Snail Question

[dr_buddah]

Ok Guys I have a question that is puzzling me. My tank is now over 2 months old. The initial Dozen snails I put in, didnt move whatsoever.
So I waited awile, they were rendered dead, then last week replaced them with another dozen snails. 2 are active, the others just lay in the sand bed doing nothing. I flip them over when they are upside down, but they do nothing.
Last night I had a brilliant idea, I will put a few of them directly on my rocks. I woke up this morning and the ones on the rocks look fine now. Moved a little. The ones in the sand continue to chill. Is it something in the sand bed that they dont like or what?
I checked my water levels, and PH = 8.0 NitrAtes = 40 TrItes = 0 and Ammonia can not be determined. That will lead to another question. I test for ammonia, and the wolor of the solution is like a cloudy white color. Doesnt match anything on the chart. Has been like this all along. Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

 

[thomas712]

What is your acclimation procedure for the snails?
Take a water sample down to lfs and get it tested. Report the results here.
If I had to guess right now I would say acclimation shock or water quality problem.
Thomas

 

[gesswhosbak]

I had the same problem, I had copper in my tank though from one of those water machines that "r/o filter" the water. Using cupri-sorb now and havent put in another batch of snails yet. My copper kit shows 0, so i am going to try a few this weekend.

 

[dr_buddah]

I thought it was copper too, but after buying a $16 test kit, I came to the conclusion that it wasnt copper.
Acclimation process: I float them for about Half Hour, then every 10 minutes I add a little bit of Tank Water. I do this 3-4 times, then let them go.
I do this with everything. All of my fish have made it ok, and crabs.
My dad seems to think that it is the Sand that is killing them. I have about a 2 1/2 to 3 inch sand bed, of which I used those bags of "live sand" He seems to think that it is something with that killing them, nbecaause a few hermits have died as well. I blame the hermit deaths on other hermits, but I could be wrong.

 

[bang guy]

Snails require a much better acclimation procedure than what you've been doing.
1st - be sure that your Salinity is near 35ppt.
2nd - be sure that you're buying tropical snails and not a temperate specie.
3rd - follow the acclimation proceedure outlined on the button to the left (Acclimation).