Astraea Turbo Snails, beh./hlth.  -02/24/08
Crew,
Thank you in advance for your response. I've done several searches for this but can't find anything. 5 of the 15 Astraea turbo snails that I recently added to my tank are at the top waterline on the glass and have been for 48 hours now. All other occupants seem fine. I read somewhere that snails need to "breath" and that this is normal.
<Um, no, not air.>
That sounded fishy to me (no pun intended). All water parameters check out fine. Thanks!
<It's not unusual for snails to like this part of the aquarium. There's a lot of "stuff" that grows up there that they like to munch on. But just in case, you might want to take a look here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snaildisfaqs.htm>
Ben
<Best,
Sara M.>

Thanks, and a Story re Stomatella Snails (beh.)  1/29/07
Dear Bob, et. al.:
<Greetings John, Mich with you this evening.>
First of all, many thanks to all of you for your fine WWM resources. You have all helped me gain a tremendous amount of valuable insight into the reef aquarium hobby, at times calming my fears, at others helping me form new strategies, and most always helping me to stay out of (too much) trouble.
<Hehe, this is good.>
It is a constant learning experience, and the challenge is greatly alleviated by useful knowledge and sense.
<Glad to hear!>
I have a 75g reef tank with about 100 lbs. of live rock and a 3" sand bed. This tank had been set up for at least a couple of years by the prior owners, but had been sadly neglected -- inadequate lighting, insufficient water changes and regular maintenance, etc., and the live rock and sand were really not very "live" at all. The sand was absolutely full of detritus. After moving the entire works, setting things back up, adding a new skimmer (AquaC Remora Pro), 300w of 10k and 70w of 20k MH lighting, some new additional live rock and sand and 4 months of babying, this microcosm is now doing extremely well, and has some very good diversity of life... not all to my own credit, because you and your advice also deserve some of the credit. Some "Live Sand Activator" from Coral Dynamics really kick started the sand bed, and a couple of other live micro-critter inoculations have the now very active sand bed well on its way to a stable equilibrium. The tank never did cycle (measurably, at least), and has never registered any reading for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, or phosphates.
<Awesome!>
The tank now houses the 2 yellowtail damsels which came with the original setup, a black velvet neon damsel (which was rescued from another marine tank after being attacked nearly to death by other damsels, and who has doubled in size in 3 months), a lawnmower blenny, and a powder blue tang (which I had great trepidation about adding, but who is healthy, growing, and truly thriving). I've gradually been adding corals over the past couple of months - a couple of Acropora frags, two Montipora, a Pocillopora, a pumping Xenia, and most recently a yellow Fiji leather. All are thriving (though the Xenia is rather finicky), have plenty of space, and I am done adding anything for the foreseeable future. WWM and Bob's and Anthony's books have really helped me tremendously.
<The website and the books are an invaluable asset to this hobby.  I too would have been at a total loss without them.>
I don't have a question today, but do have a comment / story to share.
<Very good.>
After adding something six or so weeks ago, I began noticing tiny slug-like creatures which grew quickly to about 1/4" to 3/8" length. Within a couple of weeks there were hundreds of these animals in the tank, most notably after dark. They were hard to see on the rock since they were well-camouflaged, but they moved around very quickly, much more so than the Cerith, Astrea, and turbo snails. After seeing one of the larger of these spewing milky stuff one morning (obvious to me that this was a reproductive event), I earnestly needed to find out what these things were, fearing a pending plague. After much searching, I finally determined that they were Stomatella, and that I did not indeed have a problem after all. Their population has by now become self-regulating, and there is always a full range of sizes of these snails in the tank.
<Most excellent!  These are a great addition to any saltwater tank.>
Yesterday I took out two Maxijet 1200 powerheads with Hydor Flo rotating heads (an absolutely wonderful product for the money, IMO) to (experimentally, at least for now) replace them with Hydor Koralia powerheads. (So far I'm very impressed with these, and the general water movement in the tank is much improved, though time will tell the tale). Upon removing the Maxijets, I picked off several Stomatella, putting them back into the tank. After about 30 minutes (with the Maxijets sitting in the kitchen sink, rinsed in tap water), I got around to their complete disassembly and cleaning. I found several more of the Stomatella inside the powerheads, and was very surprised to find them still alive.
<Yes, pretty hardy creatures.>
Assuming that following what they had just been through they were almost certainly doomed, I took three of them back to the tank and dropped them into the water anyway.
<Always good to be an optimist.>
Fluid dynamics being as it is, all three floated to the bottom and landed on their backs. They squirmed around for a few seconds trying to right themselves (they are really adept at that when they land on rock), but none were able. Then all three squirreled their heads around and began picking up grains of sand, placing them on their "bellies" (feet), and moved the grains along to the back end of their feet. After doing this with 4-5 grains of sand, they had gained enough weight (apparently) to squirm one more time and roll over, after which they took off on their merry ways. I was pretty amazed -- what a remarkable behavior this was! Is this a great hobby or what??!!
<What a world!!!  Amazing isn't it?!?>
Sorry for the length of this message, and again, thanks so much for all your insight and assistance.
<No apologies please!  Thank you for the kind words and sharing your delightful story!  -Mich>
Kind Regards,
John

