KOWRIE (cowry) SNAILS

[kyred1]

Does anyone know if these snails harm LR? I have two (pretty good size) in a 75gal tank (setting up as reef) and I just purchased 4 pieces of FIJO LR a little over a week ago.

 

[superman]

I've never heard of snails destroying LR. But then again i dont know very much about cowries. Even so I wouldn't worry about it. If you notice them doing something you don't like take them out.

 

[kyred1]

I don't know if they are Tiger or not. They have the brown and whitel spotted shell. The only reason I asked is because there was something (small brown tube like thing on the rock) there, and now it is gone.

 

[beth]

Yes, cowries eat live rock...or, rather, the coraline algae on LR. Don't panic and start ripping your tank apart to fish out the poor cowries. This is a good thing, actually. They eat very slowly...you can imagine how hard it is for a snail to eat calcareous material. They will clear small patches of the coraline and, when finished, they move on to eat corline elsewhere. In the meantime, the area that they cleared is left for new varieties of coraline to grow, thus stimulating variety/diversity in your reef ecosystem.

 

[kyred1]

So what you are saying then, is that I won't have the pretty coraline algae? I want to set my tank as a reef. I currently have:1 coral banded
4 false percs
2 feather dusters
2 anenomes (pink/purple
1 pencil urchin
2 lg cowrie snails
7 turbo snails
1 baby box fish
1 blue damsel
1 emerald crab
couple of blue legs
This is all in a 75 gallon. I had a flame scallop that bit the dust. So I am trying to figure out, what is the benefit of coraline algae. Thank you for your help so far.

 

[kyred1]

I forgot to include: 4 pcs of figi LR. Waiting to get more. And that is the other question. I have had the LR in my system for two weeks now. When is the earliest time to add more? My levels are all ok right now, except I don't know how to test for calcium and PH.

 

[clarkiiboi]

KYRED if you are worried about the coraline, the urchin has to go. I had two pincushion urchins that loved my coraline, I just took them back yesterday. I read just today on this site on the main page (on the saltwaterfish.com store) that the urchin you have also "may eat coraline", it said the same of mine and there was no may eat about it, they did eat. HTH