snails and hermit crabs dying

[barrman]

Hi everone this is my first post. I have a 55 gallon tank with 2 clowns and a firefish goby and i have been having trouble getting snails and hermit crabs to stay alive in my tank. i got my water tested at my LFS and they said that my ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all 0 and they even checked for copper which there is none of, and calcium. I had no calcium in my water but i fixed that but whenever i add any snails or hermit crabs they keep dying. Can anyone think of any reason why they would die so easily i have had about 7 of which have died. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[michaeltx]

welcome to the board.
what is your SG at and how old is the tank>?
Mike

 

[mcbdz]

Originally Posted by barrman
http:///forum/post/2547391
Hi everone this is my first post. I have a 55 gallon tank with 2 clowns and a firefish goby and i have been having trouble getting snails and hermit crabs to stay alive in my tank. i got my water tested at my LFS and they said that my ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all 0 and they even checked for copper which there is none of, and calcium. I had no calcium in my water but i fixed that but whenever i add any snails or hermit crabs they keep dying. Can anyone think of any reason why they would die so easily i have had about 7 of which have died. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to SWF
What is your SG?
How are you acclimating them?

 

[barrman]

My SG is around 1.025 and at first i tried just putting them in because the guy at my LFS said that would be fine, but after they died the next ones i acclimated by floating the bag for about 10 mins then adding a small amount of water every 5-7 mins for almost an hour, i dont have the stuff to drip acclimate anything. but that didnt seem to make a difference. The tank has been set up for 3-4 months i cant realy remember exactly when i got it. Oh yea im using city water with Prime conditioner. Thanks for the replies already that was fast!

 

[michaeltx]

is there any marks on the crabs shells. and do you have extra shells in there for the crabs?
It may come down to your tap water water though there are a lot of things in tap water that isnt good for our tanks and the EPA says minute amounts of things like arsenic and flouride etc.. are ok for human but not so good for the tank.
Mike

 

[nordy]

Welcome to the boards!
If there is nothing about your tank and water parameters that is unhealthy, then the big question is what do you have in your tank for them to eat? Is it a new tank? How much algae do you have in your tank, on rocks and/or walls?
Snails and hermits are pretty hardy critters and my experience is that they will do fine as long as they have food.
What exactly do you mean by not having any calcium? Unless you have corals, that shouldn't be an issue, assuming you do regular water changes. What about salinity?
I would strongly suggest that you get a good test kit and start using it, including a decent hydrometer and temp gauge. Not too expensive, and well worth the investment! When troubleshooting anything, it's always good when you can eliminate at least some potential trouble spots and test kits/thermometer/hydrometer will do that for you.

 

[barrman]

Theres plenty of algae in the tank for them to eat, i actualy have a emerald crab in my tank that is alive, i got it yesterday but it acts very odd, its always on it back and it looked like it was clawing at its eyes and around its mouth. it seemed almost like it was disoriented or something. i dont have corals but i was told that there was absolutely no calcium in my water and that the crabs/snails could die from that because they need it to make their shells and for their metabolism? but after i fixed it the crabs/snails were still dieing. i didnt have any other shells for anything but i figured since they died within two days that couldnt have been the cause and there werent any marks on the shells.

 

[mcbdz]

I'm confused about the calcium. What type of salt do you use? tap water also could be an issue. Need to get all your para, actual numbers.
amm.-
nitrites-
nitrates-
Cal-
alk
Ph
Mag.

 

[nordy]

As for the calcium issue, freshly mixed up salt water will have at least some calcium, I don't understand how any water can have "absolutely no calcium" Even tap water should have some! While I use reef crystals, freshly mixed upit has plenty of calcium.
Again, suggest getting a good test kit (suggest a reef master kit which will have calcium and carbonate tests) and publishing your actual results. That will help figue out whats going on in your tank.

 

[barrman]

I might have had some calcium but my lfs told me that there was none in my water. I use instant ocean salt. my parameters that i know the exact numbers for are
ammonia- 0
nitrate- 0
nitrite- 0
ph- 8.3
sg- 1.025
and for my ca after adding some calcium supplement it was at about 280 and i have no idea what my mag levels are.
Thank you so much for all your help so far everyone

 

[michaeltx]

calcium is always going to be present but I dont see that that is the problem since your not doing corals yet.
have you heard any clicking in the tank?
and what is the tank temperature at?
Mike

 

[barrman]

The temp in the tank is around 78 and i havent heard any clicking, what would that be?

 

[michaeltx]

the clicking could have indicated a mantis shrimp that could be preying on the crabs.
Mike

 

[sepulatian]

How did you acclimate these snails and such?

 

[barrman]

For the first ones i got i just put them in because i was told by my lfs that doing so would be ok, but after the ones that were not acclimated died I acclimated the next ones for almost an hour by floating the bag and slowly adding water and that didnt seem to make much of a difference.