Killer Nassarius Snails

[KristiYates]

Last week, I got a turbo snail to add to my CUC. A few hours after adding him to by tank, I noticed that 3 of my nassarius nails were all over him. I moved him to another spot, but they kept following him around and climbing on his shell. I was worried about the new guy, so I decided to try to feed the nassarius snails bits of shrimp (about half the size of what I'd feed by BTAs).I have never fed my nassarius snails before this incident--they always come out when I feed my fish and I thought that the leftovers was enough for them. The nass snails ate the shrimp pieces relatively quickly, then went right back to the turbo snail. They must have sucked him out of his shell and ate him overnight, because he was gone the next morning. This seems really weird to me. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I have 6 nassarius snails in my 29 gallon tank. The rest of the CUC is about 5-10 hermit crabs, and an emerald crab. I have 2 percula clowns and a royal gramma in the tank with a few BTAs and some soft corals. Should I feed my snails more?

 

[jenreefer]

Last week, I got a turbo snail to add to my CUC. A few hours after adding him to by tank, I noticed that 3 of my nassarius nails were all over him. I moved him to another spot, but they kept following him around and climbing on his shell. I was worried about the new guy, so I decided to try to feed the nassarius snails bits of shrimp (about half the size of what I'd feed by BTAs).I have never fed my nassarius snails before this incident--they always come out when I feed my fish and I thought that the leftovers was enough for them. The nass snails ate the shrimp pieces relatively quickly, then went right back to the turbo snail. They must have sucked him out of his shell and ate him overnight, because he was gone the next morning. This seems really weird to me. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? I have 6 nassarius snails in my 29 gallon tank. The rest of the CUC is about 5-10 hermit crabs, and an emerald crab. I have 2 percula clowns and a royal gramma in the tank with a few BTAs and some soft corals. Should I feed my snails more?

Oh yea, they are beasts. I have though come to the conclusion, that they only eat the dead or dying snails. I may be wrong, but the healthy active snails seem to be able to survive my five monsters of the tank. I have never seen anything as aggressive as a nassarius on the hunt.

I suspect the snail did not acclimate well and was not moving when they came after it.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I agree with Jen. The new snail was putting out the "I'm not well" vibe and nassarius pick up on that signal very quickly.

 

[KristiYates]

Thank you Jen and Renee! Should I feed them bits of shrimp every now and then? I'm kinda nervous about getting another turbo snail. I don't want to sentence him to the same fate. Yall are right though, I never saw the turbo snail even attempt to move.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I feed my guy. I use a stick to feed my fish, so there's no waste besides what they poop. When he pops out during feeding, I have to admit I feed him several pieces. They can eat ALOT!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Are they "regular" nassarius?

 

[jenreefer]

Are they "regular" nassarius?

What is a "regular" nassarius? as opposed to other types?

 

[KristiYates]

Are they "regular" nassarius?

Yes! They are...they have never bothered anything else in my tank. I guess the turbo snail was sick when I got him?

 

[Elysium]

What is a "regular" nassarius? as opposed to other types?

Regular nassarius specialize in eating detritus and dead things. Other whelk snails will actually hunt and kill other snails.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

What is a "regular" nassarius? as opposed to other types?

There's a couple in particular that are problematic that are sold with the label "Nassarius". One is the leopard nassarius, which is a Babylonia. They are gorgeous, but they will eat other snails. There's also another that is often sold by Florida vendors and that is the mud snail obsoleta. If you see someone selling bunches of nassarius for pretty cheap, it's probably an obsoleta.

 

[tomtom2245]

Check this out to make sure you don't have whelks instead: http://melevsreef.com/node/1716

I also thought I read somewhere that one way to id the difference is a whelk has a hard shell part that closes over its body when they retract into their shell and nass. do not but I can't find that info right now.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

The "innocent" nassarius have the operculum as well. You can't ID a whelk from the shell, skin pattern and/or operculum, but they are indicators to make you go "hmmmmm" to take a closer look at the "nassarius" you bought.

 

[jenreefer]

There's a couple in particular that are problematic that are sold with the label "Nassarius". One is the leopard nassarius, which is a Babylonia. They are gorgeous, but they will eat other snails. There's also another that is often sold by Florida vendors and that is the mud snail obsoleta. If you see someone selling bunches of nassarius for pretty cheap, it's probably an obsoleta.

Ok, understand, I never called those nassarius. To me they are totally different, but see how they could be confused.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Ok, understand, I never called those nassarius. To me they are totally different, but see how they could be confused.

Vendors sell them as helpful nassarius.... I think the word is getting out.

 

[elfda]

There's a couple in particular that are problematic that are sold with the label "Nassarius". One is the leopard nassarius, which is a Babylonia. They are gorgeous, but they will eat other snails. There's also another that is often sold by Florida vendors and that is the mud snail obsoleta. If you see someone selling bunches of nassarius for pretty cheap, it's probably an obsoleta.

._. This worries me. Does anyone have some side-by-side comparison photos of these 3 species?