Snail Graveyard

[wayner]

That's the one that was in my tank, this one doesn't leave mucus behind, at least I never saw any.

[Beverly]

Ande,

From the sound of things on Steve's page, his worm ate soft corals, so maybe I'm going to be lucky and not have that worm or any worm other than bristleworms, which I can handle more or less. I can't see a bristleworm killing snails, but I can see them eating snail leftovers because they are detrivores.

I've got muck's trap made and am waiting for lights out. Actually, I'm going to put in my glass jar trap as well, so I'm going to be covered in a couple of ways

The scary and most difficult part is going to be doing flashlight duty because it's not going to be easy seeing the hole of origin in a 120g if the culprit is a worm.

Wayne,

How did you get your worm out of your tank, and how big was it?

[bulletsworld]

Originally Posted by jgoldsney

worm pictures

http://www.oregonreef.com/sub_worm.htm

EEK!



Totally off topic but, that web site you gave, took a look at the other pic's there. WOW! The guy has got an AMAZING TANK! WOW! MY DREAM TANK! Awesome aquascaping!

[Aquattro]

Yes, Steve's tank is pretty famous and popular.

[Beverly]

I still don't know what's killing our snails We made and baited the plastic bottle with PE mysis one night, but got nowhere. That style of trap is so light, it moves around and probably scares off the predator, so I got rid of it I will get two new plastic bottles this morning and cut them into traps and bait them each with all the dead snails we've got in the graveyard. To prevent the trap from moving around, I think we should probably secure it in place by butting rock up against it.

Anyway, on other nights, we have baited a small glass jar covered with plastic wrap leaving a small opening and have seen a huge bristleworm go for the PE mysis. Most mornings with the glass jar trap, the mysis are gone and no snails are dead.

Last night we did not set any traps. THIS morning, my favourite snail was found dead. It was a hitchhiker that was about 4 times the size of any snail I've ever seen and only came out at night This snail came in on the same rock that the snail killer came in on.

And we still hear sharp, but fairly quiet clicking, often after lights out, but for the past few days we hear it during feeding times especially in the morning.

I'm stumped. Could the monster sized bristleworm be killing these snails and the clicking be from a pistol shrimp, or do we indeed have a mantis?

Any and all suggestions, opinions, comments are welcome.

[Delphinus]

Well, I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of your situation but, like Quinn hinted, sometimes snails just die. Are you sure they're being predated upon and it's not some kind of snail disease? I have noticed that sometimes when one goes, several others shortly follow (not unlike when a clam goes actually). It's frustrating sometimes.

[Beverly]

Tony,

Yes, could be some kind of disease, or they are just dying.

Went into the graveyard to pick up the dead snails to bait the new bottle traps. I picked up the hitchhiker snail and it started to move around So I put it on the bottom of the tank (BB) and it crawled away What I can't figure out is why it was so close to some rock, yet didn't reach up and grab onto it Will keep an eye on this snail to see if it turns up dead at some later date.

Also, I baited the traps with some PE mysis. Just waiting for tonight to put the traps in place

[Quinn]

Bev how big is the snail graveyard?

[Beverly]

Quinn,

It's a rather small area on the left side of my tank under a throughway I made for the fish to swim. Area must be about 4" x 4". Have also found one dead snail directly behind the rock throughway at the back of the tank. In all there have been one bivalve and about 6-7 snails found dead in this area. It is the same place where we hear the clicking (sharp, but not too loud) as well as where the HUGE bristleworm lives.

Turkey basted the tank today to get ready for the water change and other maintenance we do on Saturdays. Lots of clicking as the crud entered the water column.

[muck]

Any luck catching the culprit yet Bev??