Cleaner Vs. Cerith

Discussion in 'Inverts' started by Swifty1189, Dec 24, 2008.

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  1. Swifty1189

    Swifty1189 Bristle Worm

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    Well after 3 days of waiting for my Florida Ceriths to come out of shock. or so i thought would come out of shock.. I had to dispose of them. I received them in the mail on Monday along with Dwarf ceriths and Nassarius snails. Happy to say all the dwarfs and nassarius snails are live and well. quickly getting to work on some algae. My cleaner shrimp walked over to the florida ceriths as soon as they were put in, and looked to just be cleaning their shells. Came home from a family party today and sat in-front of my tank to see if I could witness any life from the Florida's. I noticed some "bugs" crawling on some of the shells what look like pods? The closest thing i can compare them to is Plankton from Spongebob. ( bad comparison) Sorry ive never seen pods in real life before.. and since I'm a beginner have not witnessed anything like this so Im not too sure what they are, but there are quite a few. As far as I no i have never seen them in my tank until today. I figured they came to feast on something "DEAD". Soon after my cleaner shrimp walks down the rock and starts inspecting the snails again. Only, to my surprise he ripped one right out of its shell !! I didnt think a cleaner would go after a snail for no reason but being opportunistic like any other animal, I figured he was just feasting on a dead meal. so now comes to mind they must be dead. I know it may be a dumb question but how do i know if they are really dead? Searched around and got suggestions of picking them up and if they fall out... dead.... smelling them and if they smelled something like rotten eggs, dead. So after watching my shrimp eat 2 of these snails i decided to pick some up and smell. Most smelled horrible and a few fell out of their shell.. One didn't smell so i have him back in there ( he's the biggest one and i can actually see some of his body.) .. not to sure though cause I've seen no movement, and ONE is crawling around healthy. Have not yet tested my water and with about 10 dead snails.. should i worry about a ammonia spike? Should i take the one snail I'm not sure about out to prevent more decay if he is dead? What are the small bugs that I've seen ( sorry for no photo for an easier ID. ) Sorry for the long post on Christmas Eve but,
    Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas to all!
     
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  3. m_hsiao

    m_hsiao Purple Spiny Lobster

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    best way to determine? leave em in there, and after a while if it doesn't move, it probably has already became a meal for cleaner shrimp or pods. doesn't hurt for the dead snails to be left in the tank anyways, all part of the ecosystem
     
  4. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    Where did you get everything from?
     
  5. 1st time

    1st time Purple Spiny Lobster

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    If they smell, I would get them out of there. Live snails don't smell bad.
     
  6. Swifty1189

    Swifty1189 Bristle Worm

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    got everything from reefcleaners.org

    The big one actually became active overnight when I checked in the middle of the night so thats some good news.
     
  7. stepho

    stepho Panda Puffer

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    Dead stuff may be part of the natural reef ecosystem, but that is also connected to about 100000000000000x more water than an aquarium is.



    Take out the dead ones. Ammonia is going to go up if you don't.

    Did you make sure they were all right side up when you put them in? Snails can't flip themselves over and will die upside down.

    Test your water perimeters.

    The bugs sound like amphipods or copepods to me.

    amphipods

    Sorry about your lose. Good luck. Merry Christmas.
     
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  9. Swifty1189

    Swifty1189 Bristle Worm

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    Yea I took the dead ones out already, didn't want to risk any ammonia going up. There were a couple upside down so that was my fault.(EH) .. When i put the nassarius snails in their I saw them flip themselves over and must have gotten the wrong impression. But is easy to see now since the Nassarius shells are a lot smaller in length and they have a bigger body. I assume. Amphipods look like a positive ID so thanks for that!
     
  10. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Ceriths have no problem flipping themselves over. I don't think that was the problem.
     
  11. Swifty1189

    Swifty1189 Bristle Worm

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    Im just guessing it was something with the shipment... It was really cold the day it came in. Or something wrong with that particular bag.
     
  12. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    One bad apple.... might have been one leeching ammonia to the rest....


    Did you contact John? Those folks are really good about standing by their products.