What’s growing on my snail?

[nomad6]

Newbie here, seen it get larger over past few weeks there’s two growths on it, Thoughts???

 

[TaylorP78]

Possibly a bivalve or some other filter feeder, they are pretty harmless but if you are concerned you can try to crack the shell of just the stowaway

 

[nomad6]

I’m a little concerned this thing has tripled in size in a month. I tried scraping it off and it receded almost into the shell. Doesn’t seem to be harming the snail but there’s 2 of these on it.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

As was stated above, they’re probably filter feeders, so the only concern to your snail is if they get big enough to prevent it from moving. Snails are surprisingly strong little creatures, so I wouldn’t be too concerned honestly. The hitchhikers on the shell would likely have to both get very large to really weigh the snail down enough to cause problems (in fact, some species of snails intentionally decorate their shells by cementing other shells and such to their shells for defense and/or camouflage - sometimes the shells they cement on are larger than or comparable in size to their own shells).

Also, you likely won’t be able to scrape it off. Many bivalves and relatives cement themselves in place when they settle, and some of them produce cements strong enough that researchers are looking at ways to either utilize the naturally produced cement or to make it themselves. You would most likely have to either syringe something into the hitchhikers’ shells that would kill them, or do as suggested above and try to break open the shells of the hitchhikers without breaking open your snail’s shell. In my opinion, those endeavors would likely be more dangerous to your snail than leaving things as they are.

Just my two cents on the matter.

 

[nomad6]

As was stated above, they’re probably filter feeders, so the only concern to your snail is if they get big enough to prevent it from moving. Snails are surprisingly strong little creatures, so I wouldn’t be too concerned honestly. The hitchhikers on the shell would likely have to both get very large to really weigh the snail down enough to cause problems (in fact, some species of snails intentionally decorate their shells by cementing other shells and such to their shells for defense and/or camouflage - sometimes the shells they cement on are larger than or comparable in size to their own shells).

Also, you likely won’t be able to scrape it off. Many bivalves and relatives cement themselves in place when they settle, and some of them produce cements strong enough that researchers are looking at ways to either utilize the naturally produced cement or to make it themselves. You would most likely have to either syringe something into the hitchhikers’ shells that would kill them, or do as suggested above and try to break open the shells of the hitchhikers without breaking open your snail’s shell. In my opinion, those endeavors would likely be more dangerous to your snail than leaving things as they are.

Just my two cents on the matter.

Thanks for the info I was really concerned. I’ll just let it be unless it starts inhibiting movement then I think I will do something about it. I appreciate your input