Tube Snail Problem 11/07/07
Hi, I have searched your site high and low, asked every store in town and can¹t find anyone who has had this problem, or any suggestions on how to resolve it.
I narrowed down what the creature is via a picture on your site. A tube dwelling snail, permanent tube spiral base twisting out, with a creature that has two little antennas and spews out web to catch debris in the water column.
<Ah yes, Vermetid snails.>
The problem, over the last year and a half this has turned into a nightmare due to them spawning. I literally have thousands of them EVERY where. They are in the protein skimmer, pumps, on my clam shell, conch shells, stacked on top of one another covering every surface in the tank.
<Yep, the tend to do that sometimes.>
This make cleaning the filter and tight areas so unpleasant,
<indeed!>
I get cuts and scraps from every thing being so sharp.
They are close to impossible to remove, and are multiplying at a discouraging rate. At this point I am so frustrated I am either going to have to just shut the tank down, or strip it and start from scratch.
<Yikes! I know they're annoying, but they're not worth taking a tank down for. In fact, in time, they'll likely start to die away all by themselves. Their populations typically come in booms and busts. Have you tried killing them with vinegar?>
Is there anything I can do? Wrasses, or some other invert carnivore maybe?
Starve them of whatever is making them thrive?
<Starving the tank will hurt your other animals just as much. Is this a reef tank? If not (if its fish only), keeping the calcium on the lower end of acceptable *might* help. I'd try squirting them with vinegar or lime juice (in minute quantities) first...>
I am at a loss, PLEASE HELP :(
<Good luck, keep us updated.>
Timothy Robitaille
<Best,
Sara M.>

Hebrew Cone (Conus ebraeus), Poisonous? Yes!  Degree of toxicity... ?   5/13/07
Hello crew,
<Hi Jana, Mich here.>
I am trying to find on the Internet how poisonous the Conus ebraeus is?
<Well it does kill it's prey, primarily Eunicid and Nereid Polychaete worms, by injecting them with conotoxin, a potent neurotoxin that disturbs the ion channels involved in neuromuscular transmission, typically resulting in paralysis.>  
I found information on other cone shells but not on this particular one.
<Yes, I too am having difficulty finding anything specific to this particular species.  There are more than 600 members of the Conidae family and only 30 documented cases of envenomations by Conus in humans, some resulting in death.  The most toxic is reported to be Conus geographus, though C textile, and C marmoreus are also associated with an increased of mortality.  I have been unable to find any reports describing the degree of toxicity of the conotoxin associated with C. ebraeus, but it is certainly something to take seriously and the effect of the conotoxin would likely vary between individuals.  Also worth noting is current research on members of this family for the treatment of pain and conditions such as Parkinson's.>
Is it found in Australia and how poisonous is it.
<The distribution of Conus ebraeus occurs in the Indo-west Pacific and Eastern Australia as far south as Sydney.
Many thanks, kind regards, Jana.
<You're welcome.  Mich>

Snail murder, SW Hermit comp.  3/23/07
Hello! I have another question for you guys. I have a new 20 gallon tank with just 10 snails and 4 hermit crabs. Recently, I was watching my tank and I noticed something very strange. My hermit crab had basically killed my snail and it was eating the snail out of its shell.
<Not strange at all actually>
I was wondering if you could tell me whether or not this is normal behaviour, and if I should remove the empty shell from my tank. Thank you!
<Is normal... or at least not atypical. These "false crabs" as a general group (some are more herbivorous) are opportunistic omnivores. I would leave the shell put... may become another Hermit home. Bob Fenner>
 

