Snails Seem to Keep Dying

[Hallowhead]

Howdy,

I can't seem to keep my snails alive lol. My tank is matured, 2 years old at this point. When the tank was new, snails had no issues, but once my algae broke out my snails seem to last 2 weeks and then die.

When first adding this last batch they were flying all over eating algae and very active. Now they all stay still, no one moves and I thought maybe it's just because they're active at night but no, they are in the same spot the next day. They just sit in the same spot and eventually get eaten by bristle worms or something else... What am I missing here?!

My hermits are fine, my urchins are fine, my fish are fine. I do have bad GHA though?

 

[SaltyBlue]

Wondering if you’re acclimating them and if you’ve treated tank with anything including copper, algaecide etc

 

[Drag80n Reef]

What are your nutrient levels including calcium? They tend to not like high nitrates

 

[BigDangler]

Wondering if you’re acclimating them and if you’ve treated tank with anything including copper, algaecide etc

i let mine float in the bag with whatever else i get.. burst that bag open into a bowl and toss em in.. never had a problem... must be some other problem... hermits getting hungry and eating them up lol

 

[Hallowhead]

Wondering if you’re acclimating them and if you’ve treated tank with anything including copper, algaecide etc

Tank was not treated with copper, they were floated for temperature and then drop acclimated for an hour before adding.

I did use algaecide recently but this has been happening for several months now.

I'm constantly removing empty shells

 

[Hallowhead]

What are your nutrient levels including calcium? They tend to not like high nitrates

Dkh 8.0
Calcium 400
Mag 1200
Nitrate 10
Phosphate .03

Maybe my nitrates are super high but makes by algae I'm really lost

 

[Drag80n Reef]

Dkh 8.0
Calcium 400
Mag 1200
Nitrate 10
Phosphate .03

Maybe my nitrates are super high but makes by algae I'm really lost

They’re not high at all. My only guess is that there’s a chemical in the water that’s killing them off or they’re dying of hunger

 

[Hallowhead]

They’re not high at all. My only guess is that there’s a chemical in the water that’s killing them off or they’re dying of hunger

Definitely not hungry, plenty of food and algae to eat !! I'm wondering what chemical it could be

 

[Drag80n Reef]

What kind do snails are they? I do have trouble keeping turbo snails

 

[Hallowhead]

What kind do snails are they? I do have trouble keeping turbo snails

Astrea, turbo, trochus

 

[SaltyBlue]

The part about them just staying in the same spot when you put them in has me bothered - acclimation or a toxin

Your 10 ppm nitrate isn’t lol that’s a good number

 

[Drag80n Reef]

If I had to guess, it’s possibly the algaecide. I’ve heard some people have bad experiences with them.

 

[Hallowhead]

The part about them just staying in the same spot when you put them in has me bothered - acclimation or a toxin

Your 10 ppm nitrate isn’t lol that’s a good number

No, they don't stay still when I put them in. They move around a lot for 3/4 days eating a ton of algae and then just stop

 

[Hallowhead]

Still stagnant today, did a sniff test of a lot to make sure they are not dead. Just not moving. It's so weird. They will absolutely die

 

[StartingATank]

I have this happen with only turbo snails in my tank, but I can keep astrea and trochus. Maybe it is some kind of chemical or maybe it isn’t that, bc if it is Dino’s that could kill them. Not sure………

 

[Mrcote1]

This seems to be a very common problem lately. I use to never have problems with snails and my experience is the same ocer the last year I cannot keep snails alive for more than a month

 

[sjfishguy]

Send away an ICP test. You might be surprised what you get back. I would guess copper

 

[redfishbluefish]

As mentioned, snails require slow acclimation. They don't like sudden changes.

I also realize that you mentioned you were having deaths before the algaecide, but I'm suspect of this, especially if it was one of the "quat" algaecides....API Algaefix or Vibrant. You really need to follow label direction with care. If overdose, death to the snails (and more).

 

[Tripod1404]

Do you find a clear mucus around the dead snail shells? I had this problem years ago and turned out I had something related to Oenone fulgida worm that hunts them.

When I put new snails, they looked active for some time. But one by one they looked paralyzed (like not dead but unable to move), and eventually these would get eaten completely overnight. Only thing left next morning was a empty shell with transparent mucus around it.

One night I saw one mean worm attacking a snail. It the attached snail with what it looked like a clear mucus lines, and tried to pull the snail towards it by biting and pulling. Snail eventually got away but it was paralyzed next morning not too far away from where the attack happened. I think these worms use some type of paralyzing mucus to incapacitate snails, and even if snail manages to get away, it gets picked up by the worm in the next coupe of days.

 

[Sam7]

Howdy,

I can't seem to keep my snails alive lol. My tank is matured, 2 years old at this point. When the tank was new, snails had no issues, but once my algae broke out my snails seem to last 2 weeks and then die.

When first adding this last batch they were flying all over eating algae and very active. Now they all stay still, no one moves and I thought maybe it's just because they're active at night but no, they are in the same spot the next day. They just sit in the same spot and eventually get eaten by bristle worms or something else... What am I missing here?!

My hermits are fine, my urchins are fine, my fish are fine. I do have bad GHA though?

If your urchins are fine your snails should be fine...urchins are fairly sensitive. Have you changed any water or ran carbon lately? Might be getting bad snails.....when they are dying or close to dying(Stink) all the worms and cleanup like nassarius with eat them. Thats there job.... Hermits....hmmm pretty worthless to me....usually they just like to eat your snails and steal there shells