Pyramidellid snails killing snails

[chadmace]

So I have lost a large Mexican Turbo, and about 5 Astrea Snails over the last month or so. While trying to figure out what was going on I ran into these guys.

They are all round the bottom of all my snails. I found a few articles about them and some of their natural predators....aside from pulling out my snails and giving them the once over with a toothbrush is there anything else I can do to off these things?

 

[returnofsid]

6 Lined Wrasses, and a couple other wrasses are known to eat them. Do you have any Clams? Pyram. Snails are very damaging to clams if not caught and controlled.

 

[chadmace]

No clams. Seems the only thing they can get ahold of at the moment is the snails. I just want to get them under control.

 

[TWallace]

I have these, too. I do have a clam, but I've read that the pyrams that attack snails are a different species than the ones that attack clams. I've had them for at least a couple of months (no idea where they came from, as I haven't bought new snails in a long time). My one derasa is doing great, I haven't checked it for pyrams recently, but I did when I first noticed them on the astreas and the derasa was clean.

I have a carpenter's flasher wrasse and a juvenille red coris wrasse. I've seen the red coris once peck at the underside of an astrea, but I don't know if he ate a pyram or not. Never seen the carpenter's eat them. Short of scrubbing each astrea with a toothbrush, I don't know how to get rid of them. I have about 8 other species of snails and have never seen pyrams on any of them.

 

[chadmace]

Last night I pulled each snail out that I could find one at a time and scrubbed them off with a tooth brush. In the end I would guess I pulled out a couple hundred. I figure I'll just add this to my routine until I can get them under control, then throw in a natural predator to put the smack down.

 

[steven11]

leopard wrasses, leopard wrasses, leopard wrasses, leopard wrasses, leopard wrasses. And i will say it once more, leopard wrasses!!!

 

[TWallace]

I've never tried a leopard wrasse. I've always been scared off by their reputation of not handling shipping well, and thus dying in captivity frequently.

 

[steven11]

I have two in a 75 and know a few others that have them and are doing great. I had a problem with these little snails until i got my leopards.

 

[chadmace]

I'm just trying to stop the Snail on Snail violence.

With all the stuff I've had to deal with since getting a tank I think I should pick out the next pest I want to have in my tank. Maybe start a pest only tank.