turbo snail abandons shell

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

anybody ever have a turbo snail leave its shell before? i was looking in my tank today and noticed something moving along the rock that looked like a slug. but upon some research realized it was my turbo snail out of his shell. i did add a bag of hermit shells yesterday could he be switching? its just living under a piece of rock right now. i tried to get a pic but it was tough to get a good one.

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

Ummmm.... that's not possible. You likely have a sea slug of some form.

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

Can you get a pic of the front of it? My guess is sea hare.

smh254 · May 5, 2016

+1 sea hare

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

it disappeared into the rock but it looked to have 2 tenticals coming from its head and a hump back. but you are correct it is not one of my turbos they are all accounted for in there shell. my next question is are these bad? pest?

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

and how does something like this end up in my reef without me putting it in there?

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

Sea hares are not bad. They are really good algae eaters. They can come in on LR as hitchikers.

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

but i didnt use live rock. it was all dry pukani rock.

cmcoker · May 5, 2016

Could be a stomatella snail, their. Small shells can blend in to the body... Try a Google Image search for that.

If it's stomatella it's a good hitchhiker - they get in by hitching a ride on something else you added, like rock or a frag

ngvu1 · May 5, 2016

I don't think a turbo a snail can walk out of the shell and survive forgetting moving around ;-)
It is difficult to remove the body from the shell even after cooked

ReefQueen · May 5, 2016

Hard to tell from the pics, but I would also say stomatella. For future reference it you see an empty snail shell that snail is dead. They cannot change shells like a hermit crab can as the shell is attached to the body.

TheEngineer · May 5, 2016

Could be stomatella. Still hard to say from the pics. They have a pretty small shell that's just the middle of their back.

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

okay after googling stomatella im gonna say its that for sure. it looked just like the pictures.

cmcoker · May 5, 2016

Brandon42 said:
okay after googling stomatella im gonna say its that for sure. it looked just like the pictures.

Thats a great hitchhiker, they can reproduce in tank (if you have more than one) and are good algae eaters.

ngvu1 · May 5, 2016

I have a bunch of them and I have no clue where they came from

I have some old timers and they are like almost 1 inch long

cmcoker said:
Thats a great hitchhiker, they can reproduce in tank (if you have more than one) and are good algae eaters.

Brandon42 · May 5, 2016

ngvu1 said:
I have a bunch of them and I have no clue where they came from
I have some old timers and they are like almost 1 inch long

That's the odd part though is this thing has to be more than a half inch already.

Maritimer · May 5, 2016

Yeah, they show up like that - and in decorator colors, too. Most of mine camouflage pretty well on liverock, but I've got at least one black one, too. They'll hitch in on the bottom of a frag plug, or wherever!

~Bruce

Tonys reef · Jan 6, 2020

Today I just noticed my snail is out it shell as well .Don't know why but still moving around

ngvu1 said:
I don't think a turbo a snail can walk out of the shell and survive forgetting moving around ;-)
It is difficult to remove the body from the shell even after cooked

I got same problem today, one of my turbo snail is out it's shell I don't know why .

ZooMontana88 · Jul 19, 2020

One of my turbo snails left its shell and lives in a rock. She had babies as well. Here’s a video of her moving around...

And 2 photos of her face and body...

I noticed her empty shell about a week ago and now my tank is full of babies.