Snails

jerthunter

Active Member
Ok, I got a 65 gal tank, right now I already have about 7 Astrea snails and 1 Mexican Turbo. I have found from my experience that Astrea snails tend to end up upside down and are unable to upright themselves. Also I am getting Nassarius snails.
Questions:
Do mexican turbo's upright themselves if they fall?
What would a good number of Nassarius snails be for my tank?
 

jerthunter

Active Member
I got another question reguarding snails. In my 65 gal tank I now have two types of snails. I still have about 7 or so Astrea snails, these guys have been in the longest, the last of which were probably added 6 months ago and I just recently added 25 Nassarius snails. I have had a few of the Astrea die but I tend to credit that to not having enough spare shells for my hermits. I have since added plenty of spare shells to try and protect my remaining snails. My question is however reguarding mexican turbo snails. I had 3, I got them a couple of months ago and they were great, but slowly over time they have die, one by one. I do not believe it is a problem with my tank parameters but here they are.
65 gal
s.g. 1.024 using a floating style hydrometer
temp 78 F
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
pH - 8.1
Nitrate - undetectable
Phosphates - < .1 ppm
None of my other inverts have died that I can tell. I don't think it was my hermits killing them since their shells are far to big for any of my hermits. Any ideas why they died? Are Mexican Turbo's more sensitive then other snails? I really liked how fast they worked but I am concerned about getting anymore unless I can figure out what I did wrong?
 

mudplayerx

Active Member
Snails die most of the time from fluctuations in salinity/specific gravity and poor acclimation techniques. The hermit crabs are definately not killing the snails if you don't see any hermits actually living in the snail shells.
Low specific gravity is also a killer of snails. Are you using the correct formula to find out your specific gravity? Temperature affects it. I know my hydrometer always read 1.024 and after I do the math, my temp of 82 degrees bumps up the specific gravity to 1.026.
Snails have a difficult righting themselves if they fall upside-down, and are easy prey for other hungry inverts. However, they should rarely fall upside-down on their own, if ever. If you see them on their backs frequently, it may be because they are dying.
The mexican turbo snails are very hardy and excellent cleaners. If you ever need to replace your lesser snails, go with all mexican turbos (about 6 in a 65 gallon tank) and you won't regret it.
ps- your water readings seem fine, as long as they are stable. With the exception of ph, all of them must remain constant for good snail health. pH tends to lower at night
 

mudplayerx

Active Member
Click the "acclimation" button on the left side of the screen. Use the "drip acclimation" method described on the page that pops up :)
 
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