Zoa Eating Snails?

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I can't figure out for the life of me what's slowly eating my zoas.... just when I thought I had it pinpointed to be amphipods, I see these snails all over a zoa frag that i separated from the display 5days ago. They were right ontop where the frag was, 4 or 5 of them, by the time I got my phone they scurried to the underside of the plug. Could these be eating them too? Amphipods and these snail lookin things are the only thing on the zoas at night. I added 2 wrasses (yellow coris and red fairy) there has been a substantial decline in the # of pods in the 75g. There is also a pair of mandarins w/ the wrasses and a baby seahorse in the fuge. Does anyone have any experience with amphipods or snails killing zoas? Everything else in the tank is doing wonderful. Been dealing with this problem for 6months on and off,any help or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I can't figure out for the life of me what's slowly eating my zoas.... just when I thought I had it pinpointed to be amphipods, I see these snails all over a zoa frag that i separated from the display 5days ago. They were right ontop where the frag was, 4 or 5 of them, by the time I got my phone they scurried to the underside of the plug. Could these be eating them too? Amphipods and these snail lookin things are the only thing on the zoas at night. I added 2 wrasses (yellow coris and red fairy) there has been a substantial decline in the # of pods in the 75g. There is also a pair of mandarins w/ the wrasses and a baby seahorse in the fuge. Does anyone have any experience with amphipods or snails killing zoas? Everything else in the tank is doing wonderful. Been dealing with this problem for 6months on and off,any help or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks

Sorry here's a few pics

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Sorry here's a few pics

 

[Stain]

box snails

 

[vetteguy53081]

Any asterina stars in the tank ? the snails you show look like baby whelk or drupella snails. If so, they would eat zoa. Sun dial snails as well as Drupella, Heliacus and Coralliophila snails will eat zoas.

 

[Critteraholic]

Yep, second Stain. Nasty zoa/paly eaters. Get rid of them!

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Wow! No asterina,just all kinds of snails in the tank multiplying ever since I took out the crabs. So whelk,drupella,heliacus,coralliophila,sundial,box..... is that all? Jesus I'm gonna be over the tank at night with the flashlight again. Fun,fun!

Any asterina stars in the tank ? the snails you show look like baby whelk or drupella snails. If so, they would eat zoa. Sun dial snails as well as Drupella, Heliacus and Coralliophila snails

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

Yep, second Stain. Nasty zoa/paly eaters. Get rid of them!

Thx,stupid ppl at the lfs. I asked them about em too. "Its just a snail bro"

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

box snails

Yup!That be them right there! Mines shell shape kinda like a hybrid, the stomatella box *unt.
box snails

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I throws in 2 emerald crabs last week who actually eat bubble algae hopefully theyll eat them too. Will the box snail predators out there please stand up! After fireworks we're goin hunting!

 

[Goaway]

I throws in 2 emerald crabs last week who actually eat bubble algae hopefully theyll eat them too. Will the box snail predators out there please stand up! After fireworks we're goin hunting!

As far i as i know, nothing eats the sun dial (box snail). You will have to manually remove them. Also, sounds like they have had 6months to reproduce in your system. Ouch.

 

[Critteraholic]

+1 on Mibu's post. -Please- let us know what all you find!

 

[elysics]

Where do you guys see sundial snails on those pictures? I see stomatellas and maybe colonista snails, maybe something else, but no sundials

 

[Goaway]

Where do you guys see sundial snails on those pictures? I see stomatellas and maybe colonista snails, maybe something else, but no sundials

Out of the pictures she posted, I don't even know if she has boxed snails.
the one I circled as red is the only one who could be a boxed snail - sun dial.
The blue circles are stomatella snails.
But it might even be a nicely patterned stomatella.
Maybe she's nuking her clean up crew.

 

[elysics]

Out of the pictures she posted, I don't even know if she has boxed snails.
the one I circled as red is the only one who could be a boxed snail - sun dial.
The blue circles are stomatella snails.
But it might even be a nicely patterned stomatella.
Maybe she's nuking her clean up crew.

The red circled one has a smooth shell, or at least no visible radial grooves, the checkered sundial snail has radial grooves that align with the pattern, like you can see on the picture that was posted of an actual sundial snail, and the pattern is very geometrical, not really random, they are also much flatter

 

[Goaway]

The red circled one has a smooth shell, or at least no visible radial grooves, the checkered sundial snail has radial grooves that align with the pattern, like you can see on the picture that was posted of an actual sundial snail, and the pattern is very geometrical, not really random, they are also much flatter

I wasn't sure on the red circle, as photos can leave out a lot of detail. Hopefully she looked at the sun dial photo and didnt kill everyone who doesn't look like said picture.