Snail "infestation"(?) overnight

codys21 · Oct 6, 2019

Hey, everyone,

When I woke up this morning, I noticed a bunch of little white dots on the front glass on my 29 gallon tank. They are very small; maybe 0.5mm in size. They appear to be completely white and I'm unsure if they have shells. They do move (albeit very slowly because of their size) and appear to have two little antennae looking things. I have the best pictures I can get of them; three of them directly through the glass and then a side picture showing the little white dots all along the front glass. I counted at least 60 of them.

The last livestock I added was on May 19, 2019 (zoanthid, mushroom, and Kenya tree from my LFS). My last fish I added was a clown on March 9. I don't QT anything (I know, I know) but I watched them dip the corals when I bought them and it was months ago.

Any idea what these are? From my research, collonista snails seem to be the most prominent but these are SO small it's really hard to confirm.

Thanks for the help!
Cody

Tuan’s Reef · Oct 6, 2019

They are indeed collonista snails as I have the same infestation. I have read they are harmless. I have never seen them do anything other than eat algae off my glass and rocks.

Lorenzo Angotti · Oct 6, 2019

If there are overtaking you can because they are so small syphon them out if you’ve got a battery operated vacuum cleaner or failing that, get a plastic container box, drill holes in the top lid and sides cut a slit in the front and back big enough for the Snails to climb in and bait some lettuce or nori sheet inside. The box should sink to the bottom hence the holes.

ZoWhat · Oct 6, 2019

Quit playing Barry White LOVE music overnight....

codys21 · Oct 6, 2019

Lorenzo Angotti said:
If there are overtaking you can because they are so small syphon them out if you’ve got a battery operated vacuum cleaner or failing that, get a plastic container box, drill holes in the top lid and sides cut a slit in the front and back big enough for the Snails to climb in and bait some lettuce or nori sheet inside. The box should sink to the bottom hence the holes.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind if they get out of hand.