Why can't I keep snails?

[appaloosa1]

I've been having this problem for a while. My water parameters are generally perfect, but my ph has tendency to be around 8 instead of 8.3. What are some things that can kill snails? Or do I just have a snail eating crab in my tank (i do have a large hermit that I imagine would enjoy making meals of them)? This is the only thing I have problems keeping. Also, I don't use tap water, but RODI from the LFS or nutriseawater on occasion.

 

[84chris]

What is your salinity at?

 

[appaloosa1]

should be 1.025, but I need to go buy a new test thing for that. but i do know that when i was having my problem it should have been right there.

 

[weberian]

What types of snails have you tried? Mex. turbos fair better against hermits than do astreas, because turbos have a hard cover over their tissue when they close up.

 

[trigger11]

What kind of snails are you trying to keep in the tank? And what are your algae conditions like? The reason I ask is because I have found some snails like the turbo snail mostly likes to stay on the rocks. Every once in a while they would make their way over to the glass. In my tank I have turbo snails and several hermits. I do believe some snails have died because of a hermit attack. I put extra shells in there for them to play with and I think that helped that part. However, I think I also lost a few snails because there wasnt enough for them to eat. With both the snails and hermits being in the rockwork a lot of the time the rocks are kept pretty clean. I started with 12 snails and now I am down to 3. Have had 3 for about 2 months now. As with any ecosystem things will even out eventually with how much food supply there is. I would say if you dont have an algae problem then I wouldnt worry too much about the snails. Hope this helps.

 

[appaloosa1]

I have had astreas. So you think the turbos may fair better? I've given up on snails and have just been cleaning my glass by hand since thats where most of the algae is. I have a little bit of hair algase that was on a coral I bought, but other than that not muc hlagae other than on the glass.

 

[farslayer]

Phosphates and silicates can be lethal to inverts, do you test for these? What are your water parameters?

 

[sfoister]

Originally Posted by Farslayer
Phosphates and silicates can be lethal to inverts, do you test for these? What are your water parameters?
I was going to say, if you have hair algae you may have a trate/trite/phosphate issue.

 

[shrimpi]

Ive bought those big buggers (mexican I think) and had no problems, I bought one a little smaller and the hermies killed it. Definetly important to have extra shells on hand for the hermies like trigger said because the hermies want to steal the snail shell for thier new home.

 

[appaloosa1]

tell me about silicates. last i checked there were no phospahtes, the hair algae came in with a piece of coral, but the crabs cleaned it up. i'll check again tonite though.

 

[appaloosa1]

ok i just tested my water.
nitrates: 10
nitrites: 0
ammonia:0
Ph:8.4
Kh:10 (yay! two weeks ago it was at 4, this has been at 10 for 2 days!)
calcium: 400 (need to get that a little higher for my poor corals hurt by the Kh)
Phosphate: 0
Thats all the tests I have. I haven't seen silicate tests at the LFS, but I will ask. Also, do you Iodide and Strontium would be beneficial? I got free samples from Seachem but not sure if its needed. I think I will go get some snails soon once I know my Kh is starting to level out.