snails

[Roxy]

My Friend said that he has snails that keep mutiplying, is this ok? ..it seems to be taking over his tank...I thought they die off and you have to buy more snails?

[Reefland]

This is perfectly fine, in fact it is great. Do you know what kind of snail they are? If they are reproducing and taking over, my guess would be Stomatella.

[Roxy]

Thank Reef I will ask him?

[Ninong]

My Friend said that he has snails that keep mutiplying, is this ok? ..it seems to be taking over his tank...

Did he buy these snails or did they just show up in his tank? If the latter, are they small, like approximately 5-6mm across? If so, then he probably has Collonista snails. They can multiply like crazy in reef aquaria. They are nocturnal grazers and they will displace your other snails in a matter of weeks. Their populations will rise and fall in response to available food sources.

In my 120-gal tank, their numbers ranged from a low of ~100 to a high of at least 800, possibly as high as 1200. You will not see them in the daytime because they hide. They come out just after the lights go out but a few will even come out if just the actinics are on. Then they disappear again about 7 or 8 hours later before the lights come on the next morning. Their numbers can get so great that they seem to cover almost all available space on the glass tank walls and the live rock. You can see pictures of them in Dr. Ron Shimek's article here.

[Roxy]

Thanks NIn, He said they are nassarius,nerite,trochus...He said it look to be all kinds and he named the above

[Ninong]

Well that doesn't help at all to explain his "snail explosion." Can he describe what the "new" snails look like?

P.S. -- Are you sure he's sober?