Darn Brissel Worm ate my snail...sos

[bina770]

I came home aroung 7: 45pm only to see that lowlife "Brissel Worm" with his head in the center of my 5 day old Mexican Turbo snail. (RIP) He drilled a hole litterly into the snail. I wanted to chop the bastard in half, but I got scared and he disapered back into the Rock.

So what I did was I took a 10 inch clear tube and stuffed the one side with the Snail and dropped some Flakes down into the tube, I set it down in the tank and now the War is on.

Anyone else got any better ideas

[amaya]

imo i dont think the worm killed your snail it was just finishing what ever was left,and dont try to grab the worm you'll have alot of little needles

[bina770]

Do what, that snail was active and cleaning since I bought it, He drilled a hole in the snails head, wHAT DO YOU MEAN??

[dohc97]

I dont believe bristleworms drill holes in anything, they are scavangers and usually eat leftover food and dead animals in your tank. How big is this bristleworm?

[Sk8r]

Bristleworms have no hard mouth parts. If he is a bristleworm, he did not drill a hole, and I do not know a worm commonly found that does so. His species are undertakers, eaters of the dead. He was protecting your tank from a nitrate spike after your snail died. Look elsewhere for the cause of death.

[amaya]

take it easy,do you see teeth on the worm to make a hole, a crab could have killed your snail or your water parameters are off

[bina770]

yOU GUYS I SAW THE WORM, IN THE SHELL OF THE SNAIL, THAT IS A FACT, (I THINK IT IS A BRISSEL WORM, WITH BRISSELS)ON IT 5-6 INCHES OUT OF THE ROCK WITH THE FRONT OF ITS FACE INTO THE SNAILS SHELL. I HOLE APPEARED IN THE SNAIL, THE SNAIL WAS LIFE LESS, ALL MY FISH ARE FINE, THE OTHER 2 SANILS ARE CLEANING AND FINE. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE???

[bigevill]

There are worms that eat snails, but they are not bristle worms. What color was the worm?

[circusordie16]

do you mean that it ate a hole in the snails body or it drilled a hole through the shell? because BRISTLE worms wont/cant eat through a shell but they will scavenge a dead animal. but either way, the bristle worm didnt kill the snail, it died from something else and the worms are cleaning it up.

[dohc97]

I don't mean to be rude but as has been said to you before you need to research things before posting a new thread about every single little thing. How about making a tank thread? that way you can have a thread where all your problems can be addressed without having us jump thru a bunch of threads. I believe your snail died, dont know the reason but the bristleworm was just cleaning up the carcass. I understand some people dont like bristleworms but i had loads of them in my previous setup and they kept my tank pretty neat.

[bina770]

nOT THROUGH THE SHELL, BUT THROUGH THE INSIDE, UNDERNEITH, WELL THAT IS STRANGE, SO IT DIED, THE OTHER GUYS ARE FINE, WHAT IF TOM I TEST MY WATER AND EVERYTHING IS 100%, THEN ARE THERE ANY OTHER POSSIBILITIES?? TOM I WILL GET MY WATER TESTED FOR EVERYTHING.

WHAT BETTER WAY TO LEARN , BUT TO ASK YOU GUYS.

[sasscuba]

The snail most likely died and the worm was eating the remains. Bristle worms are good for your tank. You probably just got a bad snail....they don't live forever.

[dohc97]

snails do have to be replaced, eventually you start seeing less of them around and more empty shells. I dont know if anyone knows a snail's life span? either way i always hear of people replacing snails and crabs. I would not worry too much about 1 dead snail, now if all your snails drop dead all of a sudden i would be concerned.

[szgppl]

Check these out. their good worms.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-03/rs/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04/rs/index.php
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-05/rs/index.php

[sellout007]

Originally posted by bina770
yOU GUYS I SAW THE WORM, IN THE SHELL OF THE SNAIL, THAT IS A FACT, (I THINK IT IS A BRISSEL WORM, WITH BRISSELS)ON IT 5-6 INCHES OUT OF THE ROCK WITH THE FRONT OF ITS FACE INTO THE SNAILS SHELL. I HOLE APPEARED IN THE SNAIL, THE SNAIL WAS LIFE LESS, ALL MY FISH ARE FINE, THE OTHER 2 SANILS ARE CLEANING AND FINE. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE???

WHY ARE WE TYPING LIKE THIS??? DOES THIS GET YOUR POINT ACROSS MORE? DOES IT MAKE PEOPLE RESPOND FASTER??

Your snail died, it happens. No big deal.

