Snail Deaths??

[Nonfamous]

In the past two weeks I have lost 2 turbin snails. I'm fanatical about testing my water. Below you will see my current parameters tested while typing the post. I do weekly 5 gallon water changes. RODI water has been used from day one. 740 ppm TDS going in, 0.0 ppm TDS coming out. Instant Ocean mix used from day one. Tank is 90 gallons plus 12 in a sump. 2 750 gph Koralia's and 714 gph via the return pump. Roughly 118 lbs of rock and 2 1/2 inch sand bed. 8 lbs of rock in the sump.

Current stock list is:

10 (was 12) Turbin snails
1 Mexican Turbo snail
Several tiny Nass snails. Less than 10 that I can count. Came to me for free from the LFS.
1 Sand sifting Goby.
1 Flame Angel
1 Snowflake Clown
3 Small Blue Chromis
2 small Zoa frags 15 - 18 heads each.

I feed a variety of foods including several different Sally's frozen foods, Nurtafin flakes and formula ONE pellets. I was feeding WAY TOO MUCH but am down to once a day with some variation of the above. Amounts to roughly 3/4 of a cube of frozen Sally's. There is plenty of algae, but not so much that its over running my tank at this point. (I may need to add 2 more turbo's soon though!) Everyone has been doing a great job at keeping the tank clean. I am running LED and t5 lights. The LEDs are on for about 10 hours a day, the t5's about 8.

So, Should I be concerned about the snail deaths? OR... should I just chalk it up to the life cycle of the tank?

Temp 79.4 with t5 lights on, 78.6 with t5's off.
SG via Refractometer 1.025
pH 8.2 via API kit
NO2 0.0 via API kit
NH3/NH4 0.0 via API kit
NO3 more than zero but less than 5.0 ppm. I'd guess and say 0.20 ppm. Via API kit.
PO3/4 0.5 ppm via API kit.

 

[bjohanson1234]

How did you acclimate the snails? If they are subjected to sudden swings in salinity, their internal organs actually rupture and they slowly die.

If you did acclimate them the proper way, then it might be from how the LFS acclimates. Since the death is a slow one, it is hard to know.

 

[Nonfamous]

Interesting. I bought the snails in two groups. 6 and 6. The first ones, well, they didn't get acclimated quite right. The bag accidentally slipped into my tank after about 5 minutes. I have a secure acclimation setup now because of that slip up.

The LFS and My tank have the same SG. I actually take a sample of their water and test it at home before I start acclimating my live stock. I don't know if these two were from that first group or from the second. I also have one in my sump. It lives in the same area that my ATO runs into so I know it gets varied SG levels and it seems to be doing just fine.

How long would it take for them to die? These were my fist additions over 2 months ago.

 

[little_fish]

Its not just salinity that they need to be acclimated to, its also the nitrates, phosphates, calcium, alk, pH, temp.

Also, they might be margarita snails, which are commonly sold as turbin snails. That snail is a cold water snail and in our warm tanks they just slowly boil to death.

 

[chuck78]

+1 fish Margaritas' are sometimes sold as Turbins' just like LFS sometimes try to sell Whelks as Nassarius Snails. I learned about the whelks the hard way & loss a crocea clam in the process.

 

[Nonfamous]

Still, would it take two months for them to "boil"? Maybe a few were mixed in with the other kind? Still, I'm really worried if I'm missing something having to do with the overall health of my tank. What worries me most is that I'm about to leave it unattended for 5 days. I have the ATO all set up and tested as well as having an auto feeder set up for one feeding while I'm gone. Yeah, I know you all said don't bother, but I can only find someone to come in once to feed the day after I leave.

I'm going to take the t5s out of the rotation for a week too just to see if I can slow down the algae growth a bit. You think the Zoas will be okay? They are about 1/3 deep in the tank right under the LED strip. Maybe I'd be better off just cutting back the hours on all the lighting? Buy the other two turbos I was think of? Not worry so much?

 

[little_fish]

You will be fine turning off the lights while you are gone, and i wouldnt worry too much about the snails. I highly doubt something is wrong with your tank.

Deep breaths! Everything will be fine while you are gone

 

[Nonfamous]

A little update:

Went by the LFS where I got these snails to pick up two Turbos. I noticed a few dead ones in the tanks so I asked.... seems they got a whole shipment of the "wrong", cooler water snails in a few months back. They seem to all be kicking the bucket around the same time. They offered to replace mine, but since they had DEAD SNAILS in their tanks, I opted to forgo the replacements AND the Turbos! I cant believe they would leave the dead ones in the tanks!

I picked up two Turbos from another LFS. They had a One Spot FoxFace I may go back and get Saturday. :)

In case you didn't notice, I'm still here. :( My Berner blew out a knee the day before yesterday and I'm staying with him to help him around. Rest of the family went to visit relatives for the holiday.