Snails

SSalty

Team Liquid Force
I seem to be having problems with my snails, in the past week I had two Conch's die and yesterday I bought 2 astrea's and 2 Margarita's. 1 astrea and 1 margarita made their way to the top of the tank glass and are almost completely out of the water (is this normal?). I checked my water a day ago and everything was fine. The only problem was my Nitrates were at around 15-20 ppm.

Thanks.
 
Have you checked copper? Is the tank new or used? If your water is fine the only thing I can think of is copper but I'm sure there are more out there. Was it ever set up as freshwater or had any ick medacine in it? Are you using RO water if your using water from the sink it could have heavy metals in it which will harm your inverts.
 
I don't know about the conchs, but it is normal for astrea and margaritas to head out of the water since they are considered tidal species... Just a warning, your margaritas might not last long at all since they are normally found off the coast of northern California and are not made to handle the warmer temperatures of reef tanks. Most margaritas end up slowly cooking to death in reef tanks and die pretty quickly, I'd avoid that type of snail in the future for that reason, but you shouldn't have a problem with astreas, they are, in my opinion, one of the best types of snail you can have in your tank. High nitrates could kill them, but I highly doubt your levels are high enough to harm them.
 
Have you checked copper? Is the tank new or used? If your water is fine the only thing I can think of is copper but I'm sure there are more out there. Was it ever set up as freshwater or had any ick medacine in it? Are you using RO water if your using water from the sink it could have heavy metals in it which will harm your inverts.

No I haven't checked copper.

It is a brand new tank.

No ick medicine.

I am using RO water. ( I am waiting for my TDS meter, I might have to change my filters)

So the snails at the top of the tank is a bad sign?

My crabs and shrimp are doing fine.
 
Where do I get a copper test kit?

If my copper is high, how do I fix this?

This thing about the copper has got me worried.

Also, in my ten gallon where I have my coral and another snail are doing great. The coral's are all full and bright with color and the snail has been living for 5 months, all using the same water as my big tank.

What is the best way to acclimate snails?
 
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if its brand new your prolly ok, my snails will sometimes come to the top of the tank and almost all the way outta the water. what is your salinity at? anything lower that 1.024 is not great on many inverts.
 
I have a couple snails that are always at the top of my tank. Half in and half out of the water. I was always under the impression that there was a highier nutriant content up there.
 
that could be the problem. how long have you had the snails? at that lvl it wouldn't kill em right off but they may slowly die.
 
that could be the problem. how long have you had the snails? at that lvl it wouldn't kill em right off but they may slowly die.

I have had them for one day, but the fish store I buy from keeps there salinity real low, lower than mine. But he never has problems with them.
My temp is at 78-79.

I looked around for copper test kits, but the only one that I found was at lowes, it is the test strips, not sure how accurate they are.

It did read 1.3 ppm. But the strip was hard to read, so I am not sure if it was accurate.
 
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If its a new tank your using ro water and you havnt added any copper based meds then I highly doubt thats your problem. It was just a guess.
 
You shouldnt have any copper in the tank at all. If it said 1.3 I do belive you have a porblem I would try a aquarium kit, but I doubt you have any since your adding the right stuff and havnt added the wrong stuff, like copper based medacine.
 
i agree with bobby if you havent dosed your tank with anything containing copper, it's a new tank, and you dont have any copper plumbing, i would think you wouln't have any copper.
 
Salty
You gotta to remember that any LFS is going to check their tanks and remove any and all sick or dead live stock,not to mention,most of the time the stuff in their tanks usually arent there that long.
Since I started helping out at LFS here,The first thing I do when I help out on the weekends ,is inspect the tanks for dead or sick stock.Then I usually got through and start checking the salinity in all the saltwater tanks.Its a lot of work just to keep salinity up when your constantly taking water out to bag live stack then just topping the tanks off.Its extremely easy not to add enough salt water back to keep the salinity where its supposed to be.
 
Could not enough algae cause them to die quickly? My tank has been up for a month and I just started to turn my lights on, there isn't much algae at all yet.

I, myself doubt there is any copper, however, I will get an aquarium test kit tommarow just to be safe. My R.O filters are maybe 5 months old, so they should be fine, I think... My TDS meter should be here this week.

I know things will and can die, but I am a little leary because I lost 2 conche's and one astrea within a weeek.
 
How did you acclimate them?
I just noticed where you asked about that.Some folks will think I'm off my rocker on this one,But I acclimate every thing including snails and hermits just like I do sea stars.I give them a 30 minute float,then a slow drip untill the salinity in the bag is EXACTLY the same my tank.
May be a little over kill,but so far I have not lost anything that I couldnt explain why.
 
im like you Yote, i acclimate everything, i dont see why it wouldn't apply to everything. i'd rather acclimate em to be safe. I let em drift in the bag in my tank for 10-15 min for em to adjust to the temp then i drip acclimate em for anywhere from 5 min to 30 min depending on what is it im acclimating. at the end of that i slowly add a cup of tank water (about one teaspoon every second or 2) let it sit for another few minutes then add it to the tank. not sure if thats the best way but it's always worked for me so thats prolly how i'll continue to do it. some people say to acclimate things for hours but i dont see how that can be good for the livestock concerning ammonia, temp, etc.
 
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