snail question

[sedorusc]

having a problem with keeping turbos and other snails. they keep dying. I have about 9 nassarius in my sand bed that have been there for months without a problem. also have hermits and a coral banded shrimp. I thought at first might be a copper problem as this is a "new" used tank I got from a friend, but it can't be with all those inverts surviving without a problem. I have a lot of green algea growing on my back glass. wondering if it might be dino and thats killing the snails. found out the sand I tried contained silica. will probably have to change out the sand and mix up new water. any thoughts?

 

[chrisstie]

Have you tested for phosphates?

 

[sedorusc]

would that kill the snails? I just bought two the other day. they're not dead but not moving at all.

 

[sedorusc]

phosphates at 0.1-0.2

 

[bellusangel3]

I was having the same problem for five months. After several weekly water changes and replacing the sand, scrubbing down all my rocks, and adding a refugium. I don't have that problem any more.
I am guessing phosphates do kill inverts because I couldn't keep snails, hermits or shrimp while I had all that red and green slime covering my tank.

 

[sedorusc]

well now I know what I have to do. thank you.

 

[Aquarist007]

do you have hermit crabs in there---they are notorious for wiping out snail populations

 

[sedorusc]

yeah, but the snails acted almost dead shortly after I put them in.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11686577#post11686577 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sedorusc
yeah, but the snails acted almost dead shortly after I put them in.

ok then---what I have found is that Lfs's can keep their salinity as low as .018. that's a big difference from a reef tank of .026.
So acclimatizing for an hour or two is not enough
What I did was set up the quaranine tank at the level of salt water in the bag--then gradually brought it up in the qt over 24 hours
at that point I put them directly back into the main tank

I used to get 20 snails and 10 of them wouldn't even open up--now its 100 per cent.

 

[sedorusc]

I wonder if thats the problem. I got them from a shadier store thats the only one with 30 miles of my home. if it was anything else I wouldn't have bought them. also found that the sand I put in my tank contains silica so that's gotta go anyway.