Did my nasaarius snail become a cannibal?

[TinyReefObsession]

Soooo i HAD 2 amazing nassarius snails in my tiny biocube. One just passed away after an injury, and the healthy one tried to eat it multiple times before (and after ) I isolated it, and it subsequently died. So today I replaced the nassarius who passed away with 2 tiny bumblebee snails. after acclimation, one of the bumblebees was immediately active in the tank( which was fed heavily, twice).
… And now my remaining nass appears to be trying to eat the active bumblebee! I’ve already pulled it off twice, and now the nass is in the isolation box, so the new guy can keep doing it’s thing without this zombie snail sitting on top of it! I checked to see if the bumblebee could go in the box but it’s got a killer grip on the rock it’s cleaning off so I don’t want to stress it and pull it off... so did my nassarius become a cannibal after snacking on the other nass that just passed away? Or are my little bumblebees about too keel over in 2 days too? what the heck?

 

[sesbalders]

I don’t know if it’s normal but I had a nass go rogue. It would have a pop at turbos ceriths in fact anything it could get its foot on. It actually met its match and it’s grizzly end when it picked a fight with a metallic blue leg hermit.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is it a new tank? Nass and bumble bee snails are meat eaters, they need food. If they are hungry they can go after snails. I keep multiple nass and bumble bee's together and never had issue.

Other possibility is that you have one of the nassarius lookalikes that are not nassarius, but called whelks, which are aggressive carnivore snails that will go after other snails, and even after fish.

 

[Troylee]

Your Nass sounds like a welk… keep a eye on it

 

[paragrouper]

maybe Post a good photo of the critter so that others can confirm whether its A nassarius or whelk.

 

[kevgib67]

I had a hitchhiker whelk that I didn’t know was in my tank. One by one I found dead empty bumble bee snails until I caught it red handed. It went to snail heaven.

 

[Nemo&Friends]

Your tank may be too clean or too new and the snail is hungry. They are carnivous and so are bumble snails. If they need more food they may go after each other.

 

[malacoda]

Where did you original Nassarius snails come from?

Like others who've posted, my first suspicion would be that it/they are actually whelks ... which are very common hitchhikers on gulf live rock. (Tough to tell apart without real close comparison using sharp, close-up pics ... but a giveaway is that, AFAIK, whelks don't burrow in the sand.)

2nd suspicion would be that the 'victims' were unhealthy or very weakened by shipping/acclimation ... and on their last legs ... making them a natural meal for a nass.

3rd suspicion would be they're not finding enough available food.

 

[TinyReefObsession]

I don’t know if it’s normal but I had a nass go rogue. It would have a pop at turbos ceriths in fact anything it could get its foot on. It actually met its match and it’s grizzly end when it picked a fight with a metallic blue leg hermit.

Honestly i think that might be what’s happening here. The nass’s were in the tank for 2ish years without issue, and suddenly after eating it’s dying tank mate (the other nass) it’s voraciously going after the bumblebee- who only had a 30m drive from the store and an hour acclimation and looks active and has a healthy grip… & ick what a way to go for your rogue nass!

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Is it a new tank? Nass and bumble bee snails are meat eaters, they need food. If they are hungry they can go after snails. I keep multiple nass and bumble bee's together and never had issue.

Other possibility is that you have one of the nassarius lookalikes that are not nassarius, but called whelks, which are aggressive carnivore snails that will go after other snails, and even after fish

It’s an 8 yr old established biocube 14, so when i feed the fish it’s basically a broadcast feeding for everyone since it’s so small I don’t think it’s a whelk since the 2 nass snails lived peacefully in the tank for 2ish years together… the cannibalistic behavior seems to have surfaced after the other nass in the tank was injured, and this guy was in full zombie mode for days trying to finish the other one off! …but i have had less algae in the tank lately… so maybe you’re onto something with the hunger… even though it looks like I’m feeding a lot lol

I have never seen it climb more than a couple inches on the glass before sliding down- yet here it is all the way at the top of the tank trying to find a way into the isolation box when i was trying to nurse back the injured nass in there lol

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Your Nass sounds like a welk… keep a eye on it

Thank you, i will! I have been googling the differences all morning and mine definitely burrows under the sand and moves fast like a nass, but seems to have developed a sudden taste for other snails! definitely watching closely…and will move the bumblebees to the rock work where they can more easy hide in crevices if needed…

 

[Troylee]

Thank you, i will! I have been googling the differences all morning and mine definitely burrows under the sand and moves fast like a nass, but seems to have developed a sudden taste for other snails! definitely watching closely…and will move the bumblebees to the rock work where they can more easy hide in crevices if needed…

Nass will never go on rock work.. unless something is dying or dead up there.

 

[spectreknight]

I would look at the last post on this thread. I have seen whelks at fish stores be advertised as Nassarius, but the part about the trap door location is what I have used to determine which is the true Nassarius.

Whelk snail identification

I bought these guys a while back and had concerns with them being whelk snails. They were sold as nassarius snails. I’ve been loosing my trochus and cerith snails (finding empty Shells) Can anyone help I’d them ? They do have spots on there foot and trunk they also bury themselves in the sand...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[TinyReefObsession]

maybe Post a good photo of the critter so that others can confirm whether its A nassarius or whelk.

