Nassarius eating soft corals?

[Archon]

I found a few Nassarius babies in my 5G a couple of months ago and they have grown close to their final size.

 

Since my tank is bare bottom the snails have been spending most of their time on the glass and rock.

 

Lately I observed that my Clavularia started losing polyps and I remember one of the snails hanging very often around the spot where the polyps are gone. 

 

Today I observed that a snail was again on the spot where polyps are missing.

 

I am pretty sure that the coral is healthy and not dying.

 

Have you observed anything similar?

I found an old post from another board stating that Nassarius were eating soft corals/polyps.

 

I think I am going to remove them as the tank may not be providing enough food for them.

[Tamberav]

Possible they are not nass snails, got as pic? Most 'bad' snails however eat good snails, not coral. 

 

Also it may just be a coincidence or they are feeding on dying coral but not killing it. A lot of type scavengers get blame when they are just eating flesh that is already dying.

 

 

[Archon]

1 hour ago, Tamberav said:

Possible they are not nass snails, got as pic? Most 'bad' snails however eat good snails, not coral. 

 

Also it may just be a coincidence or they are feeding on dying coral but not killing it. A lot of type scavengers get blame when they are just eating flesh that is already dying.

 

 

You might be on to something. After some research I came across whelks and I think that might be the case. I will try to post a picture asap.

[Archon]

I managed to remove two of them, I am still looking for the third one. 

What do you think looking at the pics below?

 

[Leo_ian]

It does look like a whelk except for the fact that in most pics i searched up, the shell extends like a horn. It doesn't really look like a nass

[Tamberav]

Cant see the foot but certainly looks like Whelks. They are pretty good at breeding in our tanks too so you may find more.