Dying snails

[Raggie05]

My 36 gallon tank has just recently cycled and all the readings are zero, when i bought 3 turbo snails they all looked fine for a few days and then suddenly 2 didn't look to well and later died during the week, the one that is still in the tank has looked fine for the whole week and moves around quite a bit cleaning the living rock.
What do u guys think happened to my snails??

[taillonjohn]

I'm a beleiver that snails only do well in good water. I've never had a snail die on me, but people that I do know that have had snails die, its because of either poor acclimation, or poor water quality. snails are sensative. do some water changes. also, is there any algae in the tank for them to eat on? did they starve?

[dileggi]

Sorry to hear about your snails. I had some turbo's that didn't last long either, but...

How long was your tank up and cycled when you added the snails? What type of water are you using? What are your param's now?

It's also possible, although hard to tell, that you just got unlucky with some bad snails as well. I've seemed to have better luck with astrea over the turbo's, but that's really just my own preference.

[gummi]

If you just set up your tank and it's just finished cycling I would expect that there is no algae or detritus for them to eat. Could they have starved?

[Raggie05]

The tank has been up and cycling for 4 weeks my water paramaters are
Ammonia 0
Nitrite <0.3
Nitrate 0
Salinity 1.024
PH 8.2
Ive got 54lbs of living rock that had some hair algae on it.
I phoned up the pet shop and they said they would replace the two snails the strange thing is the one i have left in the tank has been eatin and looks fine but ill see maybe i should do a water change i used instant ocean in the salt mix.

[dileggi]

Water params look good. Most people seem to like the salinity around 1.025, but 1.024 should be fine. I believe inverts prefer 1.023 to 1.026ish. Even up to 1.027 which I believe is natural salt water.

I think the IO salt is one of the more popular ones and a lot of people use that. I don't see a problem there either.

What type of water have you been using? Tap, ro/di, distilled?

You could've gotten two bad snails, although it's odd they would die simultaneously. What about your water temp?

[CoralCaps]

Parameters look just fine (hopefully that Nitrite is 0.0) so that might not be the problem. i use IO salt and never had a problem.

As dileggi said, could have been two bad snails. i bought 10 snails once, lost 4 the next day, and six months later the remaining six were still alive.

maybe a rogue crab is in your live rock that is killing the snails? always a possibility.

[stingythingy45]

How long did you acclimate them to your tank water?
Did you drip acclimate them?
Snails take a long time to get used to water parameters.
I wont add one to my tank now without checking the SG in the bag first.Then depending on that determine how long to acclimate.

[dileggi]

Originally posted by stingythingy45
How long did you acclimate them to your tank water?
Did you drip acclimate them?
Snails take a long time to get used to water parameters.
I wont add one to my tank now without checking the SG in the bag first.Then depending on that determine how long to acclimate.

Great point stingy! Never even thought of that, even though it should've been the most obvious question to ask. Good catch!

[Raggie05]

Sorry had to go
water temp has remained at 25C-28C dont know what that is in fahreinheit.
I acclimatized them in the bag for 10 minutes before adding them
I use RO/DI water for the tank, they all looked good when i added them then the next few days they started sitting still and looked distressed (o and they never died simultaneously they were about to days apart) the one thats in the tank now looks fine and is moving about a lot more maybe my test kits are giving me bad readings has any one used tetra test?

[dileggi]

Originally posted by Raggie05
Sorry had to go
water temp has remained at 25C-28C dont know what that is in fahreinheit.
I acclimatized them in the bag for 10 minutes before adding them
I use RO/DI water for the tank, they all looked good when i added them then the next few days they started sitting still and looked distressed (o and they never died simultaneously they were about to days apart) the one thats in the tank now looks fine and is moving about a lot more maybe my test kits are giving me bad readings has any one used tetra test?

It could've been your acclimation then. You really can't just float the bag for temperature and then add the snails. The inverts are much more sensitive to the water change than fish are.

Do you know how to drip acclimate? Or, another good method is to float the bag for about 20 minutes. Once that time is up, empty the bag and (insert livestock/corals here) contents into a bucket or container. Add 1 cup of tank water. Then let everything sit for about 20 minutes or so. Then, add another cup of tank water and let sit for 20 minutes. Add another cup of tank water and again, let sit for 20 minutes. By this time, you should've almost doubled the amount of water in the tank. Now, you add the livestock to the tank WITHOUT the water from the bucket/container.

[dileggi]

As for the test kits, I have not used that brand. I've used API only. It seems like most people use either API, Salifert, or Elos. I believe Salifert to be the most used by people on here followed by API.

I believe people have stated the Elos kits are the best, but that they were pricey. I've never checked out their prices though.

[Raggie05]

Ive read some reviews on the tetra test and they said it was accurate and easy to use but anyway at least one of the snails survived and is doin good and im getting 2 new ones ill try that drip acclimatize thing for them. O and do u think ill be able to add a clown fish this weekend or do u think i should wait a little longer?

Thanks Raggie05

[dileggi]

Hmm, now that's probably something you will get different opinions on.

After my cycle was over, I added my CUC. I waited a week and then added 2 clowns the very next weekend. So, I would say yes, but only because I did it. I think most people would state to wait about 2-3 weeks after adding the CUC. So, I'll let you decide on that one! LOL!

If you're not sure on the drip acclimation method, go to liveaquaria.com. They tell you on there how to acclimate. If there are any problems or questions, just re-post.

Good Luck!