Tank problems

[defcon11]

Hey, new to this forum and was wondering if ya'll could help solve a problem.
Have an algae growth problem on my glass, especially the front, of my 29 gal FOWLR. I bought turbo snails to help the problem and they were doing fine. I did some readings of the water and they went as so:
ammonia - .25
nitrite - 0
nitrate < 12.5
phosphate - 0
SG - .019
So I did a 20% water change and increased the salt content. I cleaned all of my equipment, seeing as they were kind of dirty. When I went to bed last night, everything was fine.

When I got up, all of my snails are in their shells lying on the tank floor. They're not dead, because after the lgiht was on for 20 minutes they started poking out of their shells & they're kind of bleaching out. I did some more water tests:
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate < 12.5
phosphate - 0
SG - .021
Just wondering if anyone might have some suggestions. My skunk cleaner is doing fine and in fact jumps from rock to rock to follow me when I look at the tank. This is so

 

[geoj]

The change in SG was what shocked the snails you don’t want to change SG very quickly I go .001 each day.
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
Use full strength saltwater instead of freshwater for topoff until your salinity is where you want it. To move salinity up.
One gal of FW will move a 50 gal tank about .001 down.
So in my tank I would add half a gal then 2 hours later the other half. Or drip it in so I could walk away and not think about it.

 

[defcon11]

So do you think they will recover?

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by defcon11
http:///forum/post/2751301
So do you think they will recover?

If the problem is osmotic shock from a rapid rise in Salinity then no, they won't recover. They may live for another week or two though.

 

[defcon11]

They all died. Going to the store to buy some new ones.

Thanks guys

this site is much better than the other forums I was on. Quick replies, Thanks.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by defcon11
http:///forum/post/2752137
They all died. Going to the store to buy some new ones.

Thanks guys

this site is much better than the other forums I was on. Quick replies, Thanks.

Over to the left there's a button labeled "Acclimation". Check that out before you add your snails to the tank.

 

[defcon11]

Thanks for the advice. I've been using the drip method. When I was new to the hobby, I thought it was really complicated. Once I actually did it I realized how easy it really was. I use 5 gallon buckets instead of the styrofoam because I don't order of internet, LFS is really nice and they are very knowledgeable; trust them all the way.