Help this snail has killed my blenny

that method sounds better then drip acclimation.. seems like even with a heavy drip the temperature in the bag of water is always going to be lower then the tank temp.. and i've probably temp shocked every fish I've ever put in my tank.. at least the ph didn't kill em.. Thx Otty.. I'll try that next time

 

Another thing to be aware of is that people will give a variety of acclimating procedures and they think there is only one way but in reality acclimation depends on the environment the fish came from (LFS) and where it is going (your tank). For example, if you get a fish (or other denizen of the deep) from LFS and his tank is at .021 SG and 80 degrees and you are at .024 and 76 degrees, those (to aquarium life) are big differences not to mention alkalinity. Therefore the acclimation would be 1 hour to 1 hour and fifteen minutes instead of say 45 min. if both environments were close.
In my opinion, 76 degrees is a tad "cool" for salt water tanks, unless the lights get the temp up to 78-80 degrees in the course of the day. But, yes, you may not be acclimating long enough which could explain the earlier clowns demise. This is why we are here, to learn and grow in our experience.

 

Also you might not want to add 3 fish at once. You should wait several weeks in between fish to allow bacteria to build up. Adding too much bioload at one time can cause your tank to cycle.

 

I did wait a week from putting the clowns in till i put the blenny in its just the same day i picked up the blennie i exchanged the two clowns for two new ones as one of the first pair was ill from the moment it went in the tank. i have checked my parm every 2 days for the last 6 weeks and all has been fine. im not going to add anymore fish till my quar tank is up and running! :-/ Also did you say my temp 26 was tad to cool as it was 27 and someone told me that was to high?

 

the blenny died of some other reason. the snail saw this as a meal and started chowing down. the snail you bought is a carnavore its not really a detrivore it is a nassacarius snail.

the snail killing the blenny is like a conch killing you. just wont happen

 

so if its a carnivour snail is that a good or bad thing to have in a reef tank? will it only feed on dead meat? and could you give me the name of the snail as the shop said it was a sand sifting snail, is that its real name?

 

The snail is fine for your tank, and are good to have. They clean up a lot of the uneaten food and detritus that gathers on the sand. And as said, the blenny was probably dead/dieing when the snail ate it. Acclimate using Otty's method, for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 20-30 minutes is way too fast.

 

nassacarius is the real name i believe, it does go in the sand but its doesn't eat stuff in the sand, thats a common miss belief. the snail is reef safe the problem is it will want to eat meat, so it may die if it can find enough pieces of food left over.(but in no way do i encourge you to overfeed to make sure you snail has some food).

one snail may survive, but if you get a bunch there probably isn't enough to sustain there population.

 

When I go to the lfs, I like to make sure I have plenty of time to observe the fish I'm interested in. They are usually very patient with me, as I like to see them feed. I know when their shipments come in, and like to have them hold the fish a few days at the store before I buy. The reason is they always seem to have some die-off, even in healthy looking livestock.
I read this somewhere, and it seemed to pay off for me.

 

The shop is saying he was fine there and have asked for a water sample ( which i no im fine on!) so what do you think there next step should be as my husband thinks if my water parm are all ok then i should get a refund? (im in the uk)also if it was sick will it effect my two new clowns?
K