snail deaths

[ichiromariners]

I bought ten snails and they are all dead they fell of the glass and where eaten by my crabs. they were mexican turbos. anyone got a suggestion on some glass cleaners that will not fall off? i was thinking bumble bee snails. i also think my clown fish was knocking snails off the glass i saw him do it to one on a piece of live rock.

 

[bang guy]

How did you acclimate the snails? It normally takes great effort to take one off the glass. They don't just fall off.

 

[ichiromariners]

i let them get used to the temp. then i mixed some of my water in with the bag. then i dumped them into the water. they where all on each others backs so i pulled them apart and placed them on my live rock. they climbed around for a few days then all died.

 

[bang guy]

Sounds like osmotic shock. In my experience they need to be drip acclimated for an hour for each point difference in Salinity or stuck above the waterline to self-acclimate.
I've also heard that setting them in a dry bowl for a couple hours and then setting them in the tank will work.

 

[toddpolish]

what are your nitrates at?

 

[ichiromariners]

0 to right above it. so i just let them stick to the glass above the water line and aclimate themselves?

 

[bdhough]

Interesting acclimation method. Never heard of it before.
I've killed a few turbos myself. Some from hermits others from starvation. I wouldn't put 10 mexican turbos in anything less than a 125 with lots of rock. These guys need loads of substantial algae to survive. If you want a glass cleaner go with cerith snails or astrea snails. I would buy maybe 2 or 3 mexican turbos to control hair algae. They will eat a tank bare, i've seen it working at the lfs I used to put hair algae in the tank we kept them in just so they had something to eat.

 

[ichiromariners]

thanks to all for there help next time i will acclimate them much slower.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by bdhough
Interesting acclimation method. Never heard of it before.
I invented it about 20 years ago.

 

[dacia]

I remember my first fish...I was new to SW, never had been to this website...I acclimated the poor clowns by adding enough water to double the amount in the bag, let them sit there for 10 minutes, then dropped them in the tank. They are still with me today, but I am appalled by some of the things that I did when I was a beginner! Good thing that are resources such as this website to help us out. We were all there at one point in time.

 

[iluvfish]

I've also heard that setting them in a dry bowl for a couple hours and then setting them in the tank will work.
Won't they dry up? Do you mean take them out of the water all together??

 

[bang guy]

No, they won't dry up in just a few hours. They do need to be kept warm though, I forgot to add that. When out of the water they expel most of the water and close up into a dormant stage. At this point they can be safely dropped into the water because they are closed and will slowly open to acclimate themselves to the water.
This only works because most of the snails in the hobby are shallow water snails and have adapted to being caught above the tide from time to time.
for example, it's perfectly alright to ship Conch Snails dry even for a few days. The survival rate is actually better when shipped dry as long as they don't get cold.

 

[ichiromariners]

how warm do they need to be? about 70? any suggestion on how to keep them warm?

 

[ozadars]

I collect my own snails and mine sometimes go out of the tank but i guess thats because they are usally on big rocks, out of the water, close to the surface at the place where i collect them and when i dive, i dont see them at the bottom, max 10-15" deep from the surface but the ones i find arent same w/ your turbos... i actually havent seen a turbo
Here is a pic of mine, but falled down from the glass to the sand

 

[dacia]

Where do you go to collect your own snails? Do you find those snails are more or less hardy than ones in the LFS?

 

[ozadars]

Hi Darcia,
I live in Turkey. Actually not only snails, i collect other things too (starfish, urchins, hermits, LR, sand...) but sure non of them is as colourful as the tropical ones. As for the snails, they do a good job on my algae, they eat lots of and they are very hardy, but my urchin is totally a big algae eater. It has been a week and it is still on my back glass trying to finish all the algae
Take Care