Anybody have or heard of Black Turbo Snail?

[falconut]

My LFS has a bunch of these guys and I was trying to decide if I should get some. They go for $2.29 and the shells are black. From what I can remember, the body was black too.

I can't post any type of photo, because I can't find any info. on them. The closest thing I've found, photo wise, has been a Margaretta Snail. But I've seen them before and they looked like the Astrea snails. Are there two types of Margaretta Snails?

Any help, opinions or otherwise, please.

[Toddrtrex]

Does it look anything like the picture below? The foot is black, on the outside part of it, just couldn't get a good shot of it.

[falconut]

I think so. What type of snail is it?

[VacavilleFC3S]

margarita snail, i have 2 there excellent cleaners and much faster than astreas

[bill-fit]

Have you considered these snails. Trochus, some people call them black foot Trochus, whats cool about them is that they reproduce in the tank. See the little snail next to the Astrea on the left, its a baby from a spawning event that happend in my tank.

I started with 10 of them now I have about 30. There is another snail in my tank called Stommotella that is reproducing I don't have a pic of it.

The Trochus snail is available at live aquaria

[DLANDINO]

I bought 10 margarita snails and they took all of the green,hard algae off my back wall in two days. This is algae that even with the best scraper on the market I couldn't get off at all. They also do not bother my pink or red coralline. Great little cleaners, I highly recommend them. One more note, they have inter tidal tendencies which means that they may wander above the water line. I have never had one climb out and always retreat down the walls when doing a water change. Here is one of mine hard at work

[IMG][/IMG]

[pledosophy]

Margartia snails are cold water snails and will die in your tank if the temp is above the 60's. They will slowly cook in your tank and you will be cutting the lifespan of the snail short by decades.

[LUVSPS]

Originally posted by pledosophy
Margartia snails are cold water snails and will die in your tank if the temp is above the 60's. They will slowly cook in your tank and you will be cutting the lifespan of the snail short by decades.

I don't know about this^^ I have 6 Margaritas in my 29. I have a chiller running which keeps my tank at a solid 77. They're doing great, not one loss yet after 4+ months.

[paintballer768]

Wow, thanks for the pics. I never knew what my snails were because my LFS had them misnamed, but now I see theyre Margaritas. Mine have been in my 24 for almost a year with no probs.

[DLANDINO]

M ine are going strong at 80 degrees for 1 month. I hope they hang in there. This is a link to care sheet for this snail.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...ls.html?cat=53

[pagojoe]

They do call them Margarita Snails, but...that's a seller's fabricated name. Yes, they may do fine for a few months, which may be long enough to suit some folks, but they are cold water snails, and won't survive long-term.

http://www.gastropods.com/6/Shell_2406.html

Cheers,


Don

[DLANDINO]

Thanks Don!
Dave

[greenbean36191]

These guys are intertidal or shallow subtidal animals so in nature they're regularly exposed to short periods of temperature close to or even above what they will see in our tanks. They're well adapted to deal with these temps for short periods, but not long-term. As a result, they will do fine for a while at reef temps, but ultimately these temps are a major source of stress and kill the animals prematurely.

[DLANDINO]

That is such a shame, these guys are really great cleaners.

[quack]

mine do great at 77 degrees. They seem to last as long as the turbos. Like most snail deaths . . . i don't think there is enuf food for them 'cept in the dirtiest of tanks.

[greenbean36191]

Depending on what species of Turbo you have, they might not exactly be a great comparison. Many of the Turbo in the hobby are from cold or temperate ares too, only they are subtidal so don't even have the short-term coping ability. When you're talking about animals that can live over a century, lasting a year isn't much of an accomplishment.

We know that these snails activate their stress response in the mid 60s to upper 70s.

[bigtex52]

Dr. Ron did a great article on these snails in Reefkeeping back in 2005. Here is the link for it: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

[pledosophy]

Originally posted by LUVSPS
I don't know about this^^ I have 6 Margaritas in my 29. I have a chiller running which keeps my tank at a solid 77. They're doing great, not one loss yet after 4+ months.

You should check out the links. I wasn't aware either until the Shimek article. It helped me out a lot, hope it does the same for you.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about these guys.

Happy reefing.