Does anyone else have problems with their snails falling?

[hairtrigger]

Yes. You heard that correctly. I come home from work each day to find one or two of my trochus snails upside down. The same fora couple of astreas. I turn them back over because I want them to live. I noticed that some of them fall, and get up on their own. Others stay upside down and die. Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how do you deal with it. Ugh.

 

[goldrush]

Yes it happens to all of us,just nature. You can't be there 24 hours to turn them back over. Oh yeah, I'd stop the vodka supplements immediately.

 

[jumpfrog]

Yep happens all the time....Well sorta. I may weeks and not see one on it's back and then see a different one 3 days in a row. I just have a tool that I use to turn em over. Just accepted it as part of the maintenance effort.
If someone has a secret to this, please share.

 

[hairtrigger]

Man, I thought I just had suicidal snails. So, how often do you find yourself buying new snails? Because, in a 200 G, having to buy new snails constantly is gonna get expensive, and annoying.

 

[hairtrigger]

Interesting. My water seems to be ok, so I hope there is no hidden problem there. I have a lot of snails, so maybe it just looks like a larger number falling. either way, I dont like having to replace my snails all the time. Let me ask you this.... will hermits bother snails with shells smaller than them? Specifically scarlett hermits, cause that's what I have since they are the most passive hermits.

 

[leboeuf]

just for the record, I returned from a two week vacation and found 6 snails emptied out. After watching for a couple of days I found that I have an unidentified hermit who is actually hunting them. I saw a snail fall and within a minute this hermit was trying to dig him out of his shell. Will post a pick of this hermit later.

 

[hairtrigger]

I HAVE THE SAME TYPE OF BROWN UNIDENTIFIED HERMIT!!! Infamous little ba$t**d. He came in one of my live rocks.
I saw him picking at a large trochus once so I put in a large, unused shell for him. I see him all the time now, in that shell thank goodness. But, I can tell he is a trouble causer. I wonder if he has been munching on some of my scarletts. I might have been mistaking his snacking as molting. hmmmm.

 

[cmack]

My smaller snails get blasted off by the powerheads if they get too close to the main current.

 

[radge69]

margarita snails fall off the glass a lot also. They can't flip themselves over either.

 

[wrassecal]

I had snails dying mysteriously for weeks, couldn't figure out if they were falling or being attacked for shells. I went ahead and got rid of all my hermits. For my cleanup crew I have snails, mexican, margarita ( have to turn those 2 back over sometimes)nassarius, cerith and stometella. One sally lightfoot and one emerald crab. Two cleaner shrimp and one fireshrimp (who i suspect of eating my polyps)Those along with dsb and all the creepy critters in there do a good job cleaning up.

 

[blennybabe]

I had some red footed turbos that i thought were really stupid, but then I took a closer look and found that it was my red lipped blenny that was biting them and knocking them over. Also, snails need to be aclimated for a long time, I would say at least an hour. most snails that die about a month after being added to the tank die from aclimation stress. HTH

 

[gatorcsm]

My margaritas flip themselves over ok, my sarahs do a good job too. I only have scarlett hermits and they never have picked on any of the snails.
That's just my experience though...

 

[marco333]

you said most snails die after about a month from aclimation stress. Why so long after and not like a few days

 

[newreefers]

jeez, maybe I am just lucky but I have never had a snail fall off the glass. I also keep a big pile of empty shells for them. In fact I just did a count and all 8 of them are still there, alive and munching. mine are all turbo snails, some of them years old.

 

[joez]

I've had 10 of 10 turbos die from falling. The majority would go on the heater and slide off at the bottom. Had a stock pile of about 5 shells under it from that
Like mentioned earlier...can't be there 24-7 for them. My hermit is cool though...the type you'd find at the beach...BIG and white. He never bothered any of them for their shells (he was much too large for them).

 

[hairtrigger]

Hmmm, so, basically, snails are expendable, but necessary cleanup crew members that will have to be replaced often. That is quite annoying. Blenny had a good point about acclimating, but I have a couple of snails that have been in there for months. And yes, I acclimate sloooooowly.... but it is just the fallers that are really starting to get on my nerves. I noticed more before I left for work today. I am so sick of sticking my arm in the tank to right them, I said the heck with it and left them to fend for themselves. We'll see if I feel the same when I get home, haha.

 

[blennybabe]

I have no idea why it takes a month or so for them to die. It has been my experience (well my customers experiences) that they die about a month after they have been shortly aclimated, less than a half an hour. there are some customers that havent had a problem who aclimated very slowly, so unless there is some other factor, i have to atribute their dying to acclimation stress. I have kept some for years it seems. (probably less because I dont believe they are very long lived.)
I only have one turbo now that has become nocturnal to avoid being bitten by my stupid blenny. he does a great job, I dont have that much algae.