My poor little Nassarius vibex!

[ChuckP]

So yesterday I saw one stuck to my glass, missing his shell, of course dead. Tonight I look again and there is another nassarius stuck to a different place missing his shell as well. Any idea what could be causing this? My salinity is at 1.025 I did a recent water change two days ago, not sure if that is what is causing the dieoff, it just seems strange that they would stay stuck onto the glass and let their shell rip off them.

 

Thanx,

Chuck

[Scott Riemer]

Do you have hermit crabs?

[reefone]

r u sure its a nass and not a stomanella?

[ChuckP]

I do not have any hermit crabs, the tank is 3 months old.

 

The snails were purchased from floridapets.com named "Nassarius Vibex". They have small spiral shells and some are dark and some are light with small spots.

[ChuckP]

Well it appears there is now one... maybe one of the ones I saw earlier without a shell moving along the glass without a shell. Quite an eerie sight.

[juin21]

hmm....my nassarius are never on the glass and always in the sand.... Your current isn't like a billion gph right? Cause if so and they are up top maybe the currents rippen off the shells!!!! Otherwise i dunno, especially since you don't have hermits.

[c est ma]

Are you feeding them, or is there anything in the tank to eat? They are not algae scrapers...

[ENraged]

any corals out of place?

perhaps they were survivors of a mantis attack? only to climb for their lifes and die clinging to the glass

[ChuckP]

any corals out of place?

perhaps they were survivors of a mantis attack? only to climb for their lifes and die clinging to the glass

 

 

My birdsnest keeps getting moved but I am pretty sure it is my turbo snails. I didn't know these guys had to be exclusivly fed, I thought they worked like other debris eaters, only having to supplement them occasionally. I will attempt feeding and see what happens.

 

I hope I don't have a mantis... if I do my friend would love to take it off my hands... anyone have luck using the bottle trick to capture mantis?

[c est ma]

My birdsnest keeps getting moved but I am pretty sure it is my turbo snails. I didn't know these guys had to be exclusivly fed, I thought they worked like other debris eaters, only having to supplement them occasionally. I will attempt feeding and see what happens.

 

That may not be the answer to your problem, but it can't hurt. It is a common misconception that Nassarius are +/- interchangeable with other gastropod members of the CUC, but in fact they are quite different from the common grazers (which are usually members of the Trochidae & Turbinidae families). Nassarius, as often noted, resemble whelks, which are predatory. Nassarius & whelks are in different families, but in the same order (or suborder, depending on your taxonomic guru).

 

Shimek calls Nassarius "obligate scavengers on meaty foods. Will not eat detritus or attack healthy animals." (Other authors state that they will eat detritus, but then, "detritus" is not a very scientific category! Also, I believe that different species of Nassarius have different dietary habits.)

 

Shimek goes on to say "these small, whelk-like snails may live for decades in captivity, performing useful scavenging chores, if not overstocked and allowed to starve. Specialized to eat carrion, not live flesh, they will rapidly consume leftover food."

 

So, if you have fish and/or feed your corals regularly, a few Nassarius should do well and be very helpful. But if you're like a lot of reefers, with invert-only tanks and a tendency to feed sparingly or not at all lest water params get zoo-ey, your Nassarius will be out of luck.

 

BTW, I learned this after we lost our first Nassarius, several years ago, from what I assume was starvation. We were just beginning in reefing and very cautious about feeding, and expected the Nassarius to just survive like the Astraea & hermits did. This, despite the fact that it was the amazing mass Nassarius emergence in response to the addition of frozen brine shrimp in the dealer's tank that sold us on one in the first place!

 

Now, in my 5.5g tank, I have one Nassarius that does nicely, now that I feed regularly. (He is happy with mini-sinking pellets, etc., though of course loves frozen food...) Part of the fun of feeding is waiting for him to erupt from the substrate. He is also handy for letting me know if another snail has passed on or is just "resting." If the Nassarius is going after it, I know it's dead...

 

(I am amazed by what I assume is their olfactory sensitivity. You wouldn't think the addition of a tiny pinch of mini-sinking pellets to a tank would bring the Nassarius up so fast!)

 

TMI, I know, but I just think this info needs to be repeated over & over again, as I still hear about new reefers being advised to add a handful of Nassarius to their brand new tanks as part of the CUC, when that's usually a recipe for disaster...

 

--Diane

[ChuckP]

That may not be the answer to your problem, but it can't hurt. It is a common misconception that Nassarius are +/- interchangeable with other gastropod members of the CUC, but in fact they are quite different from the common grazers (which are usually members of the Trochidae & Turbinidae families). Nassarius, as often noted, resemble whelks, which are predatory. Nassarius & whelks are in different families, but in the same order (or suborder, depending on your taxonomic guru).

 

Shimek calls Nassarius "obligate scavengers on meaty foods. Will not eat detritus or attack healthy animals." (Other authors state that they will eat detritus, but then, "detritus" is not a very scientific category! Also, I believe that different species of Nassarius have different dietary habits.)

