Snails/Hermits dying

[Ytsejam02]

Hi All,
I have a 6 week old tank, that has cycled, and I've had snails/hermits in there for about 1.5 weeks.

Recently, I've had 2 astrae's and 4 hermits (2 red, 2 mexican algae eaters) die in the past few days. I'd love to know why, and looking for any insights people can give.

My stats are currently:
salinity: 1.023
pH: 8.1
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphates: .25

Based on my stats, I don't think it's the water quality (unless I'm misunderstanding something).

I thought maybe it was a starvation thing, but the other 5 astrae's and other 14 hermits seem to be fine.

Any thoughts?
Thx in advance!

 

[morpheas]

How big is your tank? In any case 14 hermits sound like quite a hefty amount especially for a new tank. I would think it's starvation on a new tank that has no real algae / nutrients and you have all these guys trying to find something to eat. The fact that the other ones are alive means that at some point the system will find an equilibrium with the amount of cuc and available food sources.

EDIT: Do you ghost feed at all?

 

[A.Astore]

Yeah, 7 Astraea and 18 hermits probably was simply too much for the amount of food you currently have for them. Were you supplementing them or ghost feeding the tank?

 

[Ytsejam02]

I did provide a a few feedings of pellets, but guessing that's more for the hermits. The tank is a 55g. The quantity is confusing, because a site like liveaquaria.com's reef cleaner packs have more than this for a 30g setup!

I'm planning on picking up some Nori for the astrae's.

 

[scooter31707]

Take some Nori and rubberband it to piece of rock and let them graze on that.

 

[Ytsejam02]

Oh, and I have 4 narcissus.

 

[Ytsejam02]

Take some Nori and rubberband it to piece of rock and let them graze on that.

The Nori is only going to help the astrae's, correct?

 

[morpheas]

I did provide a a few feedings of pellets, but guessing that's more for the hermits. The tank is a 55g. The quantity is confusing, because a site like liveaquaria.com's reef cleaner packs have more than this for a 30g setup!

I'm planning on picking up some Nori for the astrae's.

Yah I always take those numbers with a grain of salt "1 crab per 3 gallons" or "1 crab per gallon" and it's misleading. What you should be looking for is "does my system's food source and nutrients justify an X amount of snails/crabs?". Start with a low number and work yourself up. Your system will find stability no matter what you do (crabs and snails will die bringing the population to a sustainable number) it's just that you will have the opposite effect that you are looking for with a CUC when you have a bunch of them die in there...

The Nori is only going to help the astrae's, correct?

I think the crabs will graze on it too...

EDIT: My 30 gallon has 3-4 scarlets and 5-6 snails (various types)

 

[CStrickland]

I wouldn't worry too much. Even if you do everything right, sometimes they just don't make it. The travel and acclimation is very stressful, and the ones that died might have had an issue to begin with. Losing six out of 30 is a lot, but not crazy.

I would expect it to take several weeks to a month for a healthy crab or snail to starve to death, but I'm not sure.

Don't go overboard feeding, it can cause a nutrient problem. I'd put some nori in before bed and remove what's left in the morning every other day at the most.

 

[A.Astore]

One more thing, do you have empty shells for the hermits? I know when I added mine some found new shells immediately (I am assuming it was the stress of shipment or maybe they were not kept in tanks that had the available shells... who knows) but that could also potentially have been a problem.

 

[roy tharp]

Is an iodide supplement required for crabs & snails & shrimp

 

[Ytsejam02]

One more thing, do you have empty shells for the hermits? I know when I added mine some found new shells immediately (I am assuming it was the stress of shipment or maybe they were not kept in tanks that had the available shells... who knows) but that could also potentially have been a problem.

I do. I asked that when I bought them, and the LFS was good enough to just give me a bunch of various sized shells for the hermits. The Mexican's seem to like to switch shells much more than the reds.

I did observe one crab leave it's shell on a rock, travel a fair distance, and soon as it hit the substrate, BAM, a narcissus practically jumped on it and devoured it. Unfortunate but kinda fascinating at the same time.

 

[Ytsejam02]

Yah I always take those numbers with a grain of salt "1 crab per 3 gallons" or "1 crab per gallon" and it's misleading. What you should be looking for is "does my system's food source and nutrients justify an X amount of snails/crabs?". Start with a low number and work yourself up. Your system will find stability no matter what you do (crabs and snails will die bringing the population to a sustainable number) it's just that you will have the opposite effect that you are looking for with a CUC when you have a bunch of them die in there...

I think the crabs will graze on it too...

Thx for the info.

Does adding fish help stabilize the environment for the snails/crabs?

I'm not looking to add fish for about a month, since I have to travel for work, and I have to get my hardware for a QT, and don't want to leave them in QT when I'm traveling.

If so, I'll need to take steps to try to help them, which I'm guessing would be adding the Nori.

 

[A.Astore]

I think you are smart to follow your plan as you are in terms of fish. I would simply add the nori every so often as well as your ghost feeding. The only thing fish would help would be the waste they produce and the food they miss. I left my tank without fish for a long while after adding the initial CUC. There were a few deaths in the ranks but it evened out once the food to critter ratio stabilized (to be honest I am fairly certain the one hermit killed a snail for its shell just because it could even with a huge pile to pick from). They are definitely interesting to watch and my kids love them just as much as the fish.