Awoke to a snail graveyard.. Help needed..

[Guest]

Well as most of you know I been around for a few years and have been doing SW for several years.. Well this is the first time I'm sitting here scratching my head totally dumbfounded..

I woke up and checked my tank as I do every morning.. But this morning I awoke to a tragedy.. All of my Nass. snails as well as all my others types of snails were dead.. Mind you, the bodies were still inside the shells, so I don't believe any other critter could have been the culprit.. Specially since I haven't added anything in over 2 years. The fish are fine and show no signs of distress, least not yet.. I have a pair of Cleaner shrimp which are fine and some stars and an Urchin and a few hermits as well as my corals.. all seem to be doing ok so far..

Checked the tank specs.. all is fine cept for some traces of Nitrates 20ppm.. I can't see that being an issue..

I'm concerned as to what the problem may be.. Could my sand bed finally be going bad after 5-6 years? My Sand bed is around 4 inches. What could it be?

This is my small tank btw.. Its a 46 gal. Bow front.. I'd move the stuff to another tank but don't wanna risk whatever it is carrying over.. I'd appreciate some help on the subject.. TIA

 

[Florida8]

Hmmmm.. what about your tank temp?

 

[Guest]

Well that may have been it.. I checked it and it read 82.3 degrees.. I adjusted the heater, added some cooler water via a water change, Pulled my carbon and the purigen, added some Amquel.. And strangely enough as I went to pull the what I thought to be completely dead snails they started to slowly come back to life it seems.. Its the weirdest thing I ever say.. All I know is they all seem to be recovering after having been unpsidedown with their bodies just hanging out of the shells limp.. Well not sure what it was but whatever it was I must have fixed it in time since it seems like they are all recovering.. Still wished I could narrow it down.. I'm thinking it may have been the temp. But not 100% sure..

Anyways, thanks..

 

[Florida8]

I had that happen to me in the 1st few months of my 1st sw tank, and I understand the PH fluctuates with the temp drop, so maybe it shocked them.

Glad to hear they are wigglin a little