Snails causing bacterial bloom? Water change?

[kevin21]

Hey all!

I added 4 Mexican turbo snails at about 3pm today. I came home around 5pm and my tank was extremely cloudy! Like a bacterial bloom type look. Could 4 turbo snails being added be the cause of this? Maybe one died already? They are very large Mexican turbos.

This has never happened to me before in my 10 years of reefkeeping. I floated a ziplock freezer bag in the tank to temp acclimate (salinity was already matched) and added them to the tank. Like these snails typically do, they haven't moved much as they continue to get used to the new water.

I have a few softies/LPS in the tank. None of which capable of dirtying the water up like this. A Tyree toadstool, green nepthea, Orange acans, Kenya tree, button polyps, and yellow polyps. Also have 4 Fish, two clowns, flame hawkfish, and a purple pseudo.

Thanks guys! Wondering if I should do an emergency water change tonight??

 

[Anemone]

A large dead object (like a large snail) might add enough decaying flesh to create a water-borne bacterial bloom, depending upon your current filtration surface area.

The first thing I'd do would be to determine if you have a dead snail, and remove it.

If it is a bacterial bloom, a water change might help, but I'd be more concerned about water oxygenation as the lights go off (and all the photosynthetic surface films stops producing oxygen and begin consuming it). This could potentially create a low-oxygen event and threaten your fish. Make sure you have sufficient surface agitation to create a good gas exchange.

It's possible your turbo snails (or something else in the tank) spawned, in which case getting the organic-rich water out would be helpful.

Kevin

 

[kevin21]

Thanks. I’m going to do a water change and check the 4 snails added. I just can’t beieve they could create this much cloudiness in this short a time.

 

[kevin21]

Just did a water change and I checked all snails. all 4 of the added snails are stuck hard to my barebottom tank and strong. So they are not dead and rotting away. i would assume this bloom could of came from a spawning? I have good surface agitation and my skimmer is running well. Just hope I am not making a mistake by leaving the snails in there. Have had these fish for 5+ years and was just getting ready to transfer them to their new and bigger home. The only coral that looks upset with what is going on is my trachyphyllia.

 

[dubmaneh]

They may have been spawning. Were they high up on the rock work/ glass when the tank was cloudy?

It has happened to me with asterea snails several times. Always freaks me out at first. If you watch closely they squirt an opaque substance in the water which clouds the tank.

Generally happens in the evening in my experience. Few weeks later - baby snails.


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[kevin21]

Added 4 mexican turbos at 3pm...tank was so cloudy I couldn't see the back of it by about 5:30pm. Snails did not move from the spot I placed them, which was on the barebottom part of the tank. Did not notice any spawning, but obviously could have missed it. Crazy stuff. I got some live rock from a local friend from a reef club. He had the 4 snails in there with the rock. I didn't like the idea of having the snails in the tote container for a month of so, so I transferred them to the 28g, figuring they would only be in there a month of so until the 50g comes.

 

[outssider]

I have had giant Mexican turbos for years....never spawned ….and never any problems with them.....I'd look elsewhere ….

 

[kevin21]

Tank was clear as could be today. Can’t figure out what could of caused such a brutal bloom so fast. Only time I have seen a bacterial bloom like that was after dosing NOPOX

 

[dubmaneh]

IME bacterial blooms are stingy on the glass and rockwork. Spawning events are not. They look more like an overdose of Kalkwasser or when dosing coral snow.

It always amazes me how such tiny creatures can cause such cloudiness. Never had any negative issues with a spawning event. Just more snails.


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[jestronix]

Same happened to me, came home and thought I'd had an alk incident, nope horny snail! Interestingly caused some of my corals to close up, that was in my old small tank. He did it again in my new tank, but with five times the volume it didn't cloud as much nor cause any corals to close up. Not sure if the corals feed on it ?

 

[WVfishguy]

In a tank as small as a 28g., it doesn't take much to cloud up.

I was finishing up a customer's tank one evening when I saw what looked like a puff of smoke in the tank. As I watched, dozens of small worms (can't remember what) were coming to the top of the rock, uncurling their "tails", and spraying white, smoky substance into the water.

I assume this was breeding behavior, possibly caused by the large water change. It was a 75g with a 55g sump, and had a large skimmer, so it did not cloud the tank. They stopped their activity in about 30 minutes.

In a smaller tank, I'm certain this could have caused a problem.