Found in Sump...Good or Bad??

[abe77901]

I just found these in my sump, they look like tiny fighting qonchs? Are they, are they not, maybe, WHAT.....

[Ed]

Do they look like these guys?

http://www.reefers.org/album/viewphoto.cfm?albumimageid=743

Sure hope not.

[pickle311]

looks like pyramid snails to me, they will eat clams and I've heard that some of them will eat other snails too

[bigdscobra]

They may not be the type that eat clams. Can't tell for sure though, we dicussed this a while back and there are many different types of these snails. I have some in my fuge and main tanks and they don't bother any of the clams.

[carlinsa]

i noticed i had one in my tank it looks more like a starfish than a snail.

[bigdscobra]

I think he is talking about the snails in the pic not the starfish

[GaryP]

They look like small cerith snails to me. Am I looking at the wrong thing? Is this it?

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=23&pCatId=1159

[Instar]

The tiny white cork screw snails are pyrmidellae snails. Ceriths are a different shell proportion and opening. Pyramidellaes are parasitic in nature so its wise to remove them. They hitch hike rides on snails sometimes and bore into some things and are undetectable during parts of their life cycle. If you've had Tubasrea mysteriously die, can't keep Goniopora (even with frequent water changes) or have early snail deaths (snails live years normally), this may be accountable to these little pest snails. They love clam shells too, and may bite on the mantle edges during the night. Its this snail genus that is responsible for many people keeping six lined or similar wrasses. I've found dozens of them in the proximity of clams inside little sponge colonies. They do appear harmless during that part of the day, but, there is no way to tell until its too late and a dead coral or snail is dissected before they exit the dead animal.

[abe77901]

So is getting a mandrain or six line and putting him in the sump the remedy? I don't have clams so I'm not worried about that, just don't like parasites.

[ansonluna]

I have them also. They have never touched my clam, but have pretty much taken out all my Astrea. I was cleaning every single snail I had every day, and the number were slowly decreasing, but I was gone for a week and had someone taking care of my tank. Now, all I have are a bunch of snails. Although I have seen them on other species of snails in my tank, they seem to prefer the Astrea. I also had a reproducing group of Candy snails and they are all gone. I have a 125gal tank. I have 2x Mandrain and 1 Sixline. I am pretty sure the Mandrain do nothing to these guys. The Sixline may, but once they get to a certain size I don't think he touches them....and there were just too many at the time. I am also considering getting a Fourline as the Sixline's backup, since I am pretty sure you can't keep two Sixlines together.

[GaryP]

I have them also. They have never touched my clam, but have pretty much taken out all my Astrea. I was cleaning every single snail I had every day, and the number were slowly decreasing, but I was gone for a week and had someone taking care of my tank. Now, all I have are a bunch of snails. Although I have seen them on other species of snails in my tank, they seem to prefer the Astrea. I also had a reproducing group of Candy snails and they are all gone. I have a 125gal tank. I have 2x Mandrain and 1 Sixline. I am pretty sure the Mandrain do nothing to these guys. The Sixline may, but once they get to a certain size I don't think he touches them....and there were just too many at the time. I am also considering getting a Fourline as the Sixline's backup, since I am pretty sure you can't keep two Sixlines together.

I'm sure there may several similar species of these guys with different diets. One may predate snails, others may go after clams. The Mandarin won't mess with these guys. The only way you can usually keep two sixlines together is to have a mated pair. I believe Instar has a pair in one of his tanks. Its hard enough to keep a sixline or fourline with any other wrasse species. They can be very territorial. I made that mistake once with the sixline I used to have. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, he jumped to an early death out the back of the hood. I replaced him with a tail spot wrasse.

[Thunderkat]

By the way, what kind of starfish is that? I have found two little ones like that in my tank. I am worried that they may be sand sifter stars, as that would be bad in my plenum system.

...and I would burninate those snails.

[Andrew]

The snails in that picture don't appear to be parasitic Pyramidellid sp. snails IMO. Pyramids are usually much smaller (only a few millimeters in length) and have a white, almost translucent color. Yours appear to have shades of grey and look larger, judging by the starfish and LR in the pic.

Then again, if you have any clams, it couldn't hurt to look them over and make sure there arn't any snails burrowing into the shell. They seem to like scutes (ridges down the clams side) and underneath near the clam foot.

HTH
Andrew

[Isis]

By the way, what kind of starfish is that? I have found two little ones like that in my tank. I am worried that they may be sand sifter stars, as that would be bad in my plenum system.

...and I would burninate those snails.The sea star is more than likely asternia. They stay small and usually eat algae off the glass and rocks. Occasionally you will get the species that munches on corals, but that isn't common.

[Thunderkat]

Thx Isis ^_^

[Jenn]

If they are the parasitic Pyramidellid sp. type, I had an outbreak of these about 6 months ago. I have 4 clams and many snails and would see them "hanging on" to the area where the snail comes out and under my clams mantle. I would just pick them off everyday and I added a sixline. I have not seen any in months now. HTH ^_^ .