Growth on Snail Shell

[crock921]

Do I have to worry about that growth on the bottom of the shell? It almost looks like aip to me. Thoughts? Whats the best way to remove it if necessary?

http://i62.*******.com/6eztdv.jpg

[Secondsbest]

It's appears there is a tube curling around the shell. If so, it's a harmless feather duster worm. If not, it could be a aipstasia. I would pull the snail out of the tank and manually scrape it of in a cub of tank water. Give it a good rinse and discard the water.

[crock921]

You are definitely right. There are two "tubes" and each one has the "flower" coming out of it.

These feather dusters are not pests or unwanted tank mates?

[Secondsbest]

It's only a pest if you don't want them in your tank. They don't harm anything really. I try to add small ones to make my rock look more natural.

[Betta132]

Feather dusters are harmless filter feeders. They're really neat to watch, actually, and they help filter particulates out of the water.

[Calappidae]

Feather dusters are harmless filter feeders. They're really neat to watch, actually, and they help filter particulates out of the water.

^ +1

All that feather duster is doing is making the tank more pretty and active.

[Mynx]

+ on Feathers. My snail has a few on him and it's amusing to watch when he decides he wants to be on the other side of the tank in a hurry, they look like hair blowing in the wind when he jets around. :P

[Tamarae]

Lol that's cute, he has his own little feather boa to wear :)

I don't think I'd bother scraping it. I like the ones I have in my tank. Only couple I picked out were irritating a coral polyp by being too close.