snails.. quickly die

[poksal]

OK gang... school me.. why snails die in my tank? .. I put some small (I think turbos) in my refuge (it is just up and running) and a large turbo in my tank.. all died.within a day... my tests are good but my water is about 240 ppm hard... else, all tests are outstanding.

Do I need to do another special test? For what.. and recommend a correction fix... PLEASE.. My vast fresh water past experience provides me no knowledge base in this one.

LAST TEST
Hydro 1.023/1.024
pH 8.3
Ammonia out of range low
Nitrate 0
Nitirte 0
Cal 520
Temo 77.2
Ph .15

 

[Bifferwine]

For how long and which method did you use to acclimate them when you got them home?

Does your tank have any temperature swings over a 24 hour period?

 

[poksal]

About a half hour with the slow add water to the bag method...
No swings.. my water stays between 76.6 & 77.4f with an STC-1000 controlling fans - heater.

though the LD water was at 74°f

 

[Northstar24]

Make yourself a drip acclimation kit, inverts should be acclimated more slowly than half an hour. I drip acclimate mine for at least 2 hours

 

[poksal]

OH, ... thank you.. and thanx sent...
..... actually I feel a little dumb now...
..does that go for corals too?...

Is there a post or somewhere a good drip set-up is suggested.... ???

..there is so much to learn! about reefing..

 

[Northstar24]

It's just a piece of airline tubing, tie it in a loose knot so that you get a couple of drips a second through it. You can also buy them from foster and smith with a valve on one end

 

[poksal]

Maybe a large jar or fish bowl... air line and an old (from fresh water days) valve?...
... ok.. I think I can handle that..


What about corals.. same treatment... and with a dip..???

 

[little_fish]

I never drip acclimate corals, but I do dip them

 

[poksal]

little fish... thank you... OK...will do!

 

[FishyReef]

Yup, drip acclimating should help. After you get them to stay alive, you'll want to make sure they have enough algae to eat otherwise they'll starve to death - turbos have huge appetites. They are also prone to falling over on their backs and unable to right themselves, so if you see one upside down you'll need to turn it back over, otherwise it will die after a few days. Hope this helps!

 

[poksal]

yep.. thanx... every hint helps! I'll take all the help I can get

 

[Old_Moe]

I use basically this one ( it's a all plastic micro sprinkler valve ~ $2 each )

Adjustable 360-Degree Threaded Misters (2-Pack)-MISTF-2PK at The Home Depot

and use 1/4in. air line. I have a plastic clamp that I use to clamp it to the bucket so I dont get the floor wet incase the hose get knocked around..The valve is nice because you can open it fully to start the siphen, and then dial it down to gets the right amount of drips.. ( I could not get the knot tying to hold)... I usually make sure its at least a couple of drips per second... I drip for about 90min to 2hrs...

if they still die after that... you may need to check for stray voltage,copper and other invert killers

-Good Luck

 

[poksal]

Nice.. thanx again.. :)

 

[Nonfamous]

Okay I'm going to chime in here as a novice.

Your salinity is a little low but really shouldn't hurt the snails.
Your pH is a touch high, but shouldn't hurt snails.
Everything else seems in line from what *I* know, except the temperature. I found out early on that the turbos especially, don't like water cooler than 78*f. Now I'm sure others here will disagree. This is just my personal experience. Try bumping up the temp by a degree or two and see what happens.

As for acclimation...... the first things in my tank were snails. I accidentally dropped the bag in the tank when I was taking the rubber band off. So much for acclimating them! They all survived, at least for a while. The two turbo's eventually died several months later. I'm guessing the starved. I have added a few more on and off. Properly acclimating them as suggested.

For corals, I started off acclimating them to water, now I don't. I just dip them and put them on the sand. Most important with corals is light acclimation. I work that by turning off and ramping up over two weeks. *MY* corals also seem to like a temp of around 80*f.

 

[poksal]

UP-DATE:

I purchased three more snails (a test batch) and processed them through the drip method. They are doing fine.

I have a new question...
When I was doing fresh water systems a trick I used a couple of times to get alge to bloom in a breeder tank was to add a few drops of Maricle Grow. Has anyone tried that to kick start a refuge? I'm not sure what is in it and I suppose I need to read the ingredents... even then it worries me, ..... so... wondered if it has been done.

 

[poksal]

Miracle-Gro:
Contents:
6.8% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
8.2% Ureal Nitrogen
30% Phosphate
15% Potash
.02% Boron
.07% Copper
.15% Iron
.05% Manganese
.0005% Moloybdeum
.06% Zinc

huuuummmm.....

 

[little_fish]

Do not put that in your tank, that would be disastrous. Fish poop is all you need for fertilizer

 

[poksal]

yeah.. I read the contents....!

 

[FishyReef]

Don't worry, you'll have algae soon enough and then will be banging your head against the wall to get rid of it!

 

[poksal]

LOL.... yeah.. ..I'm just not a good waiter... I want to understand and have all too quickly.. my weakness!!

I want eye candy corals and am not there yet!!! it hurts!!! ..big smile...