[jski711]

my guess is it fell off a rock and could not get itself back up and thats when the bristleworm got it. just my opinion. Like sellout said please don't use all caps its like your yelling at everyone.

[moon jelly]

bristle worms=friends. as everyone else said, they eat dead critters. most likely, it ate the dead snail. think positive...at the end of the cycle...........less nitrates

[Ladipyg]

A turbo snail that has been in your tank for 5 days could have died from anything..it may not have been well to start with...for the most part it takes a long time to acclimate certain invertebrates...I find turbo snails to be one of those...if you don't take the time to get them used to the difference between the store water and the home tank water it can cause problems. Most LFS have lower salinity levels to deter parasites. When you bring anything home it needs to go thru a drip acclimation. Check any on-line vendor for acclimation procedures to give you step by step directions. Never add water from the LFS to your tank. I had a friend that floated the bag with 10 turbos in his tank for 20 minutes and just dumped them in the tank. Within a week, every single one was dead.

On another note, you have asked our help...most of us have been doing this for a while. Bristle worms clean up things that are already dead. They can do this very quickly. They burrow into the dead snail for the tender parts, they cannot burrow thru shell.
You have asked a question and those of us on the forum have taken the time to answer you. If you feel it necessary to doubt everything that is being told to you by experienced tank keepers, then those taking the time to answer your questions, will soon stop doing so.
I have no intention of offending you or sounding rude..only offering some friendly advice..you may take it in the spirit it was offered in or you may disregard it. Good luck...

[GrandeGixxer]

I am under the temp acclimation then into the tank for snails and crabs program. I sometimes shoot baskets from across the room with them. The only reason I ever lose snails in because I don't find them to flip them over soon enough. I think they are pretty tough inverts. I know some places still ship them with wet newspaper.

[GrandeGixxer]

I also don't think that the bristleworm killed it though, just ate the remains.

[broke1]

Too many people asking about bristle worms lately. They really are a good thing for your tank. I can say with a pretty good amount of certainty that the worm was helping you by cleaning up a mess that would have caused a small Ammonia spike.

I see posts of cleaner shrimp eating clams, Nassarius snails eating brains, snail eating worms. You put a cleaner crew in your tank, and now you don't like it doing it's job.

My Nassarius snails know something is dying long before I do. I just leave them alone to do what they do. Worms are the same way. The trouble is these animals are much better at sensing the problems in the tank and take action before we have a chance to even research it.

You should probably spend a little time reading about what some of these animals actually do in your tank. Most of these are "good guys".

[marfuerte]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by broke1
[B]Too many people asking about bristle worms lately. They really are a good thing for your tank. I can say with a pretty good amount of certainty that the worm was helping you by cleaning up a mess that would have caused a small Ammonia spike.

I see posts of cleaner shrimp eating clams, Nassarius snails eating brains, snail eating worms. You put a cleaner crew in your tank, and now you don't like it doing it's job.

Well said.

[444reefkeeper]

I think its not the people asking the questions, its society. We are becoming lazy.
Why push the lawn mower, when you can drive one.
Why walk or run, when you can get on a stair master.
Why use your turn signal, when YOU know you're turning.
Why study and inform yourself, when you can just post a thread.

Some of these aren't a big deal. Saltwater is.

Before I had saltwater, I heard 2 things about it. It is hard and expensive. Hearing that, you gotta do your homework. Hundreds of dollars go to snails and rocks. Without educating yourself, your just wasting money.
I'm not as fortunate as some I have seen in this hobby that seem to have a disposable income. If I can save some cash by doing something simple like reading or listening, I'm in.

[Sk8r]

Might I add---you should be acclimating all inverts by equalizing their salinity with tank salinity before putting them in and you should be using a refractometer. Death from osmotic shock is not instant. You say this snail had been in your tank for 5 days. This is about right for organ failure due to inadequate acclimation: translation---you might have done the critter in, yourself, if you did not acclimate.

Acclimation can 'accidentally' be short or non-existent with inverts. If the salinity of the lfs matches yours, you're being lucky. If that relationship changes---your critters suddenly die a few days after they hit the tank and you're left wondering what happened.

Bowing out now.

[Ladipyg]

Sk8r...I agree wholeheartedly as I said in my response...I think that the importance of the equalization of salinity is under-rated or that the damage it can do is not noticed because the animal does not got belly up as soon as it's in the tank. It looks fine and a few days later it dies and no one connects the fact that it was osmotic shock...I wasn't sure what it was called, I just knew the results...Thank you for the info...I will remember that term.
Happy Turkey Day to All!!!