Pyramid snails on Cerith Snails?  04/14/2008
Hello Guys,
<Howzit?>
I have a very successful, although unintentional, breeding program for Cerith snails in my aquarium. For the last couple of weeks I have seen another variety of snail riding along on many of them. They are small white snails that meet the description of a Pyramid snail, and sometimes a Cerith will be carting around two or three of them attached to the front portion of its shell.
I have Zoanthids and a clam that are all untouched and in perfect health, no snails present. None of my corals have been touched in the least from what I can see so far. I also breed Checkerboard Nerites and they are not bothered by them. I understand that Pyramid snails are specific feeders, but are they this specific? Is it possible I am seeing something other than Pyramid snails?
<Oh yes, of a certainty>
I am not noticing an increase in snail deaths in my aquarium at this time, as judged by an increase in empty shells, but I have a couple of hundred Ceriths so a small change would be difficult to detect. It's hard to tell an occupied shell from an unoccupied one when there are so many of them.
If these do turn out to be Pyramid Snails that are specific to my Cerith snails is there any way to get rid of them without harming the Ceriths?
<Mmm, not easily... but some small snail-eating fishes (e.g. wrasses, see WWM re) might reduce and keep small snail numbers down...>
Hand removal is impossible, there are far too many of them. Never mind, I already know the answer to that question :)
I have a 6-line wrasse, and maybe he is picking them off the clam but can't get to the ones on the Ceriths, since they are primarily active after dark when the wrasse is asleep?
<Maybe...>
I have seen these snails climb the glass on occasion, but it's not where I would look for them first if I wanted to find one.
If a picture is important to you it would be easy to obtain one, if I knew how to use the macro on my camera. I will figure it out if need be though, don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks in advance,
Barbra
<If these small snails aren't causing direct trouble, I would ignore them... there are MANY gastropod species... Most are not predaceous. Bob Fenner>

Vermetid Snails -03/17/08
Hi Crew,
A few months ago I wrote in for suggestions on how to stop the Vermetid snail explosion that was consuming my 6 year old, 75 gal tank. As suggested, I tried peppermint shrimp, arrow crabs, a copper banded butterfly, and even manual removal and nothing has worked.
<Hmm... none of those things reliably eat these critters.>
There’s just too many. I’m almost at the breaking point. There’s so many of them(5-15 per sq inch) that they are starving my corals with their “webs” and making my tank look really, really ugly. Are there any other alternatives to get rid of these pests? I’d hate to start over and lose the last 6 years of hard work. Thanks so much for your help!
<What did you try for manual removal? You might try spraying them with a little vinegar, Kalk solution or even NaOH if you dare. I do believe they will eventually go away/die down. But it may be awhile before that happens, unfortunately.>
Will
<Best,
Sara M.>

Sundial snail babies? Hopefully harmless Collonista snails! 3/3/08
<Hi there.>
I recently found a few sundial snails in my tank.
<Yikes, hopefully not dining on your prized Zoanthids! Do you keep Zoanthids or were these just incidental hitchhikers? Sundials only eat Palythoa and Zoanthids, so unless you have those, they’ll simply die out. If you do have/keep Zo's, definitely remove any Sundials you see.>
I now have many tiny, tiny snails I think could be their babies. Are there any natural predators for these snails?
<I don’t know of any that prey exclusively on Heliacus/Sundials, but I’m sure there are other predators that include them in their diet. Unfortunately, it’s always possible that the predator(s) could have a taste for more than just Sundials (as in other beneficial invertebrates)! Complicating matters is the fact that Heliacus are mostly nocturnal. They’re able to hide very effectively within Zoanthid colonies during the day when snail eating fishes are active.
Regarding those tiny snails, there’s a chance that they might not be juvenile Sundials. There’s another very common snail in the genus Collonista (aka “mini Turbos”) that has a similar appearance, but is a harmless herbivore/grazer. They’re mostly nocturnal, reproduce readily, and stay small (usually around 3mm). Color/pattern varies, with some being all white, while others are combinations of white with varying amounts of mottled tan/brown/even pink markings. A sure fire way to differentiate Heliacus from Collonista is to grab a magnifying glass and take a close look at the operculums (the “trap door” at the opening of a snail). Heliacus have conical/pagoda shaped operculums while Collonista’s are relatively flat with a characteristic pit in the center. Basically, if it’s pointed, it’s a Sundial. If not, it’s likely a harmless Collonista. I’m hoping that you have the latter! Please see the following links for comparison/more information:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailidf14.htm (Collonista snails)
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php (Collonista - operculum shown)
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snailidf13.htm (Heliacus - see pointed operculum in photos about halfway down the page)
I’ve got my fingers crossed for you! Take care, -Lynn>

