Parasite on/in my snails?

eag · Jan 8, 2021

I have been noticing that some of my dwarf cerith snails occasionally have a string-like thing that hangs off of them (kind of like a sick clownfish). I didn't think too much of it at first, but yesterday I noticed that this string thing is actually a worm of some kind? I watched it move, contract and expand. Any ideas?

vetteguy53081 · Jan 8, 2021

Looks like a spinoid worm. Simply break off at the stem and discard

eag · Jan 9, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
Looks like a spinoid worm. Simply break off at the stem and discard

I looked up spinoid worm, but those seem to build a tube. This worm didn't have a tube, it was moving all around, and it looked like it was attached to (or coming out of) the snail's body. In the picture it had just contracted - it often extends 2x that size (and gets thinner when it does so). I'll see if I can get some more pictures or video.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 9, 2021

eag said:
I looked up spinoid worm, but those seem to build a tube. This worm didn't have a tube, it was moving all around, and it looked like it was attached to (or coming out of) the snail's body. In the picture it had just contracted - it often extends 2x that size (and gets thinner when it does so). I'll see if I can get some more pictures or video.

Spinoid will utilize shell and can build off it. Also look up vermetid snail