Snail blues

[saltwatervirgin]

I have a few astrea snails in my tank that I'm really concerned about. Two haven't moved from the same spot in a few days. I picked one of the up and it is deep in it's shell. Could it be dead? . The other is under a piece of live rock and is extremely difficult to get to. It's been there since Sunday. I'm wondering if it's gone to snail heaven.
BTW the hermit crabs bothered the heck out of them since day one. Both were introduced to the tank at the same time.
One snail has returned to the glass and appears fine while two others continue to travel across the live rock. That leaves two. I can't find them! I haven't seen them in days! My NH3 and NO2 levels are still at zero. What could be going on?
I would like to add margarita snails but I'm afraid the same thing will happen to them. Do you think they are dead or stressed from those annoying hermit crabs bothering them?
Please help. At the same time, I'm slowly recovering from the diatoms from hell! I need some hard-working snails.

 

[the claw]

Have extra shells in the tank, and the hermits may lay off the snails. Are you feeding th etank at all. There could be a movie called Hungry Hermits Gone Mad.
You can get extra shells from some LFSs, but the best place is probably a craft place like Michaels or the Craft Warehouse.

 

[saltwatervirgin]

When I added the snails and hermits, I also added about 15 empty shells. I feed the tank brine shrimp once per day (evening) and 3-5 tiny pellets in the morning. Other tank mates are 2 ocellaris clowns and 1 cleaner shrimp.

 

[the claw]

Hmmmmmm Do you know what kind of hermits you have?

 

[the claw]

One other thing about astreas that make them frustrating. They fall easily, and unlike turbo snails, they can't upright themselves. They quickly perish. They become easy prey for a wandering hermit. Could this be the case with yours?

 

[saltwatervirgin]

Yes. This is definitely the case with mine. In the beginning, my snails would fall off of the glass easily and remain upside down until I flipped them over. A few times the blue legged hermits would really start bothering them when like this. Maybe they were seriously injured.
How can you tell if an astrea snail is dead if it is deep in the shell?

 

[lesa]

Smell it and you will know if it is dead There is nothing like the smell of a dead snail. WARNING: if you have a weak stomach better let someone else do it

 

[chuckularone]

I found that a sure sign of a dead snail in my tank is that if I pick up the shell there are about 6-12 bristle worms hanging out where the foot should be.

 

[saltwatervirgin]

I don't know what bristle worms look like but there are about 3 little half-inch rod looking things on the sand around the shell.

 

[saltwatervirgin]

Okay, today 2 other snails reappeared. One peaked out of its shell for a while but never moved from that spot. When a pesty little hermit crab came near, he went in his shell and hasn't come out since. I still think that the stationary snail under the LR is dead.
I bought 7 margarita snails, 5 ceriths, and 1 nassarius (sp.) snail today. I'm really impressed by the cerith's glass cleaning ability. The minute the nassarius entered the tank, it disappeared under the LR or the sandbed. That snail moves fast! The margarita's are attacking anything that looks like it has algae on it. I like this group better. Hopefully they don't go on strike like the astreas did.

 

[stillfrodo]

I don't even keep track of where my snails are in the tank anymore. I am not getting up every morning and counting 20 snails. When I observe the tank and I see one flipped I'll flip him back. I look at this way you are trying to create a natural reef and yes you are responsible for that reef. But stuff happens in the wild all the time and us humans aren't around all the time. So if I have a few snails bite the big one because they flipped and I wasn't around. Oh well. I do try to make every effort to keep my tank healthy. BTW all i got is snails in there right now) But if a snail falls over and I'm not around to help well thats nature he'd be prey in the wild anyway.