,  Brian Battles <I say "stay"... almost feel like a latter day Caesar with my thumb up! This is likely some sort of Limpet (as in the Incredible Mr.), and I know what you mean re the many Acmaea along the coast (I live in San Diego)... these are very beneficial creatures to have in a reef tank... are microphagous herbivores that greatly aid in filamentous/pest algae control. Count yourself lucky and enjoy it/hopefully "them". Bob Fenner, By Bob Fenner, www.wetwebmedia.com>

Question about limpets HI Robert, I found your article on Mollusks: An overview on the internet and decided you would know the answer to my questions. We watched two limpets in a display last night in our tank that we think might have been their reproduction process but we are unsure. Both key hole limpets were on the glass, the smaller one ( 1 1/4 in long) was releasing from the key hole an almost clear liquid that would disperse into the tank. It looked almost like smoke. The other, larger one ( 1.5 in long) was higher up on the glass and the release from this limpet was whiter, thicker and dispersed slower. They did this back and forth for at least 30 minutes that we were aware of. Were we watching the release of eggs and sperm? <Likely so> If so, how long will it be before we will see tiny limpets in the tanks? Is this common? If not, what were we watching? <... probably won't see limpet young... the products here will probably be collected by your filtration... removed by skimming... pelagic larval stages have tough times in captive systems. Bob Fenner> Please email your answers to XXXX. Thanks! Carol Griffith