Turbo Snail Issues 6/3/06
I had 3 zebra turbo snails. After a couple weeks I now have 1. It went to the back of the tank where I have some algae planted and released black pellet looking things. <Waste pellets, snail poop.> I don't know if its relieving its self or what but its all around it in the sand and on its shell. Hopefully  you know what this is. Thank you for your time. Love the site.
<Chris>

Gas-passing Snail..? More Likely Breeding Behavior Induced by Move 11/12/05
I just, and I mean just, like 1 hour ago upgraded my 60g to a 165g.
<<Tres bon bon.>>
(It has been set up for a week, with it half way filled with water, some live rock and live
sand, and I was doing 5g water switch outs a couple times a day to get both tanks to be the same.) I have one turbo <<Turbo?>> snail, and it was one of the first to go into the tank today. After all the fish transferring was done, I sat down to observe how everyone was getting along.
<<Famously I hope. New digs, and I got to hire movers! Yay.>>
I see the snail on top of the organ pipe coral. (It's on a bare spot, not on any coral-it
died off a little due to ammonia levels, and has been growing back beautifully.) It is standing on its tail, its head up high, not touching anything, and there is more of its body out of the shell than I've ever seen.
<<You mean.. your snail was flashing you???>>
Its antennae are waving more than usual, and near its eyes, there is kind of a lump or pipe or tube (made of its body). The snail starts to lean over, like its shell is pulling it down, but then it straightens up quickly, and a cloud of...something comes out of the tube. 
<<Oh my God! Talk about a "money shot"! Ahem.>>
It keeps doing this. I pushed it back over so it was in its normal position, but the clouds keep coming out, every minute or so.
<<Oh my.. no, I can't, never mind. This is funny.>>
I have been sucking the clouds out, as much as I can, with the turkey baster I use to suck or blow things in the tank (does anyone else use one for this purpose?).
<<Yes, turkey basters are great! So are large animal syringes (if you can get them).>>
Have you ever heard of a snail doing this?
<<Yes. And urchins and fish and birds and bees, if you get my meaning.>>
Is the stuff bad for the tank?
<<Highly doubtful. What I think you've witnessed is some sort of snail ejaculate. Breeding behavior. This is often induced in lots of animals by (you get three guesses here, and the first two don't count).. LARGE WATER CHANGES! Ready for a cigarette yet?>>
I've never heard of a snail poisoning a tank, like sea slugs, cucumbers and other creatures
can, but I don't know, so that's why I'm asking the experts.
<<To quote the Bobster, "Ex-spurts!" No, seriously, snails can "poison" tanks by dying and the following decomposition will, of course, present some pollution, but it is not by any sort of poison or exuded.. umm.. excreta? You're thinking boxfish, sea slug-type poisoning, and I know of no snails that can do that (that hobbyists keep).>>
Thanks!!
<<I should let you know that your snails have a choice, though they should use protection. Tell them that no, their palms won't grow hair, and they won't go blind if they keep doing this, but it's the best way to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Finally, it's ok, but it should be done privately in their own rooms. Marina>>