How old do snails get?

[vikinglord13]

I recently had a chestnut turbo snail die on me. I'm pretty baffled at this as my water quality isn't horrible and it's about the same age as the other one in my tank (assuming they grow at the same rate).

I noticed it was pretty week. It would fall of the rocks and it was unable to reattach itself effectively. I placed it on top of the rock and it snailed around for a bit, but once it hit a certain angle it fell over again. I suspect it eventually fell on its back and the crabs and wrasse got to it. I noticed when it was on its back it was hiding in its shell as snails tend to do, it was sort of just laying there as if it had given up on life.

Nitrates at the TOD were 0.
Phosphates were greater than 0; however, I don't think it was due to the phosphates as my other snails were happy.
My salinity was fine.

So I'm thinking it was just old age. However, I have no idea how old it was.

 

[snorvich]

Crabs and snails do not do well together.

 

[Moeshi]

Ironically, the most common cause of death for turbos is starvation. They need way more film-algae than you'd expect. They need to eat close to their own body-weight every week.

Other than that, they can live for 5 years in cooler temps. 3-4 years tops in a reef tank.

 

[vikinglord13]

Hmmm, I've had these guys for about 1.5 years and they never control the algae so I think it didn't starve... though I could be wrong. I always see snail tracks on the glass when I clean so I know they don't get all of it

 

[DasCamel]

I've still got one of my original snails from 3 years ago. Haven't bought any since.