Snails and peppermint shrimp

[osprey440]

I recently purchased a clean up crew for my new refugium. The crew consisted of a couple of astrea snails, one mexican turbo, and one peppermint shrimp. After about 3 days in my refugium all but one of the snails died. I don't understand why because I have a brittle starfish, fire blood shrimp and blue tuxedo urchin in my DT, and they are all healthy and active. There is plenty of algae for snails also. All I have in my fuge is red bone grass, maidens hair algae, chaeto, and live rock. I don't know what the problem could be. Here are my tank params, just tested this morning:
calcium: 440 ppm
KH: 6 dKH
nitrate: 0 ppm
phosphate: 0 ppm
SG: 1.025
temp: 79.0

 

[bang guy]

How did you acclimate the Snails to your water?

 

[osprey440]

Bag acclimation for about an hour and a half.

 

[bang guy]

can you explain that process?
I'm only asking because osmotic shock is the most common cause of death for new Snails.
What was the salinity of the water the Snails came in?

 

[osprey440]

I heard at one point that they keep their water around a SG of 1.024. Mine is at 1.025. The process that I do for acclimation is dip the bag a little and let sit in the tank for about an hour and half. Then release the snails. The weird part is the peppermint shrimp was in the tank for 2 weeks before it suddenly started acting odd, less active and not eating. Could it be a chemical imbalance that i'm not testing for?

 

[bang guy]

Drip acclimation is the standard for animals that are very sensitive to salinity changes like Snails. What you describe is inadequate for most Snails.
I like to let the Snails self-acclimate: sit them in a bowl with no water to let them expell the water they have, float the bown in your tank to keep them warm, clean a spot on the inside of the tank above the water line to make sure there's no salt creep, once the Snails start moving around try to get them to stick to the glass where you cleaned and let them enter the water at their own pace. If they will not stick to the glass then you'll need to try drip acclimation.

 

[mr. limpid]

I also bag acclimate, but my process is a little different. Float bag for 15 min then add 1/4 cup of tank water every 10min for first hour then add 1/2cup ever 5min. for half hour, then 3/4 cup for 15min. wait 15 min then dump bag. Always in QT that has same salinity and PH as bag water. Unless bag water PH is real low, if below 8.0 then I slow down process and add another hour to acclimation.

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bang Guy http:///t/394722/snails-and-peppermint-shrimp#post_3513537
Drip acclimation is the standard for animals that are very sensitive to salinity changes like Snails. What you describe is inadequate for most Snails.
I like to let the Snails self-acclimate: sit them in a bowl with no water to let them expell the water they have, float the bown in your tank to keep them warm, clean a spot on the inside of the tank above the water line to make sure there's no salt creep, once the Snails start moving around try to get them to stick to the glass where you cleaned and let them enter the water at their own pace. If they will not stick to the glass then you'll need to try drip acclimation.
So you stick them to the tank above the water, interesting never seen that. I always hate when the come out of the water always pull them off and place them on a algae rock.

 

[bang guy]

I've never seen the stick-em technique published anywhere. It's just something I experimented with and it turned out to work the best for me in terms of both convenience and success rate.

 

[saxman]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bang Guy http:///t/394722/snails-and-peppermint-shrimp#post_3513547
I've never seen the stick-em technique published anywhere. It's just something I experimented with and it turned out to work the best for me in terms of both convenience and success rate.
We basically do the same thing, FWIW.

 

[jay0705]

If u have a glass top the stick method works well. I've never just put um in like that tho. I float the bag. Slowly add tank water over 2hrs then stick um. Never lost a snail. But my emerald crab did die. No I didn't try to stick him lol

 

[osprey440]

Wow interesting, never heard of the stick method before. I like the bag acclimation method that Mr. Limpid described. I will try both the next time I purchase any. Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[mr. limpid]

Quote:
Originally Posted by osprey440 http:///t/394722/snails-and-peppermint-shrimp#post_3513639
Wow interesting, never heard of the stick method before. I like the bag acclimation method that Mr. Limpid described. I will try both the next time I purchase any. Thanks for the input everyone.
My method is a one way to acclimate fish, but I like the method that Bang describes for snails.