Mr. limpet and the Pyramids -12/15/2007
Hello crew,
I try to avoid asking questions and believe I have only asked 2 so far. Usually I can find all my answers with research on your site and or others. This one seems to allude me though. I have been running a 55g reef for 2 years now. The last year has been really great. Anyway this question doesn't really pertain to lighting or water parameters so I will skip that this time. I was doing some research on clams because some day I would like to own one. I then stumbled across something called Pyramidellid snails. To my amazement I have recently noticed these little guys before. They were on my turbo snails!! After I found out what they were I promptly brushed them off of my snails and waited for dark. ("the freaks come out at night") Here they were by the hundreds! Now at this point according to my calculations manual removal of such little creatures would take somewhere between 100 to 1,000,000 years. I also have hundreds of limpets that don't seem to bother anything in my tank including the Montipora. Now here it is, will the pyramidella's feed off of the limpets? Therefore removing the snails for a long period off time to remove the pyramidella's food source thus starving them to death would not work, correct? I also cannot use a six line wrasse or other type to help control nor do I think a wrasse would work effectively anyway. Any Ideas?
<Well, first things first... please make sure you have the "bad guys" before you start to worry (or start killing them en mass). There are several harmless/beneficial snails which look very similar. Please see here:
http://www.reefland.com/rho/2006/05/identify_rissoid_pyramidellid_snails.php>
I apologize for the incomplete e-mail.
<no worries>
Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Nick
<De nada,
Sara M.>

Pyramid snails....what pests! 10/29/07
Good evening,
Longer time reader (3yrs I think now). Probably find 99% of all the info I need in this hobby on this site. great job. Tonight I am not sure if I have done enough reading as it's after 1am and I'm barely able to type and keep my eyes open.
Here's the situation:
I have a 11-12 inch squamosa clam sitting on the bottom of my tank. I have had it for over a year. It has grown a lot in my tank. Well tonight I was admiring my tank just before the lights went off. At the exact time my day
lights shut down, my clam got startled and closed quickly....at that moment I noticed 3 little white snails under one of the mantles.
Clam looks awesome and healthy...never seen these snails before.
<This isn't uncommon. Usually the snails reach large populations before they start to hurt the clams they feed on.>
So now I start obsessing....of course. I get a flash light and start looking around the clam. It closes up more and I see dozens of the little snails. I do some research and learn they are pyramid snails.
Wow...this hobby is nuts. Always something. The clam is attached to a flat piece of rock so I decide to take the entire rock and clam out of the tank to brush the snails and eggs off it. OK....there may have been at several
hundred on the clam. None on his foot. Crazy thing...my clam looks great.
<quite typical>
I also have 1 deresa and 3 crocea's as well. I check each of those and it only gets worse. All but one of them had the little pests as well. 3 of the four have no feet (whatever it's called that connects them to the rock)!!
<Ah, good news! Those filaments that connect the clams to the rock are not actually its foot, they're called "byssus threads." Funny thing is, I didn't know this either when I first accidentally pulled one of my crocea clams off a rock and ripped the byssus threads. I was so upset I started crying like a baby thinking I'd killed my clam by ripping off it's foot. But the foot is something else entirely (and yes if they lose that, they're probably doomed). Fortunately, unlike the foot, clams can regrow byssus threads fairly easily. That clam of mine is still happy and healthy and fully reattached to its rock. :-)>
Question...are they doomed? No feet = death? Do the feet grow back? They are open but...?
<As explained above, no feet usually does = death, but it's not actually the foot that attaches these clams to a base.>
How do I get them out of my tank? I have a six line wrasse but obviously he sucks...
<lol, I think a Hoeven's wrasse (or maybe a green wrasse?) might be more effective if you want to risk it. Do keep manually removing them. Please see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/pestsnailfaqs.htm
If the clams are otherwise healthy, your regular manual removal (and maybe a little help from the right wrasse) could save your clams.>
After I put the clams back I saw several on the floor. I placed all the clams off the sand hoping the snails wouldn't find the clams and just die.
<Haha, don't count on it. You might want to quarantine the clams and just keep removing the snails and eggs manually (scrub the clams' shells with a toothbrush) until you don't see them anymore. Don't try any chemicals though. I imagine that anything that would kill the snails could hurt your clams too.>
Any hope/help?
<I definitely think there is hope. A few of these snails usually aren't a problem. However, you seem to have a true infestation that could hurt your clams. But please don't get too discouraged yet. I do think you can get control of this.>
Good night.
David W. Boswell, II, E.A.
<G'night. :-)
Sara M.>

