Snails and Sticky sand?

[Reefkeeper]

It appears that my Nassarius snails are all ending up having the sand stick to them when they come out from being buried. It also appears that they are leaving some sort of secretion which is mostly on the sand but occassionally on parts of the live rock they climb on. Anyone else have this issue? Any way to stop it from occurring?

Never had this problem before but this is my first experience with Nassarius snails and frankly I think I have a few too many.

Thanks.

[treylane]

Snails leave slime trails, nothing to be concerned about.

Don't need to worry about sand sticking to them unless your sand is really really really fine.

[pk-sd]

Originally posted by Reefkeeper
......... I think I have a few too many.

Thanks.

How many do you have? I could take some off your hand if you live close by.

[Reefkeeper]

I have 10 Nassarius, 1 Turbo*, 2 unknowns because of their small size. *Came in on a piece of rock but looks similar to Turbos I have bought in the past.

On top of that I have my 2 unknown sea slugs (tenatively identified as Elysia Ornata) plus a baby starfish that just appeared this morning. About the size of a dime, 5 leg traditional starfish shape.

All in a 10 gallon mini setup.

[pk-sd]

As long as they are all alive it should not be a problem, but if for some reason few die in a same day, could cause an ammonia spike in your tank. Do you have any other livestock in there ?

[Reefkeeper]

All my levels are perfect. Honestly I am not worried about any of them dying...more so just the fact that they wouldnt naturally be found in such high numbers. Obviously, if you have a large amount of animals that all eat the same food in the same area the animals will end up eating themselves to death.

Even with such omnivorous snails as these, I would need to put in algae sheets on top of the minimal growth present in my tank. It appears that there are some areas of my live rock which they have picked bare, but I have enough other areas that I am not concerned. The snails all go after any of the algae flake that I put in the tank as well as any other foods that are put in. I intentionally feed a little more than the fish would eat just to make sure that the snails and hermits have some food to scavenge. Even when there is a handful of food that hits the floor, its gone within an hour by the animals natural scavenging.

As this tank has only been up for a month, the only other animals are 3 starter damsels. I have not intentionally added any corals or other inverts. Even with over 2 decades of keeping salt water tanks and mini reefs, I still come across things that I havent experienced/tried before, such as a sand bottom. I find it easier to ask a question then just think I know it all.

[krader]

Hey That's where my mini-star ended up, I was wondering
why I hadn't seen him in my fuge for a while.....