Recurring mysterious death of new snails?

gigafish · 04-13-2007, 10:41 PM

I apologize for the length, I just like to get everything out.

So this all started a few months ago. I used to have a 54g corner tank with a volitan lionfish, purple tang, marine betta, and a 2" hermit. I decided to add some snails so to start I went down to the lfs and got 3 mexican turbo snails. I brought them home and introduced them to my tank by letting the bag float for 15 minutes and then taking them out and putting them on the glass inside my tank. Within 12 hours, all three snails had died. The next day I took some water down to get it tested and everything came back good. (Am=0,Ni=0,Na=10) All they could tell me is that sometimes snails just die, and the only thing they can think of to try was adding a grounding probe. So I added the grounding probe but never got anymore snails in that tank. My hermit has lived just fine through all of this by the way.

So 2 months ago I upgraded to a 72 bowfront tank and moved all of my livestock over to it and everything has been working great. Yesterday, I bit the bullet and decided to try it again. I purchased 5 small zebra hermits, and 5 small black turbo snails. I introduced them into the tank the same way because the lfs told me there is no need to drip acclimate them or anything. It has now been 24 hours and my hermits are making themselves at home just fine and 4 of the 5 snails are working very hard to clean my glass it seems, but... this morning when I woke up I found one of my snails dead on the sand. At first my thought was that it could have fallen off and just not been able to get back on the glass, but it was positioned in such a way that it was on the sand, right by the glass and it could have gotten back on if it wanted to. So this snail did just died.

I dont really have a specific question about this, just more or less looking for other peoples input on the situation. Do snails just die? Could it be something in my tank? Should I acclimate them differently?

geekdafied · 04-14-2007, 02:24 AM

Have you tested your parameters yourself? High nitrates will kill snails pretty quick. One thing about testing, make sure its not out of date. An out of test kit will not read accurately. It may tell you everything is perfect because the test kit is not reacting the way it normally would with the water when a new test will read something totally different.

Otty · 04-14-2007, 02:36 AM

One thing is I would acclimate a invert for longer then 15 minutes. I put mine in for 25 minutes just to get the water temp correct. After that I put a 1/2 cup of water in every 20 minutes for about an hour and a half, or double the amount of water the invert came in. You may also want to test for Copper, inverts do not like that mineral. Make sure it is a good test kit too and not a cheap one because it will give you false readings.

sssnake · 04-14-2007, 05:32 AM

I would have to agree with Otty.

As far as I know inverts must be acclimated slowly.....more so than fish.

inwall75 · 04-14-2007, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gigafish

I introduced them into the tank the same way because the lfs told me there is no need to drip acclimate them or anything.

Snails cannot tolerate major changes in salinity. Your fish store gave you bad advice here. As others have mentioned, you need to acclimate inverts slowly.

nemo79 · 04-14-2007, 08:32 AM

Well, I have never acclimated anything for an hour. I do agree that acclimating is very important because each tanks water perameters are different. I usually float the bag for 15 - 20 minutes. Then I poke a hole in the bag, I use a turkey baster to put some of my tank water into the bag, then I wait a bit and then I add my critters. I have never had anything die. My nitrates were at 80ppm, I lost 3 trochus snails (but my hermits could have done this) and my scooter died. All other snails, hermits, corals, fish servived this ordeal.

As stated you should test your own water. Don't rely on the LFS because you don't know: what kits they use, how old they are. Also it's not their tank so the employee testing the water has no investment, therefore accuracy may be limited. What water do you use, have you ever added meds in the tank?
There is obviously a cause for the death of snails in your tank. Do you know what the stores have their salinity at? If there's is low and your's is high, not acclimating them will cause them to die, and vice versa.

gigafish · 04-15-2007, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Otty

One thing is I would acclimate a invert for longer then 15 minutes. I put mine in for 25 minutes just to get the water temp correct. After that I put a 1/2 cup of water in every 20 minutes for about an hour and a half, or double the amount of water the invert came in. You may also want to test for Copper, inverts do not like that mineral. Make sure it is a good test kit too and not a cheap one because it will give you false readings.

Well, I lost another one today, its been 4 days and I still have 3 out of the 5. I bought this tank used and I asked if he ever used copper and he told me no but I will check and see. Any recommendations on copper test kits? Also, I have 5 small zebra hermits and 1 red 2" hermit and they are all thriving fine. Wouldnt they die under copper poisoned water as well? I will also look into the nitrates. I just got a new kit.

Another question I had was is it normal for the snails to stay above the water line for long periods of time? 2 out of the 3 keep going back up after I put them down in the water and I dont know if this is normal.

njdevilsfan · 04-15-2007, 09:43 PM

i used to work at a sw store the prob one runs into with snails is most stores keep their snails in 1 or 2 tanks so all day long they going into this tank taking a few snails out
the prob is with the snails goes water from the same tank thus the sanil tank in the store will end up with diff salinity do to the next employee toping tank off with fresh water
sorry for being longwinded but im betting it is a salinity prob next time you buy some snails when you open the bag test the salinity

amcarrig · 04-18-2007, 01:13 PM

I apologize if this has already been asked but have you/can you test your water for stray voltage?

oliesminis · 04-18-2007, 02:14 PM

wel i no this is fresh water but it might help

i have a 1" snail that hitch hiked on a plant it seems to give birth to eggs without the need for another snail he is fine but my smaller ones died

my guess for my tank is that the snail i have is enough for my tank and any more means they dont get any more to eat

however it does mean a free snack for my dwarf gourami who only eats them when they are dead

hope this helps you in your investigation to the dead snails