Ok. The joke may be on me but a snail this morning at the top of a rock display was secreting huge smoke signals of white plumes that were mixing into the water. This was to the point that the entire DT was becoming foggy. Is this normal? I already have two Chromis not doing well last minute and fish on the way. Now this.
Snail Semen?
- Thread starter ReefSCTim
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No reason to worry. I have this happen every few weeks. The tank will stay cloudy for a couple hours as the corals consume these gamete cells and the skimmer then pulls the remainder out. I don't necessarily try to "breed" these snails (mine are red banded Trochus), but I have hundreds ranging in size from nearly microscopic to adult size. I think it's a great thing to have a self perpetuating clean up crew.
Generally they will all (or many of them) do it at the same time. For me they typically move to the top of the tank walls or the highest point of the rocks they are on and you see this "steam" effect. Eventually it will make the whole tank cloudy if you have enough of them. If the egg and sperm come in contact they will make a tiny larval/planktonic snail. I do not have any knowledge of this stage of their life. I will "see" them as 0.1 mm size snails with a tiny shell under a magnifying loupe in my sump or on the glass or "feel" them as "sand" when I clean my skimmer a week/weeks or so after the event. So their shell grows with them.
Mayerlyn A
Entre_Jardines
Happens with my trochus , now have lots of babies all over the tank ranging in different sizes. It can make the tank really cloudy for a couple of hours. Really freaked me out the first time it happened .
Mayerlyn A
Entre_Jardines
Poor guy, trashed for doing his thing! Glad he was rescued .
NY_Caveman
likes words, fish and arbitrary statistics
Yeah, mine tend to go up high to do it. They often will do it from the top of the return nozzle and broadcast spew. It always amazes me how much comes out from the little snail.
J_anderson_75
Community Member
I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to say how thankful I am for the "search" function. I was able to pull this up in a panic to see what was going on with my snails. They are doing this exact thing, clouding my entire tank up! I was getting ready to pull them out, but decided to hit my R2R search first...and bingo...here I am. Thanks for the info. Now I can relax!!
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I was afraid to open the thread with that title...
But yes, some signals from the little Tee Pee are exactly what you thought lol
But yes, some signals from the little Tee Pee are exactly what you thought lol
The Opinionated Reefer
Well-Known Member
Does this actually produce new snails in a tank? They just did it in my tank.
