Little white snails?

[MyColorYellow]

I was up late the other night and shinned the flashlight in the tank and saw dozens of these little white looking snails. I looked closer and saw light tan or brownish stripes on them. Am I a papa or do I have a problem?

[reefland]

papa MyColorYellow....Congrats! [img]/ubb/wink.gif[/img]

Sounds like some baby snails to me.

[MyColorYellow]

I have a 100 gal. tank and only have about 20 Astier(sp)snails and 20 crabs. I have been picking up a few here and there, but I guess I don't need to anymore. How often can or will this happen? Should I still get more until they go up?

[reefland]

Typically, they become food before they get too large.

My experience is that the eggs laid on the glass are eaten before they get a chance to hatch. I do sometimes see the babies but thats about it. The good thing is reproduction is a sign of a healthy aquarium. [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

[MyColorYellow]

Thanks Reefland~
I hope a few make it so they can do me some service and have a safe enviorment to live in.

[ravenmore]

They're probably not baby snails, but full grown snails of a different species. I took the liberties of cutting and pasting this from the hitchiker's faq from reefs.org:

"These are probably not harmful at all. They are most likely a small species of the Genus Arene (Astrea) or possibly of the Genus Macarene snail. The differences are minute as the two families are closely related. They are perfectly reef safe and will graze film algae at night. In the author's experience, they can reproduce quickly, becoming a small army in a short period of time. See Ron Shimek's post about these snails to the Reefkeepers mailing list here."

I have a bunch in my tank as well - they have become a small army but come out mainly at night to feed. They've actually gotten to the point that they make a significant impact on my algae.

HTH [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
-Mike



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I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything.

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[scubadude]

Very interesting....I thought I had a bunch of what i thought was small baby snails that could only be seen really at night on the glass....a few ppl have told me that they are flatworms not snails.

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Rocky

http://www.geocities.com/scubadud3/reef.html

Forget about World Peace.....Visualize Using Your Turn Signal !

[reefland]

MyColorYellow~

Have you ever noticed any snail eggs on the panels of the tank? This would be the best way to confirm whether or not they are babies or the sp. that ravenmore highlighted.

[Bristle Worm]

Also be very careful if you have clams or are planning on adding clams. These snails may develop a taste for the finer seafood in life.