Snail Graveyard

[Delphinus]

I have had what was sold to me as a "fighting conch" and one as a "strawberry conch." Both have eaten nothing but the diatomaceous covering you get on the sand. Unlike worms who will move in to clean a dead or dying animal, these two will not touch anything but dirt.

My fighting conch has never left the sand. Never on the rocks, never on the glass. The strawberry will make occasonal attempts to climb the glass but never goes higher than 1". Not really a climber. Queen conches, very similar to fighting conches, except that they grow to the size of a football, can and will climb glass and rocks. Anyhow, point being, if you see a "fighting conch" on the rocks or the glass, then it is not really a fighting conch - it's something else.

There are carnivorous and predatory conches and whelks, and probably a host of other kinds of snailish kind of things who will capture and devour other snails. There are so many different species and to the untrained eye, really, they're indistinguishable. You have to rely on the word of the vendor (who has to rely on the word of their distributors, collectors/divers, etc. etc.). And I'm sure there are at least a dozen species that are sold under the monniker "fighting conch" that .. well, aren't. So you have to watch these guys fairly closely and make your own judgment call.

[Bob I]

Yes, Fighting Conches have that big keel like thing they use to propel themselves (Quinn has the name for that). They would fall right off the glass using that thing.

[Quinn]

Operculum.

[whaase]

It sounds like your very own Bermuda Triangle

Walter

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by whaase

It sounds like your very own Bermuda Triangle

Walter

ROTFLMAO

Didn't update yesterday, but did find the second carcass moved from the day before, though I couldn't see if it was picked clean because it was under a rock and out of view.

Then, in the late afternoon, found another snail dead and picked clean about a foot and a half away from the graveyard under the tank-length throughfare. After lights out, I got out the flashlight to see if I could find the thing doing all the clicking. Didn't see it and also couldn't find that dead snail.

At least this tank doesn't have bubble algae.......knock on wood

[Samw]

Maybe you can borrow a video camera (if you don't already have one), and set it up to record during the night with a moonlight or actinic on and then view the tape in FF mode and wait for something to show up. It could be that the snails just died and the bristle worms dragged them back to their area to eat.

[Quinn]

Bev have you tried removing the rock you believe the culprit is in, for closer observation? You may have no other choice now.

The scale loss of your fishes may be unrelated, they may simply have been getting a little rambunctious and scrapped against a rock. On the other hand, perhaps something scared them at night. I will say that I've found that when a fish is actually attacked by something, they consistently seem to loose pieces of fin, not scales, but that's my experience with a sample size of two individuals.

I'm beginning to think that the only way to be really safe is to start with base rock. Or maybe live rock that's been circulating through the hobby for several years.

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by teevee

Bev have you tried removing the rock you believe the culprit is in, for closer observation? You may have no other choice now.

That is a good idea. That is a way for Bev to have another tank I for instance run a 15 in which I keep some zoos for sale, along with rocks that tend to grow Aiptasia. That way the rocks are under observation, and isolation. I can then work on the Aiptasia until it is eradicated.
BTW, I have a 20H just sitting around you could use. I can scare up lights, powerheads, heaters etc. to run it.

[Beverly]

This is happening in my 120g with probably 140 lbs of rock, no sandbed for the critter to leave tracks on or a hole in the sandbed under a particular rock. The clicking comes from the near the centre of the tank, but from which rock, I haven't the faintest idea. I flashlight that tank several times after lights out and before I go to bed, and haven't even had a glimpse of the possible culprit

All my "spare" tanks are being used to get rid of bubble algae from my 67g and my 37g. Don't know when that emerald crab I have is going to stop eating the coraline algae a bit of bubble algae. The 37g had rock from when we moved into our condo. Despite every effort to eradicate the stuff, it kept coming back tenfold. Finally, out of utter frustration, I boiled all the rock which was ALL covered with that menace, so that rock is cycling and deader than a doornail.

So, am I having a good time with any of my new tanks????!!!!!???? When added together, I think we've got the Bermuda triangle PLUS Area 51 going on at our place with regard to tanks and various problems

Sam's idea might work, but my technical assistant, Chris, is out of town until late Sunday night. Don't know if we have the camcorder or if my daughter has it. It would be cool to be able to hook it up to our vcr with the hard drive, but don't know if that's possible.


AARRGGHHHHHH !!!!!!!

[Beverly]

Update....

While flashlighting the 120g last night, I found a small crab in a hole in the rock with a small hitchhiker snail in its grasp turning it over and over Snail diameter was less than a 1/4". Did not see the whole crab, but I imagine its back would have been about 3/4" in diameter. Tried to stab the crab with some tweezers, but the b****** climbed out of the hole and took off

This crab was waaaaay on the other side of the tank from where the graveyard was. Don't think it is large enough to tackle an astrea or margarita, but got thinking I may be dealing with a larger snail-killing crab. So I set up a crab trap near where I found the small crab with a not yet dead, but not very mobile astrea that's been in the tank for the last two days While setting the trap, I had to move some smaller pieces of rock to support the trap and found an astrea shell picked clean.

No crab in the trap this morning Will move the trap to a location closer to where the graveyard was tonight.

Also found an astrea snail on its side at the back of the tank near the crab. It looked like it was trying to right itself, so I reached in and set it upright. It crawled away like normal

I believe I may be looking at two different things here. One may be that the snails are falling down and are easy prey for the predator, possibly a crab. The other may be that there is a big crab in the tank killing astreas and margaritas. I know for sure there is a small crab taking down little hitchhikers snails, though Perhaps they are the same crab?

Further investigation is certainly warranted.