Snails (& animals) - Interesting, possible good & some bad things

[Autumnsky]

Libertybelle got me to looking at some of these things again after thinking about poisonous snails (passed through in reading about some of these over the years.)

Always wash your hands after handling snails and other tank water stuff for that matter, and don't eat slugs.

It isn't really that terrifying or something to give you nightmares, but be careful and use standard sanitation practices, just like picking up small animal pets (salmonella), and not letting dogs lick your mouth or sores/ open wounds (Capnocytophaga canimorsus)... (oh we people really love our animals, lol.)

For SW keepers, Palytoxin
https://reefbuilders.com/2015/08/26/palytoxin-dangerous/

And then there are zoonotic diseases.

The SW cone snail / Conus parius - don't play with these guys
https://allthatsinteresting.com/cone-snail
https://www.nist.gov/news-events/ne...adly-venom-can-help-us-build-better-medicines


Other snails
https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-08-13/why-snails-are-one-worlds-deadliest-creatures

And their shell-less relatives slugs

Rat lungworm disease (from rodents like rats)

Watch out for bird droppings on picnic and patio and kids play outside tables and homegrown veggies /fruits as well.

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/angiostrongylus/gen_info/faqs.html

https://www.newsweek.com/parasite-rat-lungworm-garden-slug-834667

~~~~~~~
and this was the Assassin snail topic which libertybelle was mentioning in her thread about them...

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/foru...ssassin-snails-rcs-mini-ramshorns-371439.html

My thoughts and how this thread started so I wasn't hijacking libertybelle's.

"... of Assassin snails, which at the Aquarium Club meeting I was listening to a group of seasoned hobbyists which speculated the ability of a neurotoxin from the snails. Whereas, for instance why would a huge snail like a Mystery snail get taken out by one... little, tiny Assassin?

So one possible rumor of their abilities. Which also makes me concerned about putting my hand in a tank with them, lol or not lol - not sure.

It was, what seemed as I had walked up to the group of people talking, that someone else in the aquarium field had proposed this consideration. Referring to "he" , as I missed the name. After listening to the back and forth for a few minutes, I was distracted by someone else and went off in the other direction, without further details.

Though they had mentioned there were types of Mollusks (Conus parius SW cone snail for one), which have special abilities for capturing /eating their prey."

In general I haven't seen any worse dangers from keeping Ramshorn snails in my tanks, than keeping a dog or cat (toxoplasmosis). All pets could pose some kind of health risk.

The best thing is to know how to reduce the risks.

 

[libertybelle]

I’ve read similar things but I’ve never seen anything scientific on the subject. Maybe my assassin was just a terrible hunter. I feel like if one assassin could use a toxin to take down a much larger snail then one of the few nerites who cohabitated with my assassin for months (with no other snails/ inverts in the tank and no special feeding / leftovers to speak of) would have gotten taken out? Frankly I always assumed that like the weak shrimp that I watched an assassin overtake, it was weak or dying larger snails or cooperation between multiple assassins rather than assuming a toxin.

Agreed with all of the above re: precautions. In most places the zoonotic bugs we can get from our aquariums are easily cleared up with commonly available treatments but just like you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t!) go swimming in a pond with an open gash the same applies to aquaria. Most people would probably be fine, assuming a healthy immune system, but why risk it. Just wash your hands!

 

[Autumnsky]

Hand washing is #1 preventative yes. Many people are freaked out about things and what we do on daily basis can be worse!

In my SW tank I had a brush with palytoxin by a frag falling off a stone and bumping some Palys/Zoas which squirted in protest.

A bit later part of my hand was going numb, which made me remember about the Palys and Zoa warnings, washed hands (and arms) several times I was fine and the next day my tank was nuked. Lesson learned.

Have kept the Assassins a few times once one came as an egg on a plant I think and it was really cute, but think it did eat some RH snails.

My others ate RH snails and also would eat all the stuff the bottom feeders ate and loved wafers. Moved them along to a new home when I didn't want them to possibly bother my shrimps!

 

[libertybelle]

Oh yes I’ve definitely heard of more ‘protest’ chemicals in saltwater coral and fish than fresh. (It’s part of why I’m a little intimidated by saltwater, tbh)

Personally I may just take my assassin back to my lfs. It was an interesting experiment but I got him to be part of the balance with mini ramshorns but he’s not interested in them and I don’t want him to starve! I tend to underfeed my tanks so there’s not much for him to eat leftover and the mini ramshorns don’t take over for the same reason. I don’t really want to overfeed or introduce another species of small snail to keep him fed.