All my turbo snails just died?

[jdircksen]

I've had my 24g up for about a year and a half now, and over the weekend I had a return pump hose pop off and shoot water out of the tank (4th time actually). This caused about 3 gallons of water to leave the tank. I mixed up some saltwater as quickly as I could and added it to the tank before it being up to temperature.

Since then, my corals and snails have been acting abnormal. I have 4 turbo snails and they haven't moved since the accident. They all pulled their foot into their shell. I removed them today (dead). I have a mexican turbo snail that usually stays just out of the water. He is still there, his foot is holding. My zoanthids stayed closed for 2 days, and are just now hinting that they'll open back up. They have always been heathly, so this is a first for them. My ricordia has taken a severe turn for the worse. It actually was starting to look sick before the accident (maybe it's dead???). Could it have put out some kind of toxin in the water?

Water params are normal -
Salinity 1.022
Temp 79
Nitrates 10
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
pH 7.8

While the hose was off I can only surmise that water in the tank would have been less flow and more choppy than normal, but 3 gallons is just a small water change. This probably occured for 8 hours.

What happened to my tank? Why all the stress?

Thanks in advance.

Also, the other inhabitants of my tank are perfectly normal. This includes a valencienna goby, valentini puffer, 2 ocellaris, pepermint shrimp, a few hermit crabs, and sally light foot crab.

 

[jag1979]

not sure about the snails but i would raise the salinity and ph

 

[Liquid Hobby]

4th time your return hose has popped off!? Seems you may want to tackle that little pesky problem while you at it...

 

[lllosingit]

Re: All my turbo snails just died?

My guess is shock from the sudden temp change and possibly PH and Salinity swing too.
Pouring the water in not up to temp could cause the water in the tank to drop a 3-4* or more ,thats enough to do damage

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8556343#post8556343 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jdircksen
I mixed up some saltwater as quickly as I could and added it to the tank before it being up to temperature.

 

[icepick5587]

Yeah I had that some problem with my hose popping off, I just took one of those fasteners and tightened her up, its been good ever since.

 

[JamesJR]

I bet it was an abrupt change in the salinity. That will kill most snails very quickly.

 

[Waxxiemann]

could your mixing bucket have been used for anything else? Just throwing it out there.

 

[nodea717]

got any of this?

got any of this?

Got any of this?

I just read an article in the November issue of Reefkeeping. Your post reminded me of snail activity discussed in the "Problem Dinoflagellates and pH" article, might be worth a read.

Mahalo,
Don

 

[stonepilot]

look for electrical leakage in the tank. if you dont have grounding probe get one.

 

[Keiths_Reefs]

I was under the impression that salt had to mix and airate for at least 12 hours or it was harmful to the tank in habitants. If that is the case the quickly mied new water could have been an issue. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Keiths_Reefs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8557870#post8557870 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stonepilot
if you dont have grounding probe get one.

That topic has been discussed back and forth here tons of times and there is a large school of thought that a grounding probe does more harm than good. But that's for another thread . . .

 

[jdircksen]

how do I "look" for electrical leakage? my hand has been in the water many times since then and I haven't felt a shock.

 

[RichConley]

Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8556896#post8556896 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lllosingit
My guess is shock from the sudden temp change and possibly PH and Salinity swing too.
Pouring the water in not up to temp could cause the water in the tank to drop a 3-4* or more ,thats enough to do damage

I really doubt thats the problem. My tank drops 6-7 degrees over night, and nothing bad happens.

 

[lllosingit]

Re: Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

Re: Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

Do you look for my posts so you can doubt me???
I agree a drop of a few degrees over a few hours may not cause a problem but a SUDDEN drop of a few degrees most certianly can.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8558453#post8558453 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
I really doubt thats the problem. My tank drops 6-7 degrees over night, and nothing bad happens.

 

[RichConley]

Re: Re: Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

Re: Re: Re: Re: All my turbo snails just died?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8558704#post8558704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lllosingit
Do you look for my posts so you can doubt me???
I agree a drop of a few degrees over a few hours may not cause a problem but a SUDDEN drop of a few degrees most certianly can.

Why? We're talking about animals that live in intertidal zones here. They get rained on with 60 degree fresh water. They have spikes of 20 degrees in lagoons.

His pH is catastrophically low, which means his Alk is very low. I'd bet the Alk numbers have more to do with this than temp.


Again, I've lost power and had my tank in the 60s, and not lost anything, so I really really doubt a 3 degree drop in a couple of minutes would do anything. For that matter, I NEVER heat my change water. I'm not convicned temperature changes bother anything..its more when you get out of the acceptable range that things get bothered.

 

[jdircksen]

I used to always do water changes with room temp water and never had a problem. I don't think its a good habit but I don't think it would kill 4 snails all at the same time, but not kill fish or crabs. 3g at 70*F mixed with 20g at 78*F would only drop the tank temp a couple degrees if that.

My pH is usually 7.8-8.0. I don't really keep good tabs on it but whenever I check it it's always in that range.

I am going to research the electrical leakage possiblity.

 

[stereomandan]

The salinity shouldn't have changed at all. He just pumped out salt water, and then replaced the lost water with newly mixed salt water (I'm asuming he mixed it to the same salinity as the tank)

Your water parameters are pretty out of wack though. Your salinity might be o.k. for your fish, but not near optimal (1.025-1.026).

The Ph is very low too, as mentioned. Do you add any alk or calcium suppliments? You need to, unless you are doing VERY frequent water changes.

If the ammonia spiked from one snail death, it could start a chain reaction, killing another snail.. another ammonia build up...

Dan

 

[nodea717]

I agree stereomandan, Alk must be low to cause such an unstable PH.

 

[jdircksen]

I'll bump up my salinity slowly. I have a Coralife Deep Six Hydrometer and I just keep the salinity in the range on the gauge.

I have an ammonia alert gauge and it is still in the "yellow" zone.

 

[garymcgrath]

Most salt mixes contain significant amounts of ammonia. This has been discussed several times in the chemistry forum. I aerate my new saltwater for several days or a week to convert some of the amonia to nitrite/nitrate prior to use. This may have contributed to your problem.