nitrates vs hermits and snails (they're dying)

[syddakyd]

i have 6 astreas left out of 25

around 10 hermits out of 16


55g live sand live rock


temp= 80
salinity= 1.025
ph= 8.2
nitrite=0
ammonia=0
nitrate= roughly 7-8ppm


the nitrates have to be doing it, right?

water changes might not even help to lower nitrates i hear.

my large hermit is doing fine though

 

[Captain Amazing]

7-8 ppm nitrate is nothing. Definately not why your snails and hermits have died. Are the empty shells the snails and hermits were in damaged?

 

[syddakyd]

well least my water quality is good but that actually is very bad b/c i dont know what is happening


i think one thing i did that was stupid was this. i bought a bunch of hermits. they had really tiny shells and needed new ones. i collected some snail shells at a beach near my house and some osyeter clam and mussle shells for decouration

i washed all the shells with hot water but no soap

well on top of that

i caught 6 native hermits (mind you my girlfriend has had about 15 native hermits for about 6 months now and they do great)

so besides catching native hermits

i got a live mussle with macro algae and through in "**** clam" i found and a sponge
i also found some weird snail and illynesa obsoleta snails i through in
i also had a chery stone clam from work i put in


i took out everything except for the native hermits. the onces that are alive are still fine. a few of my reef hermits died also though


so how likely is it i introduced disease

what a stupid thing i did

 

[racrumrine]

I'm not sure that you have anything major to worry about. Your nitrates are not the issue.

Astraeas can be weak and die from shipment and poor acclimation to your tank. Beyond that, if you don't check your tank at least twice a day and turn over the upsidedown ones, the hermits will take advantage and eat them. Some hermits may attack and eat them just to see if they'd like to try their shells.

Overall, Astraeas are a bad choice for a reef tank because of the fact that they can't turn themselves over. A better algae eating snail is a Trochus, Strombus Grazer, or Collonistas. Try to avoid buying Astraeas in the future.

Hermits usually are pretty hardy when acclimated properly. Given that you mixed species of hermits, you might have had them fighting and killing each other. I doubt there is a new disease in the tank. In a 55, you don't need more than a few hermits. If you have bristle worms, and scavenger snails (like nassarius), you really don't need them. For example, I have 3 hermits in a 180 tank and 1 in a 80 tank.

As you know, whenever you collect your own critters and plop them into your tank, you run the risk of introducing problems and diseases. Whenever I have introduced empty shells, I boil them in water for several minutes.

Best of luck,

Roy

 

[ophiuroid]

How soon after adding do they die? If within a month, how do you acclimate?

Where do you live? Some native hermits (in Florida say) may still be "reef safe" (whatever that means with hermits) but others are voracious and I wouldn't have them anywhere near my tank. These types would easily kill other hermits and snails for food.

Do you see the snails on their backs, alive, but unable to really move?

 

[JER-Z]

maybe they are starving?

 

[syddakyd]

i live in new york and the astreas started dropping the first week and most of them a few weeks after. there might only be 4 left now

i would like to just have a few big turbos they are really hardy and cool to me.


i live in new york but the hermits are tidal creatures that have to cope with extreme temps often at different ends minutes from each other.

i collected them in the middle of summer as well