Nassarius Vibrex

[2008pollyanna]

Question for the knowledgeable............

Can nassarius vibrex be also black shelled? I have purchased nassarius vibrex from fosters and my LFS and have been light or sand colored, and have their siphon for sand surfing.

I just recently bought some over ebay. Problem is these I bought over ebay were claiming to be the vibrex..., they arrived today but are black shelled and I cant tell if they have a siphon. As of yet, I havent seen a siphon. Do you think I got stumped and was sold the snails that die when temps reach 72 degrees?

 

[d.french]

did that before also but someone told me those are not correct kind of nassarius snails and basically is a jip mine died off over six months and another reefer told me of a disease that can spread through different kinds of snails and told me not to by those.
http://www.emedicine.com/med/byname/trematode-infection.htm

 

[Bifferwine]

Sometimes whelks are mistakenly sold as nassarius snails. Most whelks are predatorial and will eat your healthy livestock. That's the danger of buying inverts from places like Ebay -- the seller could be calling them anything.

Try and find your snails on this page:
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/
(go to Info Links, Hitchhikers, then scroll down to snails)

If your snails are on that page, you should be able to ID them from the shell.

 

[Bifferwine]

PS -- the snails that live in cooler water are called margarita snails. They look very different from nassarius snails and don't burrow. These are margarita snails:

http://www.oywiththepoodlesalready.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/margarita-snails.jpg

 

[yote]

I remember seeing something on another web site a while back.Something about people catching snails off the coast and saleing them through e-bay.They were saling welks.

 

[2008pollyanna]

I have taken a few pics...
The younger ones are solid black...no ridges in shell cover.

The medium size are black with lil bit of white on narrow end tip....again no ridges.

The largest are still kinda black BUT with white lines running down thier backs lengthwise...no definate ridges like the true vibrex that I am used to seeing.

I have never seen this black variety....

I dont think its Vibrex....

Opinions...any body know what it really is?

 

[2008pollyanna]

Looked on the biffs site she recommended...couldnt find them...and not marjarita snails either...
No go guys...

 

[d.french]

we order from here in our club and do group orders also,
http://www.reeftopia.com/

 

[reeffreak]

I have a few Illaynassa snails(onyx) that were basically black nassarius.If yours don't look like these,I would be worried....

http://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productDetail.asp?did=2&pid=1141&cid=82

 

[2008pollyanna]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/mg/index.php

These are what they are....

Figure 1. Ilyanassa obsoleta. Note the round, relatively smooth shell with little sculpting, often with the outer layer worn away near the tip.​

 

[2008pollyanna]

Anybody have these...pros and cons....
read the article, please.....

 

[reeffreak]

I've read the article,they are not sure if they are reef safe or not.They consider them omnivore feeding on plant and animals.I have three that hitchhike with the live rock that I bought from a person.I never witness them eating any algae.They smell and start searching for the source of food just like my other nassarius except they don't bury themselves in the sand.I haven't had a problem over the past year but will keep a closer eye on them.