Snail Problems

[crystain]

I am having problems keeping snails alive in my tank. I tried a bunch of astrea from SWF that all perished within a week. And now I have 6 medium turbo snails that are starting to exhibit the same behavior.
I slowly acclimate the snails after I bring them home from the LFS. They seem quite content for the first day or two and gorge themselves on the very abundant algae in on the LR and glass. Then they start to become sluggish/stationary and eventually die.
Any have a similar experience? Any idea what the problem may be?
Here's my water parameters:
Temp: 78 F
SG: 1.024-1.025
pH: 8.2 - 8.3
Alk: 6 meg/L
Ammonia: 0 - 0.01 ppm (small blip in ammonia cycle due to addition of snails and a small fish)
Nitrite: 0 - 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Phosphates: 0 ppm
Copper: 0 ppm
Tank age: 1.5 months
I am using DI water for top offs and aged/heated/buffered saltwater for 10% water changes biweekly.
Other possible clues:
My girlfriend in the same household has a 58 gal reef and also has problems with snails.
I have lost two shrimp and an emerald crab this week as well.

 

[nacl-h2o]

Check your calcium. If calcium and or iodine are to low, you will have problems keeping snails and/or crustacians.

 

[jakob4001]

have iether tanks ever been treated w/ some kind of additive/medication???

 

[crystain]

Calcium and Iodine are within normal ranges. I don't have the numbers in front of me.
No medication has been used in the tanks. Both tanks were purchased new and are less than 3 months old. Also, copper tests are negative.
The tanks were originally filled with tap water treated with a declorinator, but we have been gradually replacing the water through water changes with the DI water.

 

[mlm]

Try the trochus snails from this site. They are worth every penny.

 

[crystain]

I don't doubt it, but I don't want to buy an animal that may die shortly after I put it in the tank.

 

[eeyrg]

Originally posted by mlm:
<strong>Try the trochus snails from this site. They are worth every penny.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I (the girlfriend of the postee, Crystain) Have bought Trochus from SWF.com and have had the same results, dead snails.
The calcium in my tank is 430 and when I last checked his it was about the same.

 

[mlm]

YOu sure you have the right ones? They are big and have an appitite to match. I bought ten for my 55 and they consumed all the algea within hours. I had to give 5 of them to my lfs to keep the others from starving.

 

[eeyrg]

Originally posted by mlm:
<strong>YOu sure you have the right ones? They are big and have an appitite to match. I bought ten for my 55 and they consumed all the algea within hours. I had to give 5 of them to my lfs to keep the others from starving.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, I know for SURE they are the right snails. And I even bought some at my LFS (so did he) to make sure it wasn't just a bad shipment.

 

[eeyrg]

Originally posted by crystain:
<strong>Calcium and Iodine are within normal ranges. I don't have the numbers in front of me.
No medication has been used in the tanks. Both tanks were purchased new and are less than 3 months old. Also, copper tests are negative.
The tanks were originally filled with tap water treated with a declorinator, but we have been gradually replacing the water through water changes with the DI water.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually, our Iodine is still a bit on the low side, but the calcium is good.
The only supplements that go in the tank are:
Liquid Calcium
Iodine
Strontium/Molybendum (sp?)
Essential Elements

 

[slk's reef]

How long do you acclimate them for?

 

[crystain]

I use the SWF acclimation process.
<a href="https://www.saltwaterfish.com/acclaimation.html" target="_blank">https://www.saltwaterfish.com/acclaimation.html</a>
Depending on how much water there is in the bag, it may take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.
Do you have any other suggestions for acclimating?
I would guess that if it were an acclimation issue then the snails would show signs of trouble immediately. But they seem to do fine for a day or two. <shrug>

 

[teog]

I find snails to die easy too. Dont know why but they just do within days and all my water parameters are perfect. So I just buy alot and what ever snails live....live. I have a tank full of other critters and never had a problem at all...shrimps, stars, blue and red leg crabs, emeralds all do fine execpt turbo snails....

 

[devante]

Yeah, I do the same thing as teog. Just by alot and what ever lives, lives. When I buy snails I just put them on the water line where the water and tank meet until they stick to the glass. The snails go down the glass and into the water when there good and ready. I have had great success with this method. 8 of 10 will live in my experiments.

 

[bt_1999_66]

Originally posted by crystain:
<strong>I am having problems keeping snails alive in my tank.
Here's my water parameters:
Temp: 78 F
SG: 1.024-1.025
pH: 8.2 - 8.3
Alk: 6 meg/L
Ammonia: 0 - 0.01 ppm (small blip in ammonia cycle due to addition of snails and a small fish)
Nitrite: 0 - 0.1 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Phosphates: 0 ppm
Copper: 0 ppm
Tank age: 1.5 months
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Your tank being 1.5 months old, did your ammonia ever really spike...?
If not the little ammonia thats actually reading when you test may be th culprit...!

 

[crystain]

Just as I suspected, I came home to a dead snail. Another one for the miden pile. 5 survivors and counting.
In response to the last question, the tank cycled in about 3 weeks. I started with 25lbs of uncured live rock. The ammonia spiked, way off the charts for about two weeks then gradually fell. I think I will get a little blip of ammonia whenever I add any significant bioload due tot he small size of my tank.