 

Shimek goes on to say "these small, whelk-like snails may live for decades in captivity, performing useful scavenging chores, if not overstocked and allowed to starve. Specialized to eat carrion, not live flesh, they will rapidly consume leftover food."

 

So, if you have fish and/or feed your corals regularly, a few Nassarius should do well and be very helpful. But if you're like a lot of reefers, with invert-only tanks and a tendency to feed sparingly or not at all lest water params get zoo-ey, your Nassarius will be out of luck.

 

BTW, I learned this after we lost our first Nassarius, several years ago, from what I assume was starvation. We were just beginning in reefing and very cautious about feeding, and expected the Nassarius to just survive like the Astraea & hermits did. This, despite the fact that it was the amazing mass Nassarius emergence in response to the addition of frozen brine shrimp in the dealer's tank that sold us on one in the first place!

 

Now, in my 5.5g tank, I have one Nassarius that does nicely, now that I feed regularly. (He is happy with mini-sinking pellets, etc., though of course loves frozen food...) Part of the fun of feeding is waiting for him to erupt from the substrate. He is also handy for letting me know if another snail has passed on or is just "resting." If the Nassarius is going after it, I know it's dead...

 

(I am amazed by what I assume is their olfactory sensitivity. You wouldn't think the addition of a tiny pinch of mini-sinking pellets to a tank would bring the Nassarius up so fast!)

 

TMI, I know, but I just think this info needs to be repeated over & over again, as I still hear about new reefers being advised to add a handful of Nassarius to their brand new tanks as part of the CUC, when that's usually a recipe for disaster...

 

--Diane

 

Diane,

 

Wow well said. Thank you, I did exactly that I added 8 of these guys into my 30g and 2 into my refugium. I bet they are crawling the glass looking for food and eventually dieing off when they can't find it.

 

I have noticed they will eat my formula two pellets that fall onto the sandbed. I am going to pickup some frozen food today and see if I can kick start them. My water parameters are excellent and I feel pellets to my diamond goby and two perculas twice a day (about a pinch).

 

Do you think they will eat a blended mixture of seafoods (forumula two, brine, squid, etc.)? I was about to start using that stuff to feed my fish to supplement their diet. Currently I do the two pinches a day along with a phytoplankton feed every 3 days alternating with a dried coral mixture. They seem to go crazy when I put that in.

 

-Chuck

[c est ma]

Diane,

 

Wow well said. Thank you, I did exactly that I added 8 of these guys into my 30g and 2 into my refugium. I bet they are crawling the glass looking for food and eventually dieing off when they can't find it.

 

I have noticed they will eat my formula two pellets that fall onto the sandbed. I am going to pickup some frozen food today and see if I can kick start them. My water parameters are excellent and I feel pellets to my diamond goby and two perculas twice a day (about a pinch).

 

Do you think they will eat a blended mixture of seafoods (forumula two, brine, squid, etc.)? I was about to start using that stuff to feed my fish to supplement their diet. Currently I do the two pinches a day along with a phytoplankton feed every 3 days alternating with a dried coral mixture. They seem to go crazy when I put that in.

 

-Chuck

 

Thank YOU! I was afraid I'd gotten a little carried away...

 

Yes, I think they'd love your blended mixture. IME they're not very picky at all, just unable to survive on what grazers eat.

 

But again, feeding may not be your problem, since you have been doing so regularly...too many of us, I fear, in the effort to "starve" our algae, end up starving other critters as well...nevertheless, by continuing to feed regularly, your Nassarius can't help but be much healthier. Good luck, I hope you are successful at solving your problem with these little guys. (Note--if they're relatively new, they may be responding to stresses they underwent before you acquired them. Some of these stresses will lead to poor survivability no matter how well the ultimate hobbyist treats them...)

 

--Diane

[ChuckP]

Thank YOU! I was afraid I'd gotten a little carried away...

 

Yes, I think they'd love your blended mixture. IME they're not very picky at all, just unable to survive on what grazers eat.

 

But again, feeding may not be your problem, since you have been doing so regularly...too many of us, I fear, in the effort to "starve" our algae, end up starving other critters as well...nevertheless, by continuing to feed regularly, your Nassarius can't help but be much healthier. Good luck, I hope you are successful at solving your problem with these little guys. (Note--if they're relatively new, they may be responding to stresses they underwent before you acquired them. Some of these stresses will lead to poor survivability no matter how well the ultimate hobbyist treats them...)

 

--Diane

 

They did go into the tank ~2 weeks ago. They took 3 days to get to me in the mail so they might still be a little stressed. I got them from Florida Pets, I thought they would be in Florida but I guess not.

 

-Chuck

[c est ma]

They did go into the tank ~2 weeks ago. They took 3 days to get to me in the mail so they might still be a little stressed. I got them from Florida Pets, I thought they would be in Florida but I guess not.

 

-Chuck

 

Well, you know how snail mail can be...(groan!).

 

BTW, I like your title--"My poor little Nassarius..." Sure beats "my stupid snails," which we do hear, too often.

 

--Diane