Itty Bitty Snail ID

[redfishblewfish]

So I’m up pretty late last night and before going to bed I look in on the tank by turning on the blue LED’s. To my shock and horror, I see hundreds (maybe 300+) very small white specks covering the glass and rocks. I immediately thought Acoel Flatworms, and went to bed thinking of the best way to treat these insidious little creatures. By the way, once the lights come on, they all disappear.

I woke up this morning and first pulled a couple of these out of the tank to examine them under the magnifying lens. They are only maybe a millimeter across, and with my old eyes, just look like a white little speck. But under the magnifying lens I am delighted to see small little snails. Here is a poor photo taken with a point-n-shoot camera through that magnifying lens:

Now snails were never my thing. I know very little about them other then I’ve put my fair share of them in the tank for the clean up crew. But knowing what I’ve put in the tank in the past (dwarf cerith, florida cerith, limpets, nassarius, nerite, zigzag periwinkle, and Mexican turbos), I’m guessing that I’ve got a crap-load of nerite or Mexican turbos on my hands, going from the shape of the shell.

Any insight would be appreciated….such as, is this typical; is there a large die-off or am I going to be stuck with hundreds of these things? If these are Mexican turbos (because the three I have are the size of a doorknobs), does anyone have a recipe for escargot?

 

[redfishblewfish]

I think I have identified these little guys…… colonista snails……….a common hitchhiker that breeds like rabbits and come out at night and look like mini-turbos….never get big.

 

[Ratlova30]

gee that sucks, sorry to here tank. I'd get a snail trap and adjust it so only the tiny snails can get into it. I used to have this large colony of feeder snails, I don't know the species but their a pest and I only had an outbreak in my one of my ten gals. So I gave them away as free feeders and I decided to add Malaysian trumpets to the tank to start a breeding colony and after a couple months the feeder snails started to disappear. Don't know why but my best guess is that the malaysians were eating the eggs sacks. Anyways best of luck.

 

[redfishblewfish]

Ratlova, maybe I should have clarified further….they are a hitchhiker, but are reef safe. They are now part of my CUC that I never knew I had. From doing a search, I understand that their numbers fluctuate up and down. Right now I’ve got a lot of them. But again, they are not bad for the tank.

 

[Amphiprion]

I wish I had Collonista snails for my setup. I've never really been able to support a reasonable population of them. I've had great luck with little rissoids, on the other hand.