anyone understand snails?

[ichiromariners]

my snails ate a lot of algae the first day i got them and they where chilling at the top of my tank and now they for the last day they have been sitting on the bottom and haven't moved. how do i tell if they are dead and if they are could they have fallen from the top of my tank? or do they just eat a lot then sit there and do nothing for a few days?

 

[ichiromariners]

by the way mine appear to be mexican turbo snails.

 

[sharkguy1000]

LIGHTLY touch it. If the snail goes into its shell it is alive.

 

[ichiromariners]

the snail is in its shell it won't come out.

 

[stupid_naso]

Okay, when snails fall off there are two possibilities. It can be turned upside down, which you need to pay attention to because if you don't help them flip over then they'll die, except trochus snails. However, they can also fall down and landed the right way. If this happens then you don't need to worry.
Snails often not move during the day. They are nocturnal; they move mostly at night. As long as they're in their upright position, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just let them be, and see whether it has moved the next day or not. Give it a night, it'll move. Now when it doesn't move then you might have a problem.
Snails can be the easiest or the hardest thing to keep. I believe the key of keeping snails is high salinity. I keep my salinity between 1.024-1.026 sg. I have two mexican turbo, 5 cerith, and 2 astrea. They're doing great, sometimes the cerith falls down but that's about it. When I flipped them over, they move and eat again. So check your water condition and salinity.
So that's my little understanding of this delicate creature.
stupid_naso

 

[angelofdeath132]

if you want to find out if they're dead or not, this sounds really retarded but pick them up and smell them, if they're dead it will be the most god-awful rotten smell. i bought 10 mexican turbos 2 weeks ago and i only have 4 left.

 

[ijeh99]

One or two of my snails love to go up past the water line and sit there for literally hours. The following morning they will have moved either over horizontally or down to my cc. I have had my snails for over 5 weeks and they are still amazingly alive.

 

[ichiromariners]

ya i smelled they and they are rancid as heck. i think maybe my lion fish stung them or something cause they had milky white stuff on them.

 

[stupid_naso]

Milky white stuff on who? The snails?
They often release this milky white fluid. I am still not certain whether this is some sort of reprodutive fluid or simply waste. My rock sometimes is covered by this milky stuff.
I still advice you of leaving it for a day or two. If it doesn't move for a day or two then it's dead. That's about the best advice I can give you.
stupid_naso

 

[david s]

the major thing with snails and crabs is to acliment them slowly they are very sencitive to salinity changes and if your tank is at like 1.023 and lfs is at 1.026 you will really have a tuff time and need to do it real slowly

 

[jonthefb]

IJEH99, depending on the kind of snails you have they will do this. My cerith and margarita snails do this all the time. This is because they are collected in a habitat where they reside in the water for the majority of the time but if left ashore during low tide, they will be able to survive until the water comes back in. THey will sit above the water line while the light is on and at night they cruise the tank and chow down. My cerith snails keep laying eggs like crazy. I find about 2 new egg patches each morning and i have tons of little babies cruisiung in the sand and on the glass.
ICCHIRO, if they smell bad, then they are more than likeley dead. When i first started working in my lfs back home, my first job was to remove all the empty snail shells from the sale tanks. I had my specimen cup haning on the side of the tanks, and after the thing got about half full, i almost threw up because of the horrible smell. IT gets on your hands, and it takes forever to get off. Unfortunately your snails sound like their dead. What i would suggest doing, if it is stuck to the glass, is to examin it at night with a flashlight, and see if any of its feelers come out or if it moves at all.
Good luck and i hope everythign works out for the best
jon

 

[wamp]

If they smell really awfull you do not have to leave them in your tank. When I say awful, I mean take your head off awful!
I leave mine in because they do not last long with the crabs in there. Looks like a buffet line when they die.

 

[ijeh99]

I believe my snails are turbo's - or at least that is what the LFS claimed it is. I would like to check into astreas or cerith snails. How quickly do little snails populate from their mother's (or whatever you call them)?

 

[sgt__york]

The big problem with TURBOS is their CONSTANTLY getting turned on their backs and they cannot right themselves. Is there any resaon most LFS's sell them?? They know you gotta keep coming back for more!
It is my understanding that Astreas, Cerith, Trochas can all right themselves when they get turned over. Some of them cost a tad more than turbo's, but their longevity makes up for that.
PS: if they die in the tank, and you have crabs in there - they can serve as food for them "AND" the crabs can utilize their shells as they grow if the shells are of a descent size compared to the ones being used by ur crabs.
JON... just curious, regarding the snails laying eggs - you mentioned you see small ones on the substrate and glass - would CC provide more protection for them than sand? And do crabs predator on these babies or do they actually have a chance in the tank to survive and reproduce? I havn't heard/seen much on snails reproducing successfully in home tanks. Do you have to do or provide anything for them in the way of miniature shells?