Cone or conch? Also- hitch hiker ID help on live rock please!

[BContos]

Trying to condense posts on here so a few questions please-

I posted on Facebook in a saltwater forum asking if anyone else’s conch snail made these balls of sandy slime? I’m not quite sure what it is but the gravel vac will not pick it up I have to manually scoop it out. A few people commented saying she was a cone snail and that she’s deadly. It was sold to me as a conch and has been a perfect tank mate but if she is a cone snail I can’t run the risk of her becoming an issue. She has the dip in her shell that looks like the fighting conch but hell I’m no conch expert. She uses her “trunk” to clean the rocks and the sub straight in the tank and doesn’t touch the sinking pellets I add in for the crabs. I will try and get a better picture of her later- they never are in the right spot when you want them to be!

When I was cleaning my bigger the tank the other day I moved a rock (bought live from LFS that cured them in house) and noticed these white things on the rock I hadn’t noticed when buying and this part was covered up before I moved it to clean. Any ideas?

Final thing in question- I ordered some rock from KP last week for another tank and I’m curious what y’all think this long thing is?

 

[Lyss]

If it's got the googly eyes (and I can see even from that pic that it does), it's 100% a conch. Not sure about the others...

 

[BContos]

If it's got the googly eyes (and I can see even from that pic that it does), it's 100% a conch. Not sure about the others...

Thank you for a quick response! I was up all night worried about it!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Cone snails are carnivorous (they eat worms, small fish, other snails, etc.) and they kill their prey with an envenomed "harpoon" that extends from their mouth like a tentacle - if you haven't seen them hunting with a 'second trunk' (not an eye) sticking out/reaching out for other inhabitants of the tank, then I'd be inclined to agree it is probably a conch of some variety (the shell looks similar to a strawberry conch to me, but I'm not an expert on conches either). Assuming that you have some smaller fish in the tank, you almost certainly would have lost one by now, and it is very obvious what is happening when you see the snail swallowing the fish.

The second picture looks like pineapple sponges to me.

I have no idea what the thing in the third picture is.

 

[BContos]

Cone snails are carnivorous (they eat worms, small fish, other snails, etc.) and they kill their prey with an envenomed "harpoon" that extends from their mouth like a tentacle - if you haven't seen them hunting with a 'second trunk' (not an eye) sticking out/reaching out for other inhabitants of the tank, then I'd be inclined to agree it is probably a conch of some variety (the shell looks similar to a strawberry conch to me, but I'm not an expert on conches either). Assuming that you have some smaller fish in the tank, you almost certainly would have lost one by now, and it is very obvious what is happening when you see the snail swallowing the fish.

The second picture looks like pineapple sponges to me.

I have no idea what the thing in the third picture is.

We don't have any fish in this tank yet. It has been up and running for almost 4 months now but it is a species specific predator tank. We were giving ample amount of time for the tank to mature some, get through the ugly stages, see some coralline spread, and make sure our parameters were stable before we ordered our new baby. We are about 2-3 weeks out from getting it now just waiting on our custom lid to be finished. I want to make sure that it isn't the cone snail before we add anything though. We currently have inverts and on our aquacultured rock from KP there are several kinds of spaghetti worms that I have never seen it go after. Some of the hermits and snails will catch a ride on her shell and she never seems bothered by them.

 

[BContos]

Updated pic on my conch vs come snail

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Updated pic on my conch vs come snail

That's a Conch. We have one as well. One of my wife's favorite animals in the tank.

 

[BContos]

That's a Conch. We have one as well. One of my wife's favorite animals in the tank.

Thank you for confirming. She’s one of my favorites too! Does yalls make like sand slime balls? That was my whole point on posting about it on FB and everyone just jumped my case

 

[Fishfreak2009]

Thank you for confirming. She’s one of my favorites too! Does yalls make like sand slime balls? That was my whole point on posting about it on FB and everyone just jumped my case

Not that we've noticed. He just kind of bumbles around and does his thing, knocking frags into one another causing them to attack and kill each other... (knocked an acan echinata onto a chalice. RIP chalice)

Awesome cleaner and mover of sand, but don't put a bunch of frags on the sand bed. My 47 gallon in progress can't be set up fast enough.

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

That looks like a conch to me. Awesome cleaners, but mine loves to knock over my acans.

 

[Lyss]

I can't believe the FB folks were pushing cone snail for that. You could see even in the first pic the little googly eye on the eye stalk peeking out. Was a no-brainer!

Mine has never made slime balls but I think I remember seeing stories about that. Have you tried a search on here for older threads that may answer?

