My Snails keep Dying

[Rcchanlder]

I can not seem to keep snails alive in my tank. they last for a couple on months and then seem to just die. crabs, coral, fish and everything else seem to be doing just fine. my sg is at about 1.024 and my temp is 77-79. Any ideas?:dunno:

 

[motorcyclereefer]

Don't really know but snails usually do not last long anyway. Some of the snails are not from areas that have the temps we do in our tank.

 

[Smitty]

+1 Reefer

 

[Rcchanlder]

yeah ive heard that. i figured if my water levels were off the coral would be the first thing to get upset. i just noticed the large snails stopped eating about a week ago and didn't seem to be moving much during the day. I got up this moning to find every hernit crab in my tank surrounding the snail. So, i went ahead and took the snail out before it made too much of a mess of things. i have another one of the same type and i got him at the same time. he is showing the same symptoms. im just waiting to see what hapens. i might try my luck with urchins

 

[ltkenbo]

Well what type of snails are these? Yeah apparently even some turbo snails don't survive well it warmer temps. Just make sure you get ones that are native to that water temperature, like mexican turbos. Also, margarita snails or periwinkle won't last long either.

 

[Rcchanlder]

im not sure exactly what type they were. thery are pretty big. i think they are zebra turbos. I have some small tubos to. they are doing pretty well. Do urchins do pretty well in a reef tank? I have been looking at them for a while but it seems like they might do some damage if they ran over some coral

 

[Bifferwine]

How are you acclimating the new snails to your tank when you get them? They shouldn't die that quickly. The snails that I have in my tank have been in there for 5+ years.

 

[yote]

Depends on the urchin.
Some of em will knock corals over.The pincushions will pick up small frags and carry them all over the tank.But one thing you'll notice about an urchin,is whereever its been,there will be a trail of bare rock behind it.
JMO.But they are the best animals we can keep for algae control.

 

[Rcchanlder]

i put them on a drip line for about an hr or so. they did really well for a few days. then they slowed down for a few weeks.

 

[Rcchanlder]

Everytime im in my LFS they are always on the glass. I really like the look of the pincushions. they have a little more color

 

[dcantucson]

I don't have any problems with keeping my snails alive either. In the beginning for the first few months there were some issues, but not since then. Something must be going on.

 

[Rcchanlder]

i have no idea. maybe the big ones can't get to the food.

 

[andysgirl8800]

How old is your tank? You don't happen to have any dinoflagellates in your tank, do you? Dinos eaten by snails can cause them to go through a sort of paralysis before they die as a result of dino poisoning. Or the reverse is the case and you don't have enough algae in the tank to sustain them and they slowly starve. Sorry to hear about your troubles tho.

 

[Rcchanlder]

yeah, i think that it was just to big to get around to where the algae. like i said, if it were the water then i think my coral would be the first thing to get upset

 

[andysgirl8800]

Nifty! That's good to hear

 

[Tristan]

the wont starve if you dont clean the glass

 

[Rcchanlder]

Aaaaannd the other snail was crowded with crabs this morning. I can't figure it out. Maybe they will do better with the new system im starting up. I guess a 29 gal is just not a large enough tank to keep balanced. Maybe im getting a temp drop at night. my daisy polyps seem to be growing though.

 

[yote]

Actually,the smaller the tank,the harder it is to keep stable.