HELP MY SNAILS KEEP DYING!!!!!!!!!

[marinelover]

I posted on here about a week ago and listed all the inverts and fish in my 40 gallon reef. H2O quality is great, slightly high nitrates(between 40 and 60). I added a cell pore pad to the filter about a month ago and do H2O changes regularly to fix the prob.HOWEVER IN THE LAST MONTH OR SO ALL 5 OF MY SNAILS HAVE DIED!! Anyone have any suggestions? I am stumped. Nothing else in the tank is being harmed. All of the inverts and the 2 percula are fine, it's just the snails. HELP HELP HELP

 

[dhe420]

Well first of all you say your water quality is great yet you have nitrates of 40-60 . Inverts are very sensitive to trate levels as well as temperature and specific gravity. Check all of these as they may be your problem

 

[bluewater]

Add an airstone too.
Mine kept dying after 2 weeks. Once I added
an airstone, I've had 2 Turbos in my tank for
a few months now.

 

[burnnspy]

Air stone tells me you have a water chemistry problem.
I recommend checking your pH and alkalinity, Im willing to bet your alk is way too low to support inverts if adding an airstone made any difference.
What is probably happening is at night the PH drops too low because your tank cannot buffer the pH enough hence the sensitive snails die miserably.
BurnNSpy

 

[marinelover]

I have an undergravel filter with a powerhead on one side and an airstone in the other tube as well as a long straight air tube in the middle of the tank, I dont understand what adding an airstone will do at this point for me. As far as the nitrates are concerned they are not harming any of the other inverts at all, and are lowering with every water change I do.
SO I GUESS I AM STILL STUMPED BECAUSE I DONT KNOW WHY THEY DIED STILL. ANY MORE SUGGESTIONS?????

 

[kris walker]

Marinelover - You still haven't listed your readings for alkalinity and pH. Have you checked them?
BurnNSpy - how does adding an airstone help the health of snails in an environment with low alkalinity?
sam

 

[burnnspy]

The tank water tends becomes acidic(low pH) at night when the most respiration occurs from excess CO2.
In a properly functioning reef this acidity is prevented by maintaining a high alkalinity.
Since snails are very sensitive to low pH
tanks with little or no alkalinity cause harm(or death) to them.
BurnNSpy

 

[marinelover]

Surfin Sam-
My PH is 8.2 -8.4. Here's a stupid question, is there a specific test for the alkalinity?(what is recommened?) I know it sounds ignorant but not even the LFS bothered to inform me that I needed to test for this.

 

[burnnspy]

Test the tanks pH early in the morning before there is light in the room, I bet the pH is much lower.
Alkalinity is an underestimated test and often overlooked. See my website for detailed info.
BurnNSpy

 

[car guy]

do you have blue leg hermits? they kill snails

 

[marinelover]

Car Guy--
I do have about 15 blue leg hermits but they are at least 3 times smaller than the snails that have died. Why would they kill the snails? I also have about 4 red leg hermits, do they cause harm to the snails?
Also I am going to do a PH test as recommended before there is light in the room and check out the website for more info on alk. tests. Thanks