My Tank is a Nerite Death Trap!

[-JD-]

What the heck is going on? I've tried twice now to introduce Olive Nerites to my tank, and both times they have died within 24 hours.

In both instances, they seemed fine and were crawling around inside the bags, but after drip acclimating them and placing them in my tank, they moved around for a bit, then shut themselves up and never moved again. I left them alone for several days, and didn't remove them until they failed the "smell test".

The two attempts were with snails from 2 different lfs over a month apart, so I don't think it's a problem with poor stock. I have a planted tank and my water parameters are good: 0 NH4, 0 NO2, 20 NO3 and pH 7.4. The only thing I can think of is that my well water is very soft, about 2 KH and 2 GH. I know soft water isn't good for long-term snail health, but can it kill that fast? I am going to work on raising it a bit regardless.

BTW, I've had 2 gold Apple snails for a couple of weeks now, and they seem fine so far. Maybe because they are larger and more hardy? IDK.

Any ideas?

 

[HN1]

What salinity were they acclimated to and kept at in the shop? Nerites are often brackish or full marine and may need to be acclimated to FW.

 

[-JD-]

What salinity were they acclimated to and kept at in the shop? Nerites are often brackish or full marine and may need to be acclimated to FW.

Well, at both lfs they were in tanks with freshwater tropicals, so I have to assume freshwater.

 

[BeavisMom62]

I believe that nerites only breed in salt/brackish water. Usually they aren't kept in salt water but you never know. I know one of the LFS that I frequent only keep their nerites in salt water, which I thought was weird.

How strange. You would have to think that it is your water but I sure can't think why. Especially if your apples are ok. Are you supplementing calcium for them? I use cuttlebone and put it in the tank. It dissolves and releases calcium and they will also sometimes eat it, which is good for their shells.

 

[-JD-]

How strange. You would have to think that it is your water but I sure can't think why. Especially if your apples are ok. Are you supplementing calcium for them? I use cuttlebone and put it in the tank. It dissolves and releases calcium and they will also sometimes eat it, which is good for their shells.

Strange for sure. I tested for copper as well, but no problem there, either. Interestingly, I also lost an entire 3g tank of new RCS over the span of 2 weeks, and just chalked it up to bad stock. But now, I don't know.

I did pick up a cuttlebone yesterday afternoon, and placed it in the tank. Maybe that will help.

 

[-JD-]

I spoke to soon about my apple snails. They stopped moving about 3 days ago, and I pulled them out today, dead. They lived for less than a month. I can only assume they died from whatever killed the nerites. Again, the water parameters are excellent. I am so frustrated!