cant even keep snails alive!

fishycouple

fishycouple

Member
Hi:
I started with fish only, then decided to go with a reef tank. I returned (for credit) my Majestic Angel and now have docile tankmates. When I tried to introduce inverts, they all die within 2 to 3 hours. I have lost an Anemony for my Gold/Maroon Clown :-( and someone suggested I try a green brittle star. They both only lasted less than 2 hours. Even the Astra and Turbo snails die when introduced. The fish are fine! I have excellent water conditions, with the exception of the calcium which I just started monitoring.. It was 90 ppm so I started adding Calcium and it's now to about 250. Could this be my problem?
There have never been any metals introduced into the tank!
Salinity: 1.0215
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: trace
ph: 8.3
Alkalinity: 250
The Temp: stays between 78 and 80 f
 
fishycouple

fishycouple

Member
Sorry, I forgor to mention my filtration consists of a wet/dry sump with a skimmer in it, and I have about 30 lbs of liverock at this time.
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
Are you sure there's no COPPER in there? Cuz it sure sounds like that to me.Try testing for it. Thats all I can think of. STEVE
 
kmr

kmr

Member
How did you acclimate your inverts? It sounds like your water is good except for calcium. Did you have LR in before you had probs? If so and it is still alive with algea despite the low calcium I wouldn't suspect copper. Copper is bad for LR too. Also did your anemone die first? I wonder if it released a toxin? Just some thoughts.
 
fishycouple

fishycouple

Member
Thanks for the replies...I have not tested for copper, but I will. I can't imagine how any got into the tank if it tests positive. My LFS thought I might have some metal in the original water from the mains in Houston Texas, so he gave (sold) me a Poly-Bio-Marine filter a week ago. The water became much clearer and I will probably leave one in at all times if it does no harm. After a week of using this filter, I tried 2 more astra snails (last Saturday), and a hermit crab. The snails died in 2 hours, while the hermit is still surviving and wandering all over the tank.
As far as aclimating them, we were slowly acclimating them like fish in the beginning, then my LFS told me to only aclimate them for temp then put them in as they couldnt stand several changes in ph, rather than only one. So the Starfish and the last 2 snails and the hermit have only been temperature aclimated. The anemone and the first snails were slowly introduced.
As far as order of dying goes, we put snails in from the get-go in May. and they died instantly. The fish were healthy. Then we put in the live rock and I guess it's still alive...it's purple and green. The live rock has been in for maybe a month, then we added the anemone for the clown and it died. we didn't wait for it to fall apart, but took it out as soon as we were sure it was not going to re-inflate. It was maybe 2 weeks later when we tried the brittle star after being told we couldn't kill it..it lived 2 hours. It is very disappointing and frustrating, plus we feel terrible about the animals dying!
Will the low calcium cause inverts to die?
 
purplepuffer

purplepuffer

Member
I honestly don't think that it is the calcium, I don't have a calcium tester, and most of my animals are always alive (usually they kill each other, not the water) But I have found that with my snails, you have to put them in a certain way, or they will die. I used to just put them on some live rock always thinking that they would go from there, but usually they always died, when I put them in a corner, away from the highest curent flow near the glass, this was when they made it. I hope that your situation improves and that you can get what I am sure will be a beautiful tank up and going soon!!
 
jtoliver

jtoliver

Member
My bet would be that you have copper. If you ever put copper in the tank when it was fish only, and didnt change the substrate, it is most likely that the substrate absorbed the copper and is now leeching out. If you didn't use copper before, if your dealer had your live rock in a tank with copper, the process would be the same. I guess I'm trying to tell you to have the copper tested. Good luck.
 
ktwheet

ktwheet

Member
How fast is your acclimation procedure? When I bought my starfish the lfs told me to acclimate him VERY slowly. They can't take rapid changes in water quality. Snails may be the same case. I spent about two hours acclimating my starfish and he did okay. You might just be throwing them in there too fast.
 
fishycouple

fishycouple

Member
Thanks for all the replies...this website is GREAT! I took a sample of water to the LFS yesterday and asked for a copper test...his findings were there is some "heavy metal" present...He's not sure if it specifically is copper, but his opinion is the Bio-Filter pad will remove the metal in a couple of weeks. I sure hope so! I'm not crazy about starting over!
 
fishycouple

fishycouple

Member
When I set up the tank (the LFS did not..he just advised me), I used tap water mixed with "Instant Ocean". I live in Houston and the water here is not good!
When I took my first water sample to him after a week..he told me then "where did you get this water?" ... Babies could die from drinking this!!!
ince then I have only used his RO Saltwater and freshwater (for top-ups), and I have done many water changes...I am using carbon in addition to the Bio Filter Pad, and hopefully the metals will continue to decrease!
I have another question tho, I have been adding live rock to the tank..Can copper or other metals be in "Live rock"?
Some of my live rock has small feather dusters and lots of purple and green algae...isn't this a sign the water must be getting better?
Thanks for all your help!
Rick
 
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