The place where snails go to die.

PicassoClown04 · Jun 29, 2020

No chance they’re getting stung by anything right? No anemones at all? A turbo snail got hit by my RBTA the other day and appeared how you list your turbo, withering, ‘drying up’, and falling off rocks. Just FFT.

Fishbird · Jun 29, 2020

What is your magnesium level? I’ve read multiple places that high mag can/will kill snails.

Beau_B · Jun 29, 2020

Sandbed is only 2" or so, siphoned regularly. There's nothing going on in there.

No ICP test... Might look into it. I have run carbon intermittently.

No anemones. No stinging.

Mag was fine last I checked but will again.

Suohhen · Jul 1, 2020

I have had the exact same issue your having and tried everything, and the eventual fix was to restart my tank and go through a whole new cycle. I think what happens is the GHA and Cyano become such a dominant part of the biosphere that the other things we hardly notice start to virtual disappear. All the while we think the snails have plenty to eat because we see film algae on the glass, but still the trochus and cerith wither away while the crabs rock on. At least that is my take. it could be that the algae outbreak is causing the deaths or at least causes acclimation to be very difficult for these select few. Either way the issue is the algae imo.
Also I don't want to be of alarm to say you need to do a total restart. What works for me is to do so and spray the rock with hydrogen peroxide before placing it back into the display and then treat the process like a typical tank cycle, just far more cautiously and typically over a much longer period. You may find another method more suitable to your tank/style, there are certainly no lack of algae threads on reef forums.
I would also like to add a tidbit about acclimation. I skip drip acclimation and hold each snail to the glass at the waterline until they take hold. This is based on the idea that they slowly exchange water with their environment over the course of days and have an easier time doing so at the waterline. This way I get an idea of how alert/active each snail is and how long they choose to stay at the top (supposedly acclimating.)

Beau_B · Jul 3, 2020

Interesting. At least I'm not alone?

Going to give the rocks a good scrub tomorrow. Cyano is back despite chemiclean so... That's wild. Something is wrong in the tank and I can't track it down. Will just keep working on it.

Suohhen · Jul 4, 2020

Beau_B said:
Interesting. At least I'm not alone?

Oh yes believe me algae plagues this hobby and the solution is often vexing, but the good news is you are putting the work in and that is what needs to be done to get ahead of it. I wish you the best with your battle!

Beau_B · Jul 12, 2020

Two more Nerites down.

Mag is 1350-1380 on Salfert, so that should be ok.

GHA and cyano plague. I guess starvation is the only answer still but... just doesn’t make sense to me.

Suohhen · Jul 12, 2020

Nutrient starvation doesnt work. What you need is more biodiversity. What works for me is to kill the lights for a month or so and then very, very slowly ramp them back up over the next 5 or 6 months. Treating it like a cycling tank, ramping up and cranking back as needed.

Beau_B · Jul 12, 2020

Suohhen said:
Nutrient starvation doesnt work. What you need is more biodiversity. What works for me is to kill the lights for a month or so and then very, very slowly ramp them back up over the next 5 or 6 months. Treating it like a cycling tank, ramping up and cranking back as needed.

Sorry, I meant starvation is the only explanation for the dead snails.

The gha/cyano control is a separate issue that I'm managing through multiple angles of attack. As an aside; killing the lights for a month isn't going to work with the corals.

Suohhen · Jul 12, 2020

Beau_B said:
Sorry, I meant starvation is the only explanation for the dead snails.

The gha/cyano control is a separate issue that I'm managing through multiple angles of attack. As an aside; killing the lights for a month isn't going to work with the corals.

Oh for sure the challenge is great, what I do is setup a separate tank to keep my corals in and slowly add them back depending on how much light they need and whether they are attached to a rock that is a big part of the aquascape. You don't need to eradicate the algae, you need to give the other things (such as pods, coraline, and all the tiny things we don't see) time to reestablish. At least that is what works for me. There are many techniques people use to tackle algae, but like I said I tried everything and the only thing that worked was this. However my tank is 20 years old and biodiversity can be an issue for an old tank.

92Miata · Jul 12, 2020

I lost pretty much all the larger snails I got from reef cleaners - ceriths and nassarius and hermits and crabs did great, trochus and astrea and turbos all died over a couple weeks. Nerites lived though.

So I wouldn't necessarily rule that out - with them using slower shipping, there's some risk.

