please help...

[senseipaul]

I am having a strange problem. I can not seem to keep snails alive. This is the first time I have had this problem, not the first time I have had a saltwater tank. I recently moved away to grad school so this is a newer setup tank. it has been running for about 3-4 months. For whatever reason, my snails keep dying. I have two clown fish in my tank, neither of which are agressive. i have about 5 bblue leged hermit crabs and 2 scarlet leged hermit crabs. what am i doing wrong? Something is eating them because all that is left is the shells. Please help. I am so confused!

 

[dogstar]

Well, its posible that the crabs are killing the snails so they can steal there shell, As the crab grows it has to keep finding bigger shells and if you dont have empty shells in your tank for them they will kill snails for them.

 

[ophiura]

In order to eliminate some issues, we'll need a lot more info:
Size of tank
Filtration
Live rock
Any medications used in the tank?
Typesof snails tried
Time spent acclimating them
Specific water parameters especially ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and specific gravity

 

[senseipaul]

Size of tank: 20 gallon tall
Filtration: bio wheel 125
Live rock: about 25lbs.
Any medications used in the tank?: none
Typesof snails tried: margaritas and turbos
Time spent acclimating them: about 2 hours?? (rough estimate)
Specific water parameters especially ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and specific gravity: I do not know any of these. All i know is that the pet store that i go to says everything is balanced. I have my water tested at my local pet store every week.
as far as the crabs go, if they were killing the snails for their shell, when would they move into the shell and would they eat all of the body because the body of the snails are gone. I did read somewhere else that if the hermit crabs are larger, they will eat anything. is this true and if so, how big do they have to be before they take on this characteristic?

 

[birdy]

Well your biggest issue is that you do not know the levels of your tank. At the very least you should have a hydrometer to check your salinity level, this is very important with inverts. I would also recommend you get and learn how to use test kits for: pH, Nitrate, nitrite, alk. Have your LFS write down the exact levels of your tests when they test it.
If it is not a water quality issue, another thought is a mantis shrimp.
Do your hermit crabs have empty shells around for them to move into? If not you need to have some, as stated above, they will remove snails to get their shells, then they become food to everything else in the tank.