Trochus snails spawning in water column

[CapitalO]

Last evening I noticed cloudy water in my tank and the fish were in a feeding frenzy. After watching for a few minutes I noticed that my 2 large trochus snails were towards the top of the water line, shooting a sort of cloudy granulated discharge into the water.

I suppose this was spawning, although I didnt think that snails spawned like this (possibly releasing larvae after asexual reproduction???). Ive noticed quite a few baby trochus snails grow in the fuge in the past which could expain this...

It was cool how both snails positioned themselves at the top of the tank and did it simultaneously, amazing stuff! The only downside was a pungent fishy smell throughout the room for several hours

[delsol650]

I had astreas mass spawn... made my skimmer work like crazy thank goodness..... its been said that if you have enough snails spawn and not have good filtration it can cause a tank to have a small crash... Don't know if this is true , maybe due to excess nutrients ?

[FunkieReefJunkie]

Crash...gosh I hope not because about eight of them have decided to spawn in my tank. It started around midnight. At first I just spotted one male releasing sperm. About 1:30 am this morning I went back to check out my tank. It is really cloudly and this time I spotted the females releasing eggs. My lights go on around 7 pm and off at 4 am so I will have time to continue watching. At least I planned a water change for this afternoon and my BK 400 should be pulling some major crud out. I wonder if this is triggered by moon cycle? Never was really interested in snail reproduction before, but to see these snails in action is fascinating. Hopefully I caught some decent footage with the canon powershot.

[greenbean36191]

It's unlikely the spawning had anything to do with the moon cycle. Once one snail starts to spawn, chemicals it releases trigger others to do the same.

[BrianPlankis]

Originally posted by delsol650
I had astreas mass spawn... made my skimmer work like crazy thank goodness..... its been said that if you have enough snails spawn and not have good filtration it can cause a tank to have a small crash... Don't know if this is true , maybe due to excess nutrients ?

It is theoretically possible that a snail spawn could cause some water chemistry problems. The main problem would be ammonia from the decomposing eggs and sperm and the associated drop in dissolved oxygen.

But I would say the chances of a tank crash from happening are extremely small. You would need a LOT of snails spawning at the same time and while some people do put a LOT of snails in their tanks, they typically do not get enough to eat to spawn.

Brian

[delsol650]

I had about 40 of them spawn all at once in my 100gal.