snail question

[tattoofishguy]

i think i got riped off. i bought three snails and only one is moving around. one of the other ones got eaten by my hermi crab and the last one has been in the same position since i put him or her in there. i think its dead. what do you think?

 

[bang guy]

Sounds like acclimation shock. How did you acclimate the snails?

 

[tattoofishguy]

i left them in the bag for like a hour floating in the tank then released them. but they were that way since at the store.

 

[mrdc]

Back in my beginning days, I would just do the bag float method for acclimating. I would lose snails quickly that way so I did my research and found that you should drip acclimate snails because they shock easliy. Even if you don't drip acclimate, they may appear to be okay for a short period but usually die soon. Since I started doing the drip acclimation procedure, I rarely lose any except for those that I might have already received dead. I also don't like buying snails from my LFS the day that they come in since they don't drip acclimate either. I like to get them once the store has had them for a week or so. Now I dripp acclimate everything and I have good success.
You might want to check out:
https://www.saltwaterfish.com/Acclimation_ep_48-1.html

 

[hunt]

I used to do the bag thing to and i would loose some things on occasion, but since ive started drip acclimating i havnt lost a thing yet. You really should start drip acclimation.

 

[bang guy]

There are a few really good ways to acclimate snails. Pulling them from a bag and dropping them in your tank isn't one of them.
Generally speaking, the larger the snail the longer the acclimation period.

 

[meowzer]

I don't drip acclimate....BUT I bag acclimate.....you know...throw out some bag water...add tank water....3o minutes later repeat....repeat...repeat....throw out all bag water...add livetock

 

[bang guy]

The two methods that work best for me:
Plan A - Clean an area of glass above the water line to remove all salt creep. Pull a Snail from the bag and hold it near the glass above the water line until it attaches to the glass. Repeat for all of the Snails. Eventually the Snails will begin to crawl into the water and will self acclimate as they go. If any of the Snails refuse to attach to the glass I proceed with Plan B.
Plan B - Float an empty bowl in the tank and let it warm up to the water temp. Discard all of the water in the bag and set the Snails in the empty bowl. The Snails will expell more water, pour it out of the bowl occationally. After a couple of hours and after all of the Snails are closed up tight sink the bowl and let the Snails self-acclimate.

 

[tattoofishguy]

ok and another question. is it a bad idea to have crabs? cause they keep eating the snails and if i add fish i think they will eat them too. can i keep this from happening? or should i just get rid of the crabs?

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by tattoofishguy
http:///forum/post/3232468
ok and another question. is it a bad idea to have crabs? cause they keep eating the snails and if i add fish i think they will eat them too. can i keep this from happening? or should i just get rid of the crabs?
Hermit Crabs I assume you mean. Generally, Hermit Crabs cannot harm a healthy Snail. If your Hermits are eating your Snails then something is making the Snails weak and they would probably die even if the Crabs didn't kill them.
This is not true for true Crabs. They will eat Snails.