My first run in with Pyramidellids, on my Squamosa

[EvMiBo]

Thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1919347) from when I received the clam. Only been a little over two months for them to come back in full force, though I'm sure they've been somewhere the whole time (if I remember correctly I took off about 10 initially). When looking through the tank tonight I saw at least 50 on the clam. The were literally caked on there in some places. From reading past experiences I took him out, brushed away as much as I could, searched through scutes and will do the same either tomorrow night or the night after for quite some time. I had noticed a couple of my snails dying off within the past week or two and this completely makes sense, though I hadn't thought of it before. I can't imagine taking everyone out, will the pyramidellids attack all snails or certain species? I've heard all gastropods and I've also heard tridacnid clams and astrea snails only..?

The only good thing I can take from this is experience and brownie points for my invertebrate zoology class (ziploc'd some).
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/EvaN8/IMG_2500.jpg

[moliken]

i have heard any gastropod can harbor the bstrds, although i seem to have gotten them gone for 6 months while still keeping snails in the tank. good luck.

[EvMiBo]

This is him about 12 hours later, in full lights. He's not all the way out but it's good to see him gathering light. I saw a couple snails after putting him back in the tank last night so I'm expecting more again tonight. I read that people tend to skip a night in taking the snails off. I assume it's to not stress the clam out too much everyday? In that case, I'll be brushing every 48 hours.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/EvaN8/day1postpyramids.jpg

[moliken]

i'd make sure for every other night for at least 2 weeks.
but you're creating another issue by placing him back in the sand. snails may just congregate in the sand, or eggs may remain in the sand.
pls, just use a tupperware container w/some sand in the bottom, and throw away the sand after every cleanup. VERY important step. i also made sure the tupperware was completely clean, by using a different container every time.
whole process needs to take about 6 weeks of no signs before you're likely in the clear. good luck.

[EvMiBo]

thanks for the advice moliken, again - that was something I didn't consider, I've got a couple halfquart containers that I can rotate in and should work just fine.

[moliken]

perfect!