Snail trouble

S

scoobyalty

New member
I have been having a tough time keeping my snails alive. I am having no problems with anything else in my tank staying alive...fish, crabs, etc. just the snails. I had a fighting conch make it for a little over a week then a few turbos that made it a few days (2-3). I do not have any other snails in the tank because the hermits would just kill them for their shells. Ultimately I would like to phase out the hermits and fill my tank with snails, but I do not want to do this until I can figure out why the snails keep dieing so quickly.

My levels are as follows:
SG 1.025
Temp 76-78
ph 8.2
Ca 440-460
Mg 1350
dKH 9-10
Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
Phosphates 0.01

I also posted this in the Invert forum, but I am new to the SW hobby so I thought I might also try this forum being this could be an experience issue.
 
I have tried the 2 LFS in my area. As for acclimation I have just hung the bags and added water from my tank every 10 minutes for an hour as they instructed me. It is pretty frustrating for everything else to be doing fine other than the snails.
 
How new is your tank...? Inverts such as Turbo Snails and Fighting Conch's can starve to death in a new aquarium if there is not sufficient algae for them to graze on.

Also, I believe most turbo snails have a relatively short lifespan due to being harvested from cooler waters. Although this may just be the Mexican Turbo Snails.
 
I would maybe try some nassarius snails that will sift through the sand. Heck those suckers seem to be about indestructable... or at least the ones I had were.

The only ones I lost were the ones my trigger decided to munch on for fun.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12482387#post12482387 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by billford
i always drip acclimate my animals.takes a couple of hours.snails are very sensitive.go slow
Click to expand...

+1 I've found snail to be pretty sensitive too. I also drip, after the water volume in the bag doubles I dump half and let it double again.

I've got turbos, trochus, cerith, nassarius, astraea snails and hermits. Hermits are lazy if you provide empty shells they'll take those instead of killing a snail for his.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12482608#post12482608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ZAZA71
snails can be shipped with no water, don't seem sensitive to me.
Click to expand...

Every time I've short cut the acclimation I lose a high percentage within a few days.
 
If I have copper in my tank what would be a good method to make it go away? The tank is still relatively new probably about 14 weeks. As I have said I do not know if hermit crabs are industructable or not but they do very well and my emaralds and sallys also are doing very well. I also have a brittle star and he is doing good also. I am just confused and would certainly like to have snails do well.
 
carbon and water changes are the way to remove toxins.... I don't know which inverts copper affects, but it is definitely a snail killer (it's even marketed for killing snails for freshwater tanks).
 
before jumping to a copper conclusion... take your water to get tested at the LFS for it.

If you do have some... there are methods to get it out relatively easily.
 
14 weeks... judging from the type of snails you said you have lost, I doubt you have sufficient enough algae growth to maintain them.

Is there a reason you want snails?

Like I suggested... go with some Nassarius snails, as they will help keep your sand bed stirred.

there's nothing to panic about yet... it sounds like your tank may justy be TO CLEAN :lol:
 
I agree and get rid of the hermit crabs ASAP!
I could be wrong but introducing phosphates would be a bad thing ?
I think getting some algae to bloom would help the snails settle down? I'll post a picture of my snails eating away. I have 2 snails. 1 large and 1 small. they are eating the algae like crazy!
it seems they like to eat all my algae... blackish hair.... redish purplish hair and green bubble algae. So far with just 2 in my tank(55 long) the fight seems 50/50 so I think I could use a nassarus as the snails I do have now never touch the sand bed and hate touching it.
 
Introducing phosphate would be a very very bad idea... If you are set on having snails, I have heard of people using NORI and rubberbanding it to a rock on the substrate to feed snails in new tanks.

Inachu... Def get som NAS snails... they are great sand sifters, and will help keep your sand bed healthy.
 
No reason I want snails really just trying to have a good CUC. I was just concerned with losing any type of snail that I might add to the tank so I wanted to check in and find out if I would be ok adding some Nassurius or other types of snails to stir up the sand bed. Just a simple frustration I guess trying to make sure that everything is going well in there and I am not throwing too much money out the window to see the pieces I purchase die. I am currently running a phosban reactor filled with phosphate so maybe the answer might be to instead run some carbon in there and see what the results would be. Any opinions about doing that?
 
phosban reactors are great... and I personally will never run a tank without one.

I run 2 on my tanks one for carbon, one for phosban.

I had a HUGE algae breakout in my prop tank... this is about 2 weeks after phosban and carbon. Crystal clear water almost no algae to be seen.

Don't worry... algae and phosphate WILL come :lol:.. I would just enjoy the freedom from it right now. Nas snails are a good purchase, because other than removing waste, they are great for your sandbed.

Before:
f9.jpg


algae4.jpg


2 Weeks:
x13.jpg
 
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