Good alternative to Turbo snails

[jerthunter]

Anyone have any ideas for a good alternative to mexican turbo snails? I love how fast and how good they are at eatting algea but they always seem to die on me for what appears to be no reason. They seem to fall and then not be able to upright themselves. I have Astrea and nassarius snails which are ok but they do not do the job that turbos do. Anyone have any ideas of a snail that would be compareable to mexican turbos but that live longer?

 

[pool-boy]

My snails fall over all of the time! I'm constantly uprighting them so they don't die. I like the Margarita snails... Seem to do a better job than the Astreas.

 

[sawsman]

I have always liked the performance of my Astrea snails and have never had to flip one from being on their back. My Turbos on the other hand are constantly on their shell..... kind of a pain.
-sawsman

 

[jerthunter]

I was thinking about maybe a pencil urchin. I have read that they may not be reef safe however I don't have any coral except for one lone hitchhiker zoo. Would a pencil urchin be a good choice to munch down hair algae?

 

[shinny]

my urchin just eats algae on my LR.........not the long hair algae

 

[birdy]

Jer- if they are falling off the glass then that indicates a weakness,
Do you have sufficent algae for them to eat?
what is the salinity level of your aquarium?
Those two things effect snails a lot, if they are well fed and the salinity is 35ppt, then they should live a long time I have had some last years.

 

[jerthunter]

I have plenty of algea so I don't think that is the problem. My SG is 1.025 and realitively stable so I don't think that is the problem either. Maybe it is the type of algea because I mostly have hair algea which the turbos seem to have no problem mowing down..

 

[stanlalee]

they die because many are cooler water snails.

 

[mudplayerx]

If your turbo snails are dying constantly, something is wrong with the water, they are starving, or something is preying on them. Turbo snails are one of the hardier snails, and I've never seen one of them fall on their own. Just my opinion.

 

[mopardwh]

I check my water constantly and have snails fall frequently. Look for Red Moon Snails. They look great and last longer

 

[jttenpro]

2 out of the 4 Mexican Turbo snails I've had just died. The tank has been up for 6 months, the water quality is great and there is enough algae in my 90 gal. Nothing else has perished in the tank. They come from much cooler waters, around 60, well known industry expert Dr Ron Shimek states: They are temperate animals normally found at temperatures of 60 or less, and they will slowly cook in a reef tank. They generally last from a few weeks to about a year and are not recommended for reef tanks. I'm sure people have had much longer success but since they are the only things that have died in my tank so far I won't buy any more to risk stress(they do a great job though)

 

[mudplayerx]

Thats really odd guys...I keep my tank at 80-82 degrees and I've had the same mexican turbo snails for almost a year. Could be that mine were captive raised though and have already gone a few generations in warmer water.

 

[jerthunter]

I guess it is probably the temperature in my case, I have lost 4 out of 6 so far but I have not had problems with my astrea snails or nassarius snails other then a few getting assassinated by my blue leg hermits for their shells. It is too bad that they don't last long for me because I love how well they clean.