Predatory Nassarius or Just Hungry?  - 3/12/07
Hello Bob,
<Hey Brian, this is Adam again.>
I have yet another question for you! Have you ever heard of Nassarius  Snails attacking Fan worms?
<As I'm sure you know Nassarius snail rarely attack living tissue, they usually ignore even microfauna life for the most part.  If you see a Nassarius consuming a larger animal it is because the animal is dead or dying. The instances where I have heard of Nassarius attacking living organisms usually involved captive systems where they are not getting enough food.>
The strangest thing happened in my 90 gallon reef  the other day and I have yet to think of anything except the snails are just REALLY hungry and have become quite desperate.
<A possibility.>
I don't know if you remember, but my 90 gallon reef had come down with "Ich" a couple weeks ago ( I know not putting my animals in quarantine first was really dumb, not doing that  again)
<Well at least you have learned.>
and I had removed all fish to quarantine to let the tank run fallow  for 4 weeks. So far things are GREAT! My fish all look so much better, my coral  beauty whose eyes had become clouded, with a slimy spotted body is now bright beautiful and healthy as a horse so to speak.
<Sounds good.>
The reef itself is doing really  well, all the corals in the tank are opened wide and "perky" the clams are doing  wonderful, the cleaner shrimp are going through withdrawals, there has been  a little filamentous algae starting up now that the tang and coral beauty aren't  
pigging out 24 / 7, and my Nassarius snails must be getting very hungry now  
that I am not feeding a tank full of fish.
<Mmm...I would add some more food to the tank, at least two, three times a week until the fish are back. Just after dark, some Mysis or krill maybe.>
I noticed a Nassarius snail climbing  a fan worm then proceeding to stick his little mouth down into the tube he started biting the head of this worm, 3 others saw him doing this and joined the  "frenzy" all beating on this poor worm until it popped its top so to speak (it  ejected its crown) then the snails fooled around with that for a bit and  re-buried. 2 days later I saw the same snail going after another worm!
Needless  to say he is no longer in the tank and since then we have had no further attacks. Could this just be a reaction to having less food,
<That or a rogue, the former is more likely.>
will he be ok to put  back in the tank when the fish go back, or should I pass on that option?
<If you think the problem is isolated to one snail, then why risk it?>
There  are 7 Nassarius snails in this tank, I got them to eat food that had passed by  the fishes radar and wedged under rocks and shells to reduce the chances of  rotting material raising nutrient levels in the tank. Once the tank is where I  want it to be I'd love to send you a photo of it sort of as a thanks for all of  your help!
<We'd love to have more material for POTD purposes.>
Thanks bob!
<Will pass along to him Brian.> <<Please do send along images for all's use, enjoyment. BobF>>
Brian
<Adam J.>

Overstocking, Hermit Crab eating snails – 2/26/07
<Hi Tracy, Brenda Here tonight.>
Thank you for your great articles.
<Your welcome.>
We have a 33 gallon tank that is about 1yr running now. We started with live sand and began adding live rock and snails 1 month later.  After 6 months we were up to 70 lbs live rock, 3 turbo snails 15 blue leg hermits
<You have too many crabs.  I recommend one per 10 gallon or less.>
6 Margarite snails, 1 sally light foot 1 cleaner shrimp, lots of little feather dusters on live rock, I have seen some bristle worms too, 1 blenny, 2 tiny maroon clowns and a yellow tang, 1 very small anemone its white and about 1/4 of an inch big.
<1/4” anemone?  Pest anemone?  Your tank is much too small for a tang.>
There is coralline growing and we have star polyps. All was well for a few months then the tang died.
We checked the water (prior to this we change 10% every 2 wks) and did a 50% change the ph was 8.2 and nitrate 10 Two days later we did another water change. The salinity is kept at 1.023. The place where we get our supplies checks the other levels for us and said they were good.
<Nitrates at 10 is not good, need to be zero.  I suggest purchasing your own test kits and learning to test all of your water parameters.  What will you do at midnight when you need to know your water parameters?>
After the tang died the tank became over run with red slime algae and green hair algae.
<Have you checked for phosphates?>
We were able to combat the red algae but the green was unreal. We had to remove the fish to a holding tank and clean the algae of the live rock you couldn't see any live rock the algae was so bad. We scrubbed off the algae under RO water. Everything seemed nice and clean we tested the water, the store said all looked good the nitrate still at 10 though.
<The LFS is not doing you any favors by telling you that your water is good when nitrates are above zero.>
We put the fish back in and purchased a zebra turbo snail and 5 Nassarius snails and a conch snail and a peppermint cleaner shrimp. That was about 1 month ago 1 week ago we got a pink tipped anemone for the clowns who have out grown the little tiny one (sorry don't know what kind it is) the pink tipped hasn't quite settled yet still on the move some how I think it is running away from the clown that wont leave it for a second it actually lies down on its side wrapped in the tentacles of the anemone.
<Buying any tank mate and not knowing the species is a bad idea.  Your salinity is too low for an anemone.  It should be 1.026.  You have two anemones, and I have no idea what kind.  You won’t be able to successfully keep two species of anemones in a 33 gallon tank.  A 33 gallon tank is border line for even one anemone, unless you are experienced with keeping anemones.  Your tank is overstocked, and I believe you will continue to have problems.  The anemone has not settled because it is unhappy with its environment.>
Now 3 snails are dead, one of the hermit crabs is now very huge could he be eating them?
<You bet it can!>
He moved into a very large shell and looks to be about 2 1/2 inch by 1 inch big.  Do you think the anemone has something to do with it?
<Nope!>
Thank you Tracy
<You’re Welcome.  Please research all of your livestock and learn their requirements and compatibility with others before you buy.  Good luck with your tank.  Brenda>

