2 Questions...1 Turbo and 1 Hermit

[estein02]

How do you tell if a Turbo is dead. I have one that was just still on the bottom, retracted into its' shell. Is that how they sleep or is it dead or do they sometimes just stay still. Last night one of my Astraea's was on one of the turbos shells (not sure if it is the same turbo) excreting the white stuff...reproduction from what I've read. Dumb question...but that couldn't have anything to do with the snail retracting could it?
For the hermit question...I saw one of the hermits climbing over my zoos. Can they harm the zoos by doing this?
Thanks...

 

[azaintcold]

The only real way I know of to tell if the snail is dead or resting is to take it out of the water and see if it smells rancid. If so, it is dead, if not put it in a new place and check on it later, it should be moving around.
The zoas will be fine.

 

[estein02]

Picked it up and it smells fine. Would the smell be really noticable if it were dead? My inverts are usually very active, especially the turbos...they are usually all over the place.
Thanks for relieving my zoo worries. Just put them in yesterday and would hate for anything to happen to them.

 

[azaintcold]

It would be noticeable. I had 2 fall over onto their backs when I was on vacation and died. They smell like a rotten egg or like the skimmate when you dump it out.

 

[estein02]

Last night they were all moving around, so I guess I will have to check tomorrow and do the sniff test again if it hasn't moved! I hope it does because they do a great job cleaning the tank. Thanks for the help.