Turbo Snail

[Creetin]

I noticed theres a tube located at the snail near the mouth part. It sticks out and sometimes I see some discharge coming out. Is it the tube for it to s*** ie. poop tube?

[Tanzy]

Snail poop is solid like a sausage, does it come out there?

[newdamsel]

For the Astrea snails in my tank, they either poo or urine as they graze. Solid??? it seem more like strings of slime to me.... yup, it is also excreted from a tub enear the mouth~! eeee.. cant imagine if humans also excrete near our mouths~!

[Creetin]

hmmmmm so far i havent seen snail poop thats as solid as a sausage! given that they eat algae, it shouldnt be tat solid!

so that tube is for pooping? i tot its some kinda filter as they discharge the slime while eating (to filter the sand out), didnt know that the poop tube is so close to the snail's mouth!

[Tanzy]

It would be good to know that the body of the snail is folded in half as we humans would know it. Imagine bending over to place your foot next to your head, that's exactly where the snail's foot is anyway.

Snail poop is pretty solid in my tank.

[hongqixian]

Creetin, the snail uses its proboscis to nibble algae.

[Creetin]

hongxian, i didnt know that its used to nibble algae.....nvr seen a snail use it b4... i just see it discharging slime from time to time.....its always sticking out of the snail, nvr seen it stick on glass/rock to eat algae...

tat said, i am realli confused over my snails whether turbo or astreas. when i see website, always turbo snail have round shells. astreas are cone shaped! mi snails are all cone shaped, does this mean they are astreas!

newdamsel: could u paste a pic of ur astreas for us to see?

[hongqixian]

Well, try taking a snail and pop it onto the glass wall and take a look. Pretty cute!

Wait a minute does yours look like a mini cone snail? Then if it isn't the toxic kind it uses the tube to sniff around. I had an orange hitchhiker snail that looked like a cone but wasn't toxic (I think )

[newdamsel]

hongxian, i didnt know that its used to nibble algae.....nvr seen a snail use it b4... i just see it discharging slime from time to time.....its always sticking out of the snail, nvr seen it stick on glass/rock to eat algae...

tat said, i am realli confused over my snails whether turbo or astreas. when i see website, always turbo snail have round shells. astreas are cone shaped! mi snails are all cone shaped, does this mean they are astreas!

newdamsel: could u paste a pic of ur astreas for us to see?

HI creetin, i do not have a cam but my astrea looks exactly like this.....

i think if its a cone, it should be astrea. The 2nd pic is the pic of a astrea spawning, and MY interpretation of their "organs" heh heh... do not know their scientific names but what the heck so long everyone understands... heh heh

[newdamsel]

This is the 2nd pic

[Creetin]

hi newdamsel, ...... mi snails look like the cone ones, but mine has some kind of rings ard the shell....urs like pretty covered up! but the bottom part look abt the same as ur snails....

hongxian, u got me worried! wat toxic snails? i have new hitchhiker snails which came in the LR, brown ones... i not sure whether they are toxic, how to know? they look useful, cleaning my glass n rocks.....

[newdamsel]

I guess yours is also the astrea snails... it does have rings on it.... over time the shell will be covered with coralline and algae and you wun be able to see those rings after that

[Creetin]

ah ic....and to think the LFS told me its turbo snails! tats kinda weird!