Snails (20) dying

[luv2ride]

Ok, this is very depressing. During acclimation of 4 hours using the drip method they are fine. No issues at all -- The water more than triples -- still no issue. A soon as I put em in the tank (155 gallon, 2 months old, 3 tangs, 2 clowns, 250lbs live rock, all water related tests are fine) They DIE within an hour... This is the 2nd batch I lost... lots of 10

Any Ideas??? arggggghhhhh

 

[Biggen]

What is the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels in the tank? Any copper meds used in the tank?

 

[luv2ride]

No copper meds , ammonia 0, nitrates are right around 20 ppm, nitrites 0

 

[Aztlan]

Any brass fittings? Brass has copper in it.

 

[luv2ride]

No Brass

 

[Aztlan]

See if you can get your water tested for copper. Maybe your tank got contaminated some how.

 

[reefrunner69]

Are you sure they are dead? It is not uncommon for them to lay motionless for a few hours to a few days before they start moving around.

 

[luv2ride]

Yeah I'm pretty sure they're dead. When i put em in the tank there is plenty of movement. It usually takes about 30 minutes and they settle. Over the next hour or so I watch come detached (glass or lr)and usually fall upside down to the bottom of the tank and stay that way for days. 3 days later I take em out of the tank... They smell really bad

 

[reefrunner69]

Yep that's dead.

What is the salinity and what is the PH?

 

[luv2ride]

Salinity 1.022
PH roughly 8.4 - 8.6

 

[luv2ride]

I acclimated these guys for 4 hours last night (drip) and they were fine. which seems really strange, after 4 hours I was sure they would be ok! The water had to, at the least, quadruple

 

[reefrunner69]

Salinity 1.022
PH roughly 8.4 - 8.6

SG is on the low side, mobile inverts like snails and shrimp prefer 1.024 to 1.025, this could be a problem, even after the slow acclimation.

The ph, if 8.4 is ok if higher may be too high for them.

 

[Biggen]

The SG is a low on the low side for my taste. Inverts should be keep a little higher like around 1.025 SG or 35 ppt.

But I don't think that would cause a major die off this quick like you have experienced. The pH is fine IMO.


Hmm.... How accurate is that nitrate test of yours? You say the tank is only 2 months old. If you have no way of removing nitrate from the system (except water changes) than I would suspect that chemical would be higher than 20ppm in a "fairly" new tank.

 

[vega]

I still think is copper problem.....

 

[WildFlower]

dead snails

Came across your post, I'm quite new to this site, but what an odd problem your having.

What else is in your tank? Is all other life doing fine? Sometimes the life in our tanks can survive rather well in the environment that they "grow up in" and live in.. when you ad new life that dies off that fast, seems you need to question a false reading of some sort.

You have a relatively new set up as I do, have you added anything to treat an ammonia spike or such? If so perhaps some of your tests are not reading correctly, some additives can not accurately read through many test kits and give results that turn out to be very wrong. Perhaps take a water sample to your LFS and see what results they come up with on a full water test.

Good luck.. I feel your pain. Please let me know what/when u find the solution to your problem.

May your tank prosper.. ~WildFlower~

 

[luv2ride]

I will up the salinity, have my water tested at the lfs and let you know what happens. I assume the higher salinity level is ok for the fish? The other inverts I have are just fine... Hermit crabs are thriving!

 

[luv2ride]

Update:

LFS says water's fine, however the low salinity 1.022 would kill the snails. Anything below 1.023 will take out snails... hmmm
We may be on to something...

Salinity has been up'd to 1.025, 5 more snails going on tonight. Updates to follow

Comments?

 

[reefrunner69]

Raising your SG by .003 in one day is not advisable for any or the fish or critters in your tank. As before acclimate the snails slowly.

 

[luv2ride]

Salinity now at 1.025 - 1.026. Added 10 more snails last night, and after 10 hours they were all laying upside down BUT still alive. They fell off the glass overnight, I just trurned em over and off they went! Looks like that did it!
Thanks everyone for their help!

Making that drastic change in sg didn't seem to hurt anything, all still alive and kickin!

 

[Homeplate]

I had just started a tank. I had a problem losing an orange moon snail and 3 green chromis and found that my deep six hydrometer and off by .004. In other words, I was trying to hit a target Sp. G. of 1.024 but in actuality I was at 1.028-.029. I since have changed to a refractometer that I found on ebay. Hope this helps. Good luck!