Snails Dying....Whats causing?

[topherc84]

I cant figure out why my snails keep dying. I have tried nassarius, cerith, margarita, and turbo snails and none have survived more than a couple of days. I have done the drip and bag floating acclimation methods from anywhere between 2 - 4 hours each time.

This tank has been set up for just over 2 months. its a 37 gallon, a 10 gal sump with ~6 gal refugium.
ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0
Ph - 8.2
Specific Gravity - 1.025

The other inhabitants that have been added and are alive and happy include:
4 very small blue-green chromis
skunk cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
and a mithrax/emerald crab

everything was NOT added at the same time, and although I may have rushed putting live stock in it a little, everything other than snails are doing great. Water is topped off every day so the salinity doesnt rise that much. I also do a 5 - 10 gallon water change every week using RO/Di water and oceanic salt.

I can not figure out what is going wrong, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Thefilterguys]

My first impulse says copper any metal in your tank or after the RO membrane in your water system or have you treated your system with medications?

Jim

 

[topherc84]

Thanks for you response

the only thing I can think of that would have copper in it is the Beckett pump what i am using. I bought it brand new only a couple months ago. I have not treated with any medications, however, this tank was previously owned. The owner gave me all of his supplies, included was 3 different bottles of Ich medicines which had been used. Could this have soaked into the silicone sealant and is leaching out into my water now? Can I take a water sample to a LFS to get it tested for copper? Also, the water I use comes from one of those windmill water stands outside the grocery store.

 

[Thefilterguys]

I hate to think of it but the Ich medication may be the source of the problem. The problem is the copper bonds with the rock and sand and silcone and alway remains toxic. Generally it will not show up with a test as it is in low but lethal concentration for inverts.

Jim

 

[greenbean36191]

Doing a copper test is essentially useless since it's toxic to many inverts far below the level hobbyist tests can read. If you can't figure out any other explanations you should probably just start treating the tank as if it is contaminated with copper. Polyfilters and lots of waterchanges might be all that it takes to make the tank habitable.

Before you go down that road though, are all of these snails coming from one source? If so, what do they keep their salinity at, how do they acclimate, and do they use copper in any of their systems?

 

[topherc84]

I have gotten the snails from 4 different sources, 1 of which was from a friends tank and the others from stores. The answers to the other questions I do not know.

I got the tank including sand, so I suppose thats 2 things that are contaminated. looks like copper seems to be the only thing that could be causing this problem at this point. How come it isnt effecting my crab or shrimp?

Guess I will start doing larger water changes and put some filters in my sump. Can you steer me in the right direction as to what kind/ brand of filter media?

Also, I have read somewhere that theres some kind of additive for the water that will help precipitate the copper out of the sand, rock, ect. Do you have any input on this stuff?

Again, thanks your responses.