Snail apocalypse

[tactical error]

Morning! For the las several months, I’ve been having a problem keeping snails alive. It doesn’t matter what kind of snail, they maybe last a few days, and they’re goners. Most recently, I bought five on Thursday, and as of this morning, two are confirmed dead, and one is MIA. Fish and corals are doing great. The tank also has a tuxedo urchin and a conch that are fine. There is plenty of algae for them, and I’m sure I over feed. Currently testing for Ca - 489 and Kh -9.9, salinity at 1.026 - all as of about ten minutes ago. I’m fully prepared to get flak for not testing for more, and am willing to try any other testing that may help solve the problem. This is getting expensive, and I hate to keep restocking snails just to send them to their doom. Any helpful thoughts you may have are appreciated - thanks!

 

[bubbgee]

Two things that could cause this: dinos and fish.

What’s your fish stock?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Morning! For the las several months, I’ve been having a problem keeping snails alive. It doesn’t matter what kind of snail, they maybe last a few days, and they’re goners. Most recently, I bought five on Thursday, and as of this morning, two are confirmed dead, and one is MIA. Fish and corals are doing great. The tank also has a tuxedo urchin and a conch that are fine. There is plenty of algae for them, and I’m sure I over feed. Currently testing for Ca - 489 and Kh -9.9, salinity at 1.026 - all as of about ten minutes ago. I’m fully prepared to get flak for not testing for more, and am willing to try any other testing that may help solve the problem. This is getting expensive, and I hate to keep restocking snails just to send them to their doom. Any helpful thoughts you may have are appreciated - thanks!

Where are you getting snails from?

 

[Tidal Gardens]

Here are common issues with snails in your system:

The death of newer snail additions is likely due to stress/shock from shipping and the addition to your system. Sometimes these snails are already starved before they get to you.
Predation from fish like Copperbands or any other snail-eating fish.
Dinoflagellates also tend to wipe out snails. People often remove their snails when dealing with a bad case of Dinos.
A pest that can wipe out snails that most people overlook, because it is good at staying hidden, is the Polyclad Flatworm. A larger adult can easily take out all your snails in a few months.
Bumble Bee Snails are usually added to tanks to help fight off Vermited Snails, but they can also eat your beneficial snails as well.

 

[cbreier]

What kind of snails have you been putting in? Is the snail still in the shell or is the shell empty? Is it flipped on its back? Also not sure where you are getting snails but I would recommend ReefCleaners. Fishless systems reducing chances of introducing ich/velvet and guy is also great to deal with.

 

[tactical error]

Most recent batch of snails that just went in were/are margarita snails. The type of snail has not made one bit of difference - with the exception of three nassarius snails that I’ve had for over a year. Current fish stock is one two year old YWG, one damsel, one starry blenny, one tiny clown goby, and one benaggi cardinal. There is also a pom-pom crab, the tuxedo urchin, probably a dozen various blue legged and scarlet hermits, a conch, and several micro brittle stars that have hitchhiked in. To my knowledge, there’s no bristle worms, flatworms, etc., but I’m not naive enough to think I have none. This tank was started up Nov. 2024 after a catastrophic heater failure in an EVO, and all fish and most of the inverts have been there since then, all were sourced from the two highly reputable reefs shops in my area. Since I posted this morning, I found the MIA snail, also dead, so I have two out of the five I bought Thursday left….UGH.

 

[cbreier]

I never had luck with margarita snails, as they are not from water as warm as ours. So that might be the issue with them. As for other snails, those blue-legged and scarlet hermits will do a number on snails if they want to. I can guarantee you that most people have more issues caused by snails dying and polluting their tank (other than your Nassarius snails) than issues that snails solve. There is not a snail alive that can clean your tank faster and better than you with your sleeves rolled up, up to your armpits in water with a toothbrush. :) So don't sweat it. No need to spend tons of money on something it if just is not working for you.