look what i found on my clam - snail

lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
i tried to pick and kill all of them i will watch it closely next few days ....hopefully they are all gone
 
slice

slice

Active Member
There was an article in Coral magazine a few months ago about the species of snails that prey on clams. I don't think I still have that issue, perhaps someone can point you to the online version so you can read up on these vermin.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Those are pyramidal snails and NOT a good thing. If you have that many, you also have eggs, and the cycle is going to continue.
The article Slice is referring to can be found in Coral Magazine's March/April 2011 Issue. It's called "Vampires of the Sea".
Certain wrasses do help with the issue, but I'd do some google searches. There's differing opinions on what works best.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
They do get worse at night, so that's the best time to pluck off as many as you can, but they're in your system. They're sort of like "ich" it just doesn't go away over night.
Do you have a QT?
 
S

siptang

Guest
Man... making me scared of these things... what do they do exactly to get the nick name of the vampire? do they suck blood off fish and clams?
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Go to first thread link here.
http://www.google.com/search?q=Pyramid+snail+removal+tips.&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:eek:fficial&client=firefox-a
OR
"Natural predators of Pyramid snails include several species of wrasse within the genus of Halichoeres and Pseudocheilinus. A few of the more popular species that are reportedly very efficient at controlling these snails are; Six and Eight Lined Wrasse (P. hexataenia and P. octotaenia), and the Green Wrasse (H. chloropterus)."
 
lubeck

lubeck

Active Member
I've been checking every night and day and haven't seen anything yet I'm not sure how small they are as you can see from the pic they are quit large. Still need to read more about them
 
S

saxman

Guest
Pyramidellae are the bane of a clam keeper's existence. There are wrasses that will eat them, but unfortunately, the snails come out at night when the fish are sleeping, so they aren't 100% effective. At this point, manual removal is all you can do. Remove the clam to a bowl or bucket of tankwater and go over it with a magnifying glass to remove any snails. Check beneath the mantle and the shell margins, and especially the byssal area ("hinges"). You'll also want to scrub any egg masses from the clam with a brush.
One problem is that these snails often live in the substrate, so you'll need to make this a nightly activity until you eradicate them.
HTH
 
S

saxman

Guest
One more thing...if you have snails in the tank, check them as well...some Pyramidellae are reported to be species specific, but some aren't so picky.
A friend of ours wondered why he couldn't keep clams...
 
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