info on pest snails

[corbett_n]

does anyone have a thread or pics if different types hitchhiking snails. I have some snails and they are small and I can't really get a good pic of them. I just want to make sure they aren't harmful. If anything do you all know the ones that are bad for the tank.

[pagojoe]

The small ones that most people fear are Turbonilla species, called "Pyramid Snails" by some of the folks here. They are often parasitic on clams or other snails. You can search for that name and should find a good article by Dr. Shimek on how to tell these snails from similar but harmless rissoids.

Other snails you might not want include the Heliacus species which feed on zoanthids (called Sundials, athough there are many species in the family Architectonicidae which wouldn't eat your zooanthids), muricids and buccinid whelks and their relatives which eat other snails, and possibly the eulimids, which are typically parasitic on echinoderms.

If you have a lot of tiny, elongated white snails they are probably either Turbonilla species (pyramidellids), rissoids, or eulimids. Eulimids usually have smooth shells, and if you don't have sea cucumbers or a bunch of starfish, you shouldn't have a large population of eumilids. That leaves the other two families as your most likely candidates.

If the shells are flattened and patterned with brown or red, rather than elongated and white or beige, they are probably either turbinids or trochids. If this is the case, they are algal grazers, and are considered good guys by most aquarists.

Typical pyramidellid:
http://www.gastropods.com/3/Shell_6233.html

Typical rissoid:
http://www.gastropods.com/1/Shell_16991.html

Typical eulimid (many are simply transparent white):
http://www.gastropods.com/2/Shell_2092.html

Typical "Sundial":
http://www.gastropods.com/5/Shell_5765.html

Chances are good you don't have a population of small whelks or muricids, so I won't include links to examples of those.

Cheers,



Don

[Paintbug]

here is a nice general snail page.
http://home2.pacific.net.ph/%7Esweet...tchsnails.html

[corbett_n]

Thanks for all the info, but I still can't pinpoint exactly which snail I have. i am going to try and get a picture of them tonight and post them here.