Traumatized turbo snail

[e7bin]

I've got a reasonably large turbo snail that was getting harassed by a large emerald crab in one of my tanks. I noticed he was acting weird and then saw the crab next to him during lights out so I moved him to another tank. He doesn't move much anymore and thrashes his shell around when I try to feed him nori where in the past he would grab the nori and eat it until it was gone. Has anyone had this happen in the past and is this going to resolve itself or is he going to starve due to being too stressed to eat?

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Did you drip acclimate the snail to the new tank? If not, it may be suffering from the shock of different water chemistry. I'd leave food in the tank for it, and see if it survives.

 

[e7bin]

I don't drip acclimate, I think it's more stressful than just adding them to the tank. It's still defecating, so maybe it's eating when i don't see it. I just like watching them crawling around the tank and it sucks it's not doing that.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

On drip acclimating, I think it is still a useful practice for snails, which are more sensitive to water chemistry changes than fish. With fish for sure, just match temp and salinity and drop them in.

For those not familiar with this info on fish acclimation, read the sticky thread "Death in bags" here:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1959576

 

[e7bin]

The snail was acting this way when it was in its original tank. I'm guessing it's a behavioral change brought on by the crab's aggression. The snail also wasn't in a bag, I doubt it's due to acclimation issues.