mystery snail multiplying... any id?

[krux]

i have just noticed in the last 2 or 3 days these little guys. they are about 3/8" long on the shell, and their mantle extends around all edges in the same manner as an abalone. the shell is a black and white diamond pattern, with a yellow spot towards the posterior end. the mantle is black and grey, more black on the two i am looking at now. i can currently see 4 in my tank, and with 75 lbs of rock in a 29 that means there are probably quite a few more.
paint masterpiece enclosed to attempt to illustrate better what i am talking about.
thanks for your help. need to know if this guy is good or bad before more of them start to show up.

 

[pbuck]

I have seen them in several of my tanks. I just setup a 55 gallon with 50lbs of live rock. I have not gotten around to putting any corals or fish in it yet. Over the past month I have noticed about 10-15 of those little guys crawling all over the glass and rocks. I have also noticed them in smaller numbers in my established tanks. I guess they come in on the live rock.

 

[justinx]

Stomatella snails . . . a good algae eater and they readily reproduce in captivity. Very common . . . .

 

[krux]

yeah that was the closest id i could make from my books, but i hadn't seen any with these specific colorations. i wanted to play miniature chess on its back.
thanks for the second on my guess. at least i dont have to do a tear down for this one!

 

[michaeltx]

nope they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns on the shell. but thats what the diagram looks like LOL
most common that I see in tanks are grey and red but have seen black, green, brown, and spotted different colors.
<Mike
O yeah and as long as you have a make and a female in the tank they will multiply often and loads of babies will show up in a couple of months I can count 75 at a time in my tank then the start blurrying to gether LOL

 

[michaeltx]

if it has like a half shell on its back then probably so . if it doesnt have a visible shell then no its not.
Mike