White Plaques on Nerite Snail?

[Samhain]

So one of my Nerite snails from ReefCleaners came with several small white plaques on his shell. They are just a few millimeters across, flat, and circular or wide oval in shape. Now it looks as if these plaques are reproducing and attaching to my powerhead and skimmer. Any ideas as to what they are? I'll try to post some pics if I can, although it's kinda hard since they are so small.

 

[little_fish]

sounds kinda like snail egg sacs, although its funny that it would be on the snail itself.

Are they stationary?

 

[ErinCahir]

If they look like teeny tiny spirals they are little worms... that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of right now...

 

[Samhain]

They aren't spirals at all, just flat circles. They do seem to be stationary, although a couple have disappeared from the snail's shell. They leave a little white ring where they used to be when they disappear. The spots have been there since I received the snail, but I've only noticed the spots disappearing in the last week. The new spots on the powerhead and skimmer have been there about two weeks. Those don't move at all, and no disappearances from that group either.

 

[little_fish]

sounds like nerite snail eggs to me

 

[Samhain]

How neato! I bet I won't actually get any baby snails though, will I? I've read that saltwater snails are notoriously hard to breed in a tank environment. Either they don't hatch, or they all get eaten up or sucked into the skimmer. Oh well.

 

[Samhain]

Promised pics!

 

[little_fish]

Ya those look like nerite egg sacks to me.

Some snails do breed well in our tanks, like the stomalla snails and some others, but most of the ones we buy for a CUC just never hatch. I think its because 1. they cannot be properly fertilized in our tanks 2. our tanks arent the right temperature for eggs to mature and hatch 3. who knows what else we are missing for them