Whats killing the snails

[bcwalz]

I'm wondering what might be slowly killing the snails in my reef tank. For a while I thought that when I let my alkalinity get to high that explain their deaths but now my alkalinity is under control and most snails I add to the tank die off over a week or two but not all. I do how ever have a lot of asterinia star fish popping up in my tank so what ever it is I'm thinking it can't be something lethal to all invertebrates only snails. The only other problem is I'm constantly fighting algae and cotton candy algae but that no doubt is getting triggered by the snail deaths.

Current levels are:
Calc: 390
Alk: 8.6
PH 8.15
Phos: 0.03
Nitr: 0

Thoughts?

 

[Misled]

Moon twp huh??? I'm from New Ken. We'll let that go for now.


How old is the tank. Live or dead rock for set up??

 

[bcwalz]

I've had it for about a year, bought it from someone else sand, live rock, coral, fish and all. Only one coral right now a brown button polyp doing very well. I had Xenia corals in it as well but they were taking over the tank so I removed them. Only two fish, a flame angel and an arc eye hawkfish.

 

[robertifly]

That's pretty fast sorry for your losses, I hope you get that straightened out, BTW snails come and go does anyone know the average life span you can expect on snails?

 

[bcwalz]

Anyone know if an arc eye hawkish would feed on snails? I've read some hawkish do.

 

[Anemone]

Anyone know if an arc eye hawkish would feed on snails? I've read some hawkish do.

You'd probably see it if it did - hawkfish aren't very subtle when they hunt.

Where are you getting your snails from, and how are you acclimating them?

Kevin

 

[bcwalz]

Yeah I've never seen the hawkfish hunt snails at least while the lights are on.

They're from Reefcleaners.com. I acclimate to their instructions float to match temp then put the snail in the tank but not to add water to the bag. The snails are active and moving for a couple weeks before they start slowly disappearing.

There is one snail that came with the tank that moves in the sand with a snorkel going up that I wonder if it might be the carnivorous variety. I have to get a picture of him next time he's out.

 

[griss]

There is one snail that came with the tank that moves in the sand with a snorkel going up that I wonder if it might be the carnivorous variety. I have to get a picture of him next time he's out.

That very well could be your culprit.

 

[Anemone]

They're from Reefcleaners.com. I acclimate to their instructions float to match temp then put the snail in the tank but not to add water to the bag. The snails are active and moving for a couple weeks before they start slowly disappearing.

Next time you add snails, you might check the bag's salinity. Snails can be damaged by a large change in salinity. I acclimate my snails by floating the bag for temp, then removing the snails and placing them on a plate for 5 minutes or so, allowing them to expel bag water. Then I place them individually on the tank glass just above the water line and allow them to attach. They can then move into the water at their own pace, regulating their entry into the differing environment. It's slow, and somewhat tedious, but I don't lose snails in the first month anymore.

Kevin

 

[bcwalz]

Ah nice I'll try that but probably won't be buying more snails for a while though until I can figure out for sure what's killing them. It could be the acclimation. I want to find that snail with the snorkel to try and confirm it isn't carnivorous.

One last thought I'm assuming if I had something like copper in my tank somehow that the asterina starfish would be dying as well and not thriving.

 

[bcwalz]

Closing the loop on this since I had to clean cotton candy algae off my rocks anyway I basically stripped the tank down so I could find the snail with a snorkel that I had seen. I found him and I swear it was trying to attack me as I moved him to my sump. Normally I see snails retract into their shell when picked up but he stuck his foot way way out trying to get hold of my fingers. I'm thinking I found the culprit for my snail deaths

 

[griss]

It’s not a species of cone snail, it’s it? Cone snails are venomous

 

[bcwalz]

Hmm could be ill have to take a look again

 

[bcwalz]

Here is the fiesty little guy

 

[griss]

Hmm, not a snail expert, but I don’t think that’s a cone snail and don’t think it’s a whelk, which are typical snail predators. But, I could be wrong.