Tom-nanoreef · Aug 10, 2022

I am having similar problems but with different snails, instead of astrea and ceriths its really just astrea snails. For as long as I have had my tank, they always die off. After the first few weeks of adding them in, my ceriths and nerite snails did really well. It might be an acclimation issue because snails can be sensitive like that. Maybe try getting aqua cultured snails to see if they do better? They might survive better. I’ve also noticed that the snails that fall on the sand bed in the beginning (excluding ceriths) tend to die off because they are too weak to move around on the sand due to acclimation, so moving them onto a rock when you see that might help.

Tom-nanoreef · Aug 10, 2022

I just realized this is an old thread lol

Tom-nanoreef said:
I am having similar problems but with different snails, instead of astrea and ceriths its really just astrea snails. For as long as I have had my tank, they always die off. After the first few weeks of adding them in, my ceriths and nerite snails did really well. It might be an acclimation issue because snails can be sensitive like that. Maybe try getting aqua cultured snails to see if they do better? They might survive better. I’ve also noticed that the snails that fall on the sand bed in the beginning (excluding ceriths) tend to die off because they are too weak to move around on the sand due to acclimation, so moving them onto a rock when you see that might help.

Beau_B · Aug 10, 2022

It’s ok. I still get the alert!

I changed tanks and the problem went away. My suspicion, unconfirmed, was it was the filter floss I was using. Perhaps it was leaching something into the tank as it wasn’t designated for aquarium use. Odd to me that only snails were affected, but that’s the best answer I can come up with.

I still have limited success long term with my CUC, but it’s random and wide spread so nothing suspicious.

Tom-nanoreef · Aug 13, 2022

Beau_B said:
It’s ok. I still get the alert!

I changed tanks and the problem went away. My suspicion, unconfirmed, was it was the filter floss I was using. Perhaps it was leaching something into the tank as it wasn’t designated for aquarium use. Odd to me that only snails were affected, but that’s the best answer I can come up with.

I still have limited success long term with my CUC, but it’s random and wide spread so nothing suspicious.

Mmm, thats odd, I’m glad it worked out for you in the end. I’m also using filter floss so that seems plausible.

Rabidbeast666 · Jun 24, 2023

Suohhen said:
I have had the exact same issue your having and tried everything, and the eventual fix was to restart my tank and go through a whole new cycle. I think what happens is the GHA and Cyano become such a dominant part of the biosphere that the other things we hardly notice start to virtual disappear. All the while we think the snails have plenty to eat because we see film algae on the glass, but still the trochus and cerith wither away while the crabs rock on. At least that is my take. it could be that the algae outbreak is causing the deaths or at least causes acclimation to be very difficult for these select few. Either way the issue is the algae imo.
Also I don't want to be of alarm to say you need to do a total restart. What works for me is to do so and spray the rock with hydrogen peroxide before placing it back into the display and then treat the process like a typical tank cycle, just far more cautiously and typically over a much longer period. You may find another method more suitable to your tank/style, there are certainly no lack of algae threads on reef forums.
I would also like to add a tidbit about acclimation. I skip drip acclimation and hold each snail to the glass at the waterline until they take hold. This is based on the idea that they slowly exchange water with their environment over the course of days and have an easier time doing so at the waterline. This way I get an idea of how alert/active each snail is and how long they choose to stay at the top (supposedly acclimating.)

Thank you. I was researching why my new snail medley were hanging around my waterline so much while my ceriths I've had for over a week behave normally. I only float acclimated the bag for temp. I guess I'll drip them in next time. I know my salinty is .05 higher than the shop I bought them at.

Suohhen · Jun 24, 2023

Rabidbeast666 said:
Thank you. I was researching why my new snail medley were hanging around my waterline so much while my ceriths I've had for over a week behave normally. I only float acclimated the bag for temp. I guess I'll drip them in next time. I know my salinty is .05 higher than the shop I bought them at.

I find it hard to tell otherwise as it is very common for snails to not move when they are dropped in. If you're giving your snails names I think perhaps you pay a little more attention to your CuC than I.

Rabidbeast666 · Jun 24, 2023

I only know the cerith because the dude recommended to stir up my sand. The others are just a random collection of different types he put in a bag 10 for $15 to eat everything the fish misses. I've give up on pellets cause he just spits em out. Between the crabs and snails right now my whole tank is cleanup crew. Lol, got pods coming tues. More cleanup.

Rabidbeast666 · Jun 24, 2023

Rabidbeast666 said:
I only know the cerith because the dude recommended to stir up my sand. The others are just a random collection of different types he put in a bag 10 for $15 to eat everything the fish misses. I've give up on pellets cause he just spits em out. Between the crabs and snails right now my whole tank is cleanup crew. Lol, got pods coming tues. More cleanup.

Oh. You thought I named my snail Medley? I meant a big mix by that.