Snails Preying on Baby Shrimp?  ...Unlikely - 02/09/2007
Hello all,
<Hi there Arman!  Mich here.>
I recently moved some Chaetomorpha from my main tank into my refugium (hang-on-back type). Much to my surprise, it contained many microscopic cleaner shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) larvae.
<Mmm, more likely you are seeing tiny Mysis shrimp.>
I've been feeding the larvae marine snow, phytoplankton, and a few Spirulina flakes.
<Mmm, careful not to overfeed, these can be very polluting, and not essential for these shrimp.>
Last night I placed some Nassarius snails into the refugium and in the morning, the amount of shrimp has been greatly reduced.
<Likely unrelated.>
I know this species, like many snails, are scavengers, but wouldn't the shrimp be able to swim away from them?
<Yes.>
Is it possible they've eating my babies?!
<Unlikely.>
Great website by the way, keep up the great work.
<Thanks, will try.>
regards,
<And to you.  -Mich>
Arman

Snail comp., relating, Mushroom malady?   12/6/06
Hi Crew,
<Hello, Mich here.>
     10 gallon with some fish and mushrooms plus critters.  Every once and a while I take a flashlight to see what's going on when the lights are out and I always find it fascinating. Usually I just see the threads of the spaghetti worm but last night it was out in full view with a whole web of red strands spread out over the rock.
<Cool!>
And I found some new snails (4 that I saw) that I did not buy and I have not added much in the past few months except for some small (2 inch ) rocks with mushrooms.
<Many snails are fine, but be aware there are some snails that are not reef safe.  Google WWM if you have questions.>  
The snails are small with the largest about half the size of a dime. They are like a dime standing on edge with a very visible spiral which is beautifully colored in bands of red and black with white background. Each band has a repeating design in it. It is amazing that something so small has such intricate designs.
<The world is a fascinating place.  You just have to stop to notice it.>
One was on the glass and the others on the rock. I am surprised that I have not seen them till now. I have another small snail that I got with live sand. These are white and Cerith shaped but were so small that it would take 4 to equal on grain of rice.  I have lots of them and they are now about double in size but I do not see any smaller ones so I guess they will not reproduce. They are over a year old and are on the glass and rocks but only at night.  I did have a strange episode in that I lost about 8 small (smaller than a dime) mushrooms that were all produced from the same parent. This happened over a two week period and I was unable to determine the cause.  
<As if often the case.>
The parent is fine as well as other mushrooms in the tank including some that are small. But this group which was spread out over the tank just dissolved
except for two that bleached and are still hanging in.
<Sorry for your loss.>
Keep up the good work.
<Thank you, we'll try!-Mich>