snails dying and chili coral Sick

[amatharu147]

Hello,

Need some help.

Got 90 Gal tank and last week i bought about 10 snails and a couple of small shrimps/....I cannot remember the names.

But anyways, over the last few days, I have noticed all the snails are slowly dying. I see them at dead at the bottem of the tank.

The Hermit Crabs are feasting on them. Any reason why?

Also, I have a chili coral that is not doing great. Its in a dark spot, lots of current....But not doing strong dont know why!

Here are my Ranges
no2-0ppm
ph 8.4
nh3.25
no3 20 PPm- THis is a little high

Any sugguestions

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

How did you acclimate them? Depending on the difference between your fish store's water parameters and your tank's, most inverts are going to want a slow drip acclimation of at least an hour or so. Plunking them right in the tank, or just doing the "float the bag" thing, would probably be enough to kill them.

Your ammonia should be zero, but it might just be elevated due to the snail die off. How long ago did you cycle the tank? Also... what's your salinity?

 

[amatharu147]

I floated the bag for 1/2 then slowly added water from the tank every 10 mins...Then I after an hour I plucked them out of the bag and moved them to the tank.

They have been fine for 5 days. just the last few says they been dying. I phoned the shop and they said the Hermit Crab are killing them to get the shells.

Tanks been cycling for over 9 months. I have fish in there that are just doing fine. with of other soft corol

salinity is 1.022

 

[macman7010]

When you say you get a 90 gallon this week do you mean that you just got the tank, set it up with water and started adding livestock. If so that would constitute your problem. Even in an established tank snails dying off would not cause a spike in ammonia. My guess is that your spike in ammonia signals the early part of cycling and would answer the question why snails and other livestock are having problems.

It is best to allow a marine aquarium to cycle for at least two weeks before adding any livestock. The use of various chemicals can start the cycle and feed nitrifying bacteria and then livestock can be added slowly once levels balance out.

 

[artoledo]

How big are your snails compared to your hermit crabs? Also, if your tank has been cycling for 9 months and your levels are that high, then you should do a PWC. How often do you do PWC's? How thick is your sandbed? Is there enough current in there that it stirs up the sandbed? Give some more details on your setup. Add any liverock recently?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Macman... he didn't just get the 90 gallon last week... just the snails. He said he's had the tank for 9 months.

Amatharu... If your tank has been up and running for 9 months, with livestock, then it's cycled. It hasn't been cycling for 9 months. At least I hope it hasn't. However... you shouldn't have any ammonia detectable. While your levels are low, they still shouldn't be there. That could be why your coral isn't happy. What exactly are you using for biological filtration? Live Rock? Wet/Dry filter?

The crabs could be killing off the snails. They do that. It's a good idea to put a few empty shells in your tank for the crabs to move in to as they grow. If they don't have empties, they will search out bigger shells one way or another. You should be able to get empties at your LFS.

 

[melosu58]

Whatever the reason your ammonia should be at 0. PWC`s are necessary to get it back to 0. IMO I would do weekly PWC`s till it is. The elevated ammonia is the reason that your coral is starting to look bad.

 

[amatharu147]

When you say you get a 90 gallon this week do you mean that you just got the tank, set it up with water and started adding livestock. If so that would constitute your problem. Even in an established tank snails dying off would not cause a spike in ammonia. My guess is that your spike in ammonia signals the early part of cycling and would answer the question why snails and other livestock are having problems.

It is best to allow a marine aquarium to cycle for at least two weeks before adding any livestock. The use of various chemicals can start the cycle and feed nitrifying bacteria and then livestock can be added slowly once levels balance out.

Thanks has been cycling for 9 month....at 3 months I add LR....At 6 months I added a yellow tang, Clown and some Damais..All are doing fine...Nothing has died...I had one snail in the tank that was doing fine...last week I decided to add come cleaner....and whole bunch of smails and hermit crabs....and everything was fine for 5 days...then i noticed the dead snails and the hermit crabs eating them.

All the other life stock is fine.


I have LR in the tanks a Fuval pump 205 in the back and i got the Sea start skimmer running.

I think the Chili need a stronger current so I am going to move him.


I do a PCW every Sunday.

The snails and Crabs are the same size....the sand bed is about an inch thick with a very low/no current. No other live stock added but the snail, Herbit Crabs and shimp

I'm going to do an PCW today

 

[seaham358]

It could be acclimation or the crabs.. Crabs eating them at this point are the crabs doing their job.
When acclimating inverts you should check the SG of your tank and the water in the bag. If there the same float and add water the way you did is fine. If the Sg is different then you need to do it slowly and it could take a few hours to match the SG if there is a big difference.

As stated empty shells will help, pick some up at a craft store and wash in water then toss in. There cheap at most craft stores, unless the LFS will give you some.

Have you LFS check your water, its possible your test kit went bad and your getting a bad reading.