I killed them?

[reefgirl189]

What's a reasonable amount of death to my initial clean up crew? Water parameters are bang-on awesome but I've had 3 or more of my 30 cleaning members die this week for unknown reasons. Are they just gorging themselves to death perhaps? All my corals are growing and loving life, it's just the snails that seem to be dieing.

[christyf5]

How long did you acclimate them for? What kind of snails are they? Do they have anything to eat? How old is your tank?

[Mrfish55]

I think that is normal, snails are prone to getting themselves into fatal situations, ie: getting stuck, falling into corals, predatation, etc. Hermit crabs if you have any are notorious for offing a snail in order to upgrade their home.

[apexifd]

parasites? like pyramid snail??

predators?? like mantis shrimp?

[Nano]

Yeah I have heard snails are touchy in the acclimation department, I myself have only lost one out of my original 5, I think they are touchy because of their soft skin maybe?

[reefwars]

crabs and shrimp molt making it look theres dead bodies arond , hermits kill snails for their shell when the opportunity arrise leaving empty shells....alot of times an empty shell doesnt mean the occupant is dead...if thats the case;)

[whatcaneyedo]

How old and what size a tank do you have? 30 cleaning members is huge. Unless your tank is massive they might be starving to death.

[AquaticFinatic]

Maybe link your build thread to this? :biggrin: If they are margarita snails I wouldn't worry to much. I never have much luck wih them.

[reefgirl189]

It is a new tank but was finished the initial cycle. 180 gal. I added everyone slowly, over the course of an hour. Floated the bag for the temp adjust, and slowly adding more tank water every 5-10 just like they teach you back in freshwater school.

I added 10 snails at first, all of which survived to my knowledge.

A week later added 15 or so hermits, 10 more snails and two turbo snails. Also about 20 empty shells for future upgrades for the growing hermits.

As far as I can tell they've got plenty of food. No ones going hungry.

I guess some just die. I did notice that all they dead guys are of the trochus or nerite variety and all the Astrae ones that I had only added with the original 10 are doing well.

[Nano]

For future acclimations, Its best to do a drip, you can put them all in a bucket and the use an airline tube to drip the tank water into it, about 5:1 ratio, and for fish about 15-30minutes tops, and snails IME 30++ I did my turbos for 1 1/2 hours. but thats just me! drip acclimation is a great method and I thank many users on here for reminding me of that

[lastlight]

I've seen large die off in the LFS tanks when they get new crews in. Sometimes you might be taking a bunch home that weren't going to make it even at the LFS...

[whatcaneyedo]

What species of snail did you get? Not all species eat the same foods or are well adapt for our tanks. Hermit crabs are opportunistic omnivores and will eat whatever is convenient including snails even if they don't want their shells.

Maybe link your build thread to this? :biggrin: If they are margarita snails I wouldn't worry to much. I never have much luck wih them.

Margarita snails are a subtropical species that slowly cook to death in typical reef tank temperatures.

[paddyob]

I think that is normal, snails are prone to getting themselves into fatal situations, ie: getting stuck, falling into corals, predatation, etc. Hermit crabs if you have any are notorious for offing a snail in order to upgrade their home.

No this is not normal at all. 30 dead in one week. Something is wrong.

I have barely lost that Many in 5 years.

Keep us posted. Temperature? SG?

[Borderjumper]

No this is not normal at all. 30 dead in one week. Something is wrong.

I have barely lost that Many in 5 years.

Keep us posted. Temperature? SG?

She said 3 of 30 died not 30 died .

[reefgirl189]

Temp fluctuates between 78-79
The species in my CUC are a mix of Trochus, Nerite, Astrea, Turbos and I think some of the Astralium okamoto (http://www.gastropods.com/3/Shell_11973.html)i (http://www.gastropods.com/3/Shell_11973.html) variety.
All of the Astralium okamotoi are doing great. The Astreas and turbos all lived too. It is only the Nerites that seem to be the finicky ones.
There is plenty for them to munch on but I just read this on chuck's addiction:

Most Nerites are not suited for aquariums simply because they are inter tidal, moving above the water line and only returning to the water to feed upon algae. I doubt that any of the species made available would be of a suitable species simply because the collectors can easily gather them by their hundreds near the shallow shore lines.

So perhaps this is why they didn't make it.

I'll try not to take it to heart. Sorry for bugging you guys.

[Wayne]

I'll try not to take it to heart. Sorry for bugging you guys.

It never hurts to ask the question. Thats how we learn :biggrin:

[Milad]

3 of 30 isnt bad. Depends on how good their health was from LFS.
I wouldnt worry much about it.

[Cal_stir]

i float mine and drop them in, i have turbos that are almost 3 years old, hermit crabs and nassaius that are huge. high SG is a snail killer, what kind of SG tester you using, the cheap hydrometers are crap.

[reefgirl189]

i float mine and drop them in, i have turbos that are almost 3 years old, hermit crabs and nassaius that are huge. high SG is a snail killer, what kind of SG tester you using, the cheap hydrometers are crap.

I hadn't even bothered with another other than a refractometer. SG is 1.026, just tested it 5 mins ago. Should I strive for 1.025 instead?

[Cal_stir]

i run at 1.025, but 1.026 should not kill snails, before i got my refractometer (when i first started in hobby) my SG was 1.029(hydrometer said 1.025), snails kept dying till i got my refractometer and corrected my SG.