Thanks I completely forgot to do that last night! Lol the nass has been in the tank for 2 years without issue, but you never know! For some reason it’s not letting me go back and edit my original post… but with my iphone focus issues- here’s the best i’ve got…

I had a hitchhiker whelk that I didn’t know was in my tank. One by one I found dead empty bumble bee snails until I caught it red handed. It went to snail heaven.

eeek! They look so similar! I’ve been googling all morning and mine is all white, burrows in the sand, and never went after another snail until it’s tank mate (the other nass) was dying after an injury … but now is seems to prefer snail over foraging in the sand bed, etc! Lol

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Your tank may be too clean or too new and the snail is hungry. They are carnivous and so are bumble snails. If they need more food they may go after each other.

Thanks- it’s an 8 yr old biocube 14 (i took over 4mos ago) but i have noticed there is far less algae in the tank vs when it was at my neighbor’s place, by their window… so you might be onto something there with the hunger… but i did feed the tank heavily, twice, with frozen, before adding the bumblebees to the tank to avoid something like this… grrr… it’s hard to know how much is too much to add to the tank- it’s a tiny tank, so it looks like a fair amount hits the floor for everyone…

Ironically the hermits (who i was more concerned about) are completely ignoring the bumblebees, and the nass is trying to eat them

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Where did you original Nassarius snails come from?

Like others who've posted, my first suspicion would be that it/they are actually whelks ... which are very common hitchhikers on gulf live rock. (Tough to tell apart without real close comparison using sharp, close-up pics ... but a giveaway is that, AFAIK, whelks don't burrow in the sand.)

2nd suspicion would be that the 'victims' were unhealthy or very weakened by shipping/acclimation ... and on their last legs ... making them a natural meal for a nass.

3rd suspicion would be they're not finding enough available food.

EDIT- the nass snail was already in the tank for 2 years when I took over the tank 4 mos back.

Thank you! The snail burrows, and has lived in the tank peacefully for 2ish years, BUT I did just realize yesterday that there is far less algae in the tank since it moved to my place, AND I recently learned to feed the fish in smaller bits so less goes all over… so less food for the CUC… i have been intentionally feeding more these last couple weeks, but honestly i’ve only been reefing 4 mos and don’t necessarily know what “enough” looks like…. So I guess I should modify the title to “have i CREATED a cannibal?” shoot!

The cannibalism started when this nass was going after my injured one (who did pass away & then I let the CUC have it), then the bumblebees were alert/ active/ looking good/ gripping well, AND I had just fed the tank meaty frozen stuff TWICE before adding them… but i guess i learned from the nass who died that they can look OK and still be on their way out…

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Nass will never go on rock work.. unless something is dying or dead up there.

I think mine has been super hungry from what i’ve been reading- i just read that they will climb on rock work if there’s not enough food in the sand bed then they will scour the rocks- which mine were both doing recently (only at night). I assumed it was something they had been doing nocturnally the entire time and i had never seen it… i guess i need to feed more!

 

[TinyReefObsession]

I would look at the last post on this thread. I have seen whelks at fish stores be advertised as Nassarius, but the part about the trap door location is what I have used to determine which is the true Nassarius.

Whelk snail identification

I bought these guys a while back and had concerns with them being whelk snails. They were sold as nassarius snails. I’ve been loosing my trochus and cerith snails (finding empty Shells) Can anyone help I’d them ? They do have spots on there foot and trunk they also bury themselves in the sand...

www.reef2reef.com

thank you, it sounds like I may have been underfeeding my CUC!

Thank you for forwarding, this may not be 100% accurate based on some of the other threads where it has been posted, and others where everyone is stating that their nass snails also have the trap door (operculums) this got me searching, and other websites also list the trap door as a way to ID whelks, however just about every pic of nass snails I’ve pulled up shows the trap door! Lol 7/8 of the “nass snail” photos below have them (which I know could be wrong too lol) it’s so confusing!

I do think I have an underfed nass here (it’s all white, no pattern/ color anywhere, burrows, etc)… i will feed more and hopefully my nass will forget what his buddy tasted like and go back to scavenging as it did previously lol

 

[Tired]

Nassarius snails don't eat algae at all. They eat meat, and will take fish food. You could put a nassarius in a tank with 0 algae and it would be fine as long as it was fed.

 

[TinyReefObsession]

Nassarius snails don't eat algae at all. They eat meat, and will take fish food. You could put a nassarius in a tank with 0 algae and it would be fine as long as it was fed.

Interesting, thanks! As with much of the reefing info online, I keep reading conflicting reports as to whether they also eat algae lol I also assumed they were snacking on the algae spots on the glass based on others accounts, while they could have just been snacking on other matter stuck to the same spot

Either way this is perfect, since the 2 bumblebees I got to replace the nass are carnivores too and appear to be doing well (moving about the tank lol). I have started feeding heavier, so hopefully everyone is happy with the frozen blizzards I’m creating