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I can't believe the FB folks were pushing cone snail for that. You could see even in the first pic the little googly eye on the eye stalk peeking out. Was a no-brainer!

Mine has never made slime balls but I think I remember seeing stories about that. Have you tried a search on here for older threads that may answer?

It's Facebook lol. The amount of misinformation on Facebook, on pretty much any page, let alone reef-related pages is absolutely insane. I only use it to post photos, and see fish/reptiles for sale locally and follow different clubs for school.

 

[BContos]

Thank y’all I was up all night after people told me that worrying!
I guess “slime” balls aren’t really the right word as they aren’t slimy I just don’t know any other way to describe it. It’s just a ball of sub straight. It’s usually near where she’s buried herself in the sand I’m wondering if it’s some sort of protection against the hermits? None of them seem to mess with her though other than the occasional hitch hiker ride on her back. They are all small so I doubt they are eye-ing up her shell I goggled it and pulled up a few various forums but none seemed to have any answers on it. Sorry to hear about yall’s corrals that really sucks!

 

[EricR]

Your conch looks similar to mine. Never seen the slime balls from mine so can't help you there. (My small hermits could never be a danger to my conch so I'd be surprised if that was it but wouldn't be the first or last time I learned something new on here).

 

[BContos]

Here’s a better picture of one. I scoop them out on cleaning day (fridays) and there is usually 1-2 in the tank. They break apart but there’s nothing but sand inside them

 

[Lyss]

Okay, I was super curious so I googled and found this. Doesn't provide any insight into what they are, but shows someone else out there has had the experience...

 

[Duncan62]

Trying to condense posts on here so a few questions please-

I posted on Facebook in a saltwater forum asking if anyone else’s conch snail made these balls of sandy slime? I’m not quite sure what it is but the gravel vac will not pick it up I have to manually scoop it out. A few people commented saying she was a cone snail and that she’s deadly. It was sold to me as a conch and has been a perfect tank mate but if she is a cone snail I can’t run the risk of her becoming an issue. She has the dip in her shell that looks like the fighting conch but hell I’m no conch expert. She uses her “trunk” to clean the rocks and the sub straight in the tank and doesn’t touch the sinking pellets I add in for the crabs. I will try and get a better picture of her later- they never are in the right spot when you want them to be!

When I was cleaning my bigger the tank the other day I moved a rock (bought live from LFS that cured them in house) and noticed these white things on the rock I hadn’t noticed when buying and this part was covered up before I moved it to clean. Any ideas?

Final thing in question- I ordered some rock from KP last week for another tank and I’m curious what y’all think this long thing is?

White things are sponges. They'll go away. Kp is good stuff. Enjoy. I don't cure . Just from it in. Instant cycle.

 

[BContos]

Okay, I was super curious so I googled and found this. Doesn't provide any insight into what they are, but shows someone else out there has had the experience...

That’s the only article of substance I could find as well!

 

[BContos]

White things are sponges. They'll go away. Kp is good stuff. Enjoy. I don't cure . Just from it in. Instant cycle.

I didn’t cure it with my first tank but this second tank I got the rocks on my lunch break so I put them in a big drum with a wave maker until I could get home and get it set up… few hours later when I got home I tested the water and 4.0 ammonia it was the premium LR and in the past I got the starter LR so I’m not sure if that had a major impact or what but Phillip said just keep changing the water (I was just moving it from one tub to the next) every 12 hours and finally I was able to get it to 1.0 ammonia and then I put it in the tank (empty with just salt water). It’s been 2 weeks and finally getting leveled out!

 

[Duncan62]

I didn’t cure it with my first tank but this second tank I got the rocks on my lunch break so I put them in a big drum with a wave maker until I could get home and get it set up… few hours later when I got home I tested the water and 4.0 ammonia it was the premium LR and in the past I got the starter LR so I’m not sure if that had a major impact or what but Phillip said just keep changing the water (I was just moving it from one tub to the next) every 12 hours and finally I was able to get it to 1.0 ammonia and then I put it in the tank (empty with just salt water). It’s been 2 weeks and finally getting leveled out!

I had an established algea tray scrubber and a few damsels in the tank before I added 60 lbs of kp to the new system. Several algea take in ammonia directly. I didn't check ammonia till the next morning. 0. I didn't rinse, dip or cure before adding. The only downside is that I have a mantis shrimp ranch. There's 9 small ones that I've counted. The up side is instant cycle. The rock went in in Jan. And now I've almost got it stocked. . Good luck k with the kp. Is your coraline dying off? The ones in water had more coraline loss than wet paper did this time. I think it got cold.