Re: pyramid snails....what pests! 10/29/07
Thank you for your prompt response.
OK, great. I removed all the calms again tonight and good news was I only found 8 snails on all the clams combined. A huge decrease from the hundreds I found last night. I figure I'm going to remove and scrub them every other
day for a month and then start examining one a month.
<Sounds like a good plan.>
One more question....can clams be out of water? When I purchased them the LFS pulled them out of the water and directly bagged them. I thought I heard they should not be lifted out and exposed to the air.
<You might be thinking of sponges. A lot of sponges will die if any part of them is exposed to air. Clams and corals are quite different though since they can close up/retract. Some from very shallow waters are even used to being exposed to air during low tides. In any case, if you need to take a clam or coral out of the water for any reason, you should "scare" it until it closes up as much as possible. With clams, it's best if they are completely shut tight (or very nearly so) before you take them out of the water.>
What are the dangers? The squamosa is so big it is difficult to place a huge pot in the tank and lift it out. My tank is 30 inches deep. Also to scrub its shell is tough because of its size. I need to roll it over and it is quickly
exposed to air.
<See above. If the coral/clam is not retracted/shut when it is pulled out of the water, it could suffer tissue damage. So just take it slow if you have to, but make sure it's closed when you pull it out.>
Plus, I dump the pot with the tank water after the scrubbing session and it would be easier to lift the clam out and place back in the tank from the pot and not risk infesting the tank with any eggs that could be in the pot. Wowo...what a run on sentence.<lol> I think you get the idea.
<Yes, and since it's Halloween time, I think you should dress up as a vampire and jump out in front of your clam and say "boo!" Might work... ;-)>
As for the other clams...they are small enough that I put them in a Tupperware dish deep enough to cover them with water and lined the bottom with sand. Each scrubbing session I can just lift the dish out with them in it. Quarantining the clams is out because my quarantine tank has no lighting. I usually only place new fish in there for 6 weeks. Maybe I need to research quarantining everything I add.
<Anthony says you should quarantine "everything wet." And that is the most prudent way to be. Quarantining corals/clams is really not much different than quarantining fish except that you'll need to keep the salinity at normal levels and some medications for fish (if you use them) you can't use on corals. Here's a nice article on the decision:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_3/cav3i4/quarantine/Quarantine.htm
and for quarantining inverts:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/quarinverts.htm>
Thanks again....G'night
David W. Boswell, II, E.A.
<De nada,
Sara M.>

Tridacna parasite, Pyramidellids   3/6/07
How long will a Tridacna clam last with pyramid snails present?
<Depends on several factors; overall health of the clam; size of the clam; level of infiltration...what's important is getting rid of them.>  
  Mike
<Adam J.>