Help!!!

[Ian]

I picked up a couple new clams last week from a fellow canreeefer and noticed last night one was doing poorly. Upon inspection this morning it is being preyed upon by a parasitic snail( smail cone shaped white ones). My other clams are free of this ATM. I cannot remember the name and have never dealt with these. How do I do it? I have about 30 gallons ready to do a water change and can set up a hospital tank ASAP but need info on treatment and fast as I fear it may be to late for one clam already.

[Ian]

Yup confirmed PYRAMID SNAILS.....now how do I treat my tank1

[Sebae again]

They are Pyramid snails.Close inspection and manual removal as well as some wrasses are known to eat them.I lost all 5 of my clams to these as I didnt know what it was at the time. There is a clam website but I cant remember the name.

[Sebae again]

Found it. Was called Clams Direct,now is Reef Aquarium Forum or RAF for short.

[Ian]

thank you...going six line rass shopping and getting QT completely set up as we speek....hmm some lessons come harder than others

[fkshiu]

It's not easy to get rid of pyramid snails. Wrasses like a 6-line help a bit but the problem is that the snails operate at night when your wrasses are snoozing.

Each night after lights out I would take the clam out of the tank and inspect it carefully with a magnifying glass and pick off the snails with a tweezer. Most of the snails will be on the underside of the clam. Croceas are particularly vulnerable because of their large byssal openings underneath. You really have to look carefully using bright light because the snail eggs are very hard to see. You also can't hold the clam for too long out of water in either a sideways or upside down position because gravity can cause the clams innards to squish themselves.

I had a container of tank water close by which I would put the clam back into every minute or two to swish around to get snails off and relieve the clam.

It took me a good month of doing this to eradicate the snails (knock on wood).

You can minimize the chances of snail attack by having you clams off the sandbed and solidly attached to a piece of live rock. One technique is to take a flat piece of fresh epoxy and smoosh the clam onto it while it is still soft making a cast of the clam's bottom. After the epoxy hardens you put the clam onto its custom base. As a result, there shouldn't be any room for the snails to sneak up into the clam from underneath and do the most damage from the inside out. Do NOT leave the clam on top of the epoxy while it's hardening since the epoxy will give off heat and will irritate the clam.

In a worst case scenario, you can try a freshwater dip with the clam.

[whatcaneyedo]

My yellow coris wrasse ate all of my rissoid snails and red flatworms so I'm sure it would do a good job on pyramid snails as well. I bought it because at first I thought the rissoid were pyramid.... oh well no more flatworms. But like others have said, QT and manual removal is the best way to start.

[Ian]

thanks picked up a couple wrasses and qt'd the clam.....will start the night shift tonight...I am pretty sure the one is not going to make it as it looks pretty bad. bad timing as i work long days the last 3 days and never got to seem my tank while the lights where on from Tuesday night until this morning. clam went from looking great to but hey I found an excuse to buy new fish

[Ian]

i thought a quick upgate was in order. Unfortuneatly the first clam I discovered the snails on died by Sunday morning . It is my guess that the infestation started here. i found a 2nd clam that had been attacked and was scared that it was a goner as well, the byssal thread where eaten through and its mantel retracted and was looking grim but today it has re-attached to its shell/base and is open and looking great. the wrasses have settled in nicely and I have not seen any of the naststy snails sinces Sunday.
Fingers crossed that this is over and I can move on.

[Sebae again]

That is good news. Did you notice any wrasses poking around the clams?