davinaster Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 I bought my first corals a couple of weeks ago, a small rock with a colony of zoas and two mushrooms on it. It came with a hitchhiking snail that I think may be a species of nassarius. It has the same shell shape as the others in my tank, the same pink tip on its shell and the same siphon. However, its foot is red and its behavior is radically different. Instead of burying itself in the sand, it lives in the polyp colony during the day, and comes out at night. The polyps are doing great, so I don't believe the snail is harming them. It may be irritating the mushrooms, though I haven't determined for sure what (if anything) is wrong with them. Today the snail released a cloud of black...? into the tank. I can only assume it is trying to reproduce. Is anyone familiar with this snail/coral relationship? It's very interesting, and I don't want to remove the snail unless it's really dangerous to my tank. Thanks! Link to comment
cornstar Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 I would see how it goes. I had a small Nassarius that would not leave my torch coral alone. It appeared to munch on the soft part of the coral and was doing serious damage. I would pick him off the coral and place him at the other end of the tank, with in an hour he was bach eating my torch! I had to remove him. The funny thing is i have about 10 other nassarius and they never go near my corals....strange. Link to comment
Angel Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Could it be a type of tulip snail? Have you had any snails come up missing? Link to comment
davinaster Posted January 24, 2005 Author Share Posted January 24, 2005 I considered tulip snail, especially when I had a problem with a snail w/ holes in its shell. I pulled this guy out, and he has no operculum. So not a tulip snail - and I haven't had any snail deaths. *fingers crossed* Link to comment
Angel Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Well, that is a good thing! Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted January 25, 2005 Share Posted January 25, 2005 Maybe a pyramid snail? they like the zoos alright... Link to comment
davinaster Posted January 25, 2005 Author Share Posted January 25, 2005 Nope. Shell's not shaped like a pyramid - the shape's just like a nassarius. I'd post a picture, but I haven't been able to get one that would help with identification. Like I said, it doesn't seem to be eating the corals, just kind of ####ing off the mushrooms. I'll stick to wait-and-see mode for now... Link to comment
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