pls help.. do i need to worry about dying cleanup crew

neupane00

neupane00

Member
hey guys, i got couple of snails and hermit crab today for my new aquarium.. my question is that once we let them go in water, seems like its hard to keep track of them. hermits are crawling all over live rock (i have lots of live rock).. One of the snail has buried itself under the sand and no idea where he is .. only thing i can visibly see is margarita snail. now the question is do i need to check all the time where they are ? since this is new aquarium, what if the water condition is not to their liking and they die. i have no way to tell. do i need to keep track and pull out dead snails and hermit? or its ok if i let them rot inside and something else will eat... how does it work?? pls help.
 
rlablan

rlablan

Active Member
If you have something carnivorous, it will eat anything dead... like the snails and even other crabs... If not, I don't know... I have many crabs and hermits and I just watch them... My tank is new too, So I just test water alot and make sure I see them about.
 
neupane00

neupane00

Member
do u guys have snail that goes inside the sand?? if it dies buried inside the sand who is gonna eat them? will hermit crab go inside the sand and eat??
am i worrying too much?
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
you are worrying too much.
Take a deep breath, relax. You are doing fine.
If the Nass snails dies, they will come to the surface first. They will also come out when you feed the tank.
 
jordan3548

jordan3548

Member
I agree with one of the above posts. I have no clue how many snails and hermits I have and I am sure if a couple die they will be consumed by something.
 
rlablan

rlablan

Active Member
haha you sounds like me when we first started.... Just ask! people on this site are very very knowledgeable and eager to help... Take a breath and don't worry too much!
 
trouble93

trouble93

Member
Take them out and number each one...And then every day do a head count, and if you can't find one or two move everything until you find the shell. Just joking alot of new hobbyists ask that same question. That is why the first thing we add after your tank is cycled is a cuc. Sad thing is some will die good thing is it will add to your bio filter and like stated above something will eat it. It's hard not to worry about every little thing when you first start out, but take time out to enjoy what you have so far.
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Haha asked that question last month when i moved around my aquascape. Every now and again i look and see how many crabs and snails i can find, if its not enough to my liking i buy more their only 99 cents each here. Best way to check is during feeding the tank really comes to life then.
Mine are easy to count, for some reason all my crabs run to the same spot during feeding, front right corner of the tank, makes spot feeding them easy though.
 
loopy101

loopy101

Member
Mine are easy to count, for some reason all my crabs run to the same spot during feeding, front right corner of the tank, makes spot feeding them easy though.
if i may ask why do you spot feed your CUC?
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
I spot fed them when i had nothing in the tank but them. I probably should have stated that. Haven't spot fed them in a while. I did it though when they were first placed in as a supplement as there wasn't much for them to eat on.
 
neupane00

neupane00

Member
man.. this really sucks.. i think they are all dead now. I had 3 hermit crabs and 1 nass snail and 1 margarita snail. Only think i see alive is marg snail... I see 1 hermit crab that hasnt moved in last 7 hours.. shouldnt they be running around? I know the one i see is not dead, i see him moving his feet a lil bit but thats it.. hasnt moved from his place. I dont know where other 2 are.. And no idea where nass snail is.. last i saw he buried himself under sand and now nowhere to be found. feeding time or not, they are not even eating.. what do i do?
 
xcali1985

xcali1985

Active Member
Originally Posted by neupane00
http:///forum/post/3071184
man.. this really sucks.. i think they are all dead now. I had 3 hermit crabs and 1 nass snail and 1 margarita snail. Only think i see alive is marg snail... I see 1 hermit crab that hasnt moved in last 7 hours.. shouldnt they be running around? I know the one i see is not dead, i see him moving his feet a lil bit but thats it.. hasnt moved from his place. I dont know where other 2 are.. And no idea where nass snail is.. last i saw he buried himself under sand and now nowhere to be found. feeding time or not, they are not even eating.. what do i do?
do you have a mesh bag, if so put some food in it like brime shrimp and dip it into the water, if they are alive they will most likely move.
 
jordan3548

jordan3548

Member
I have 50 Nass snails about 30 hermits 6 mexican turbos 25 astrea snails and 6 cleaner shrimp and I can tell you when I put a cube of brine shrimp in there my whole sand bed moves from the nass snails and the hermits party like rockstars. When you feed and your Nass snail doesnt come out IMO its dead.
 
neupane00

neupane00

Member
what do you mean by cube of brine shrimp? frozen brine or freeze dried brine? its its frozen, do u thaw it before puttin in?
BTW, if its dead how do i take it out?? its probably buried somewhere under sand? under live rock.. should i just leave it?? i have 32 gallon tank
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Usually nass snails surface before they die, if you can reach em and take them out thats great if not your crabs will clean up the problem for you.
 
arvins

arvins

Member
Probably, but...it's a snail. You're going to go thru alot of them and not ever really know how many is in your tank, no big deal if they die then something will eat them and if you have hermits you'll see them cruising around in new houses
 
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