Snails are dying!

[whiskersthecat]

Hi, I've had a 15 gallon freshwater aquarium for a few years and a few weeks ago I added about 12 large snails. Not exactly sure the breeds of all of them, but I think that the yellow ones are Golden Apple Snails. Recently, 2 of them have died. The PH of the water is around 7.2, and the tank has less than 0.25ppm ammonia, less than 10ppm nitrate, and 0 nitrite. It also has a lot of guppies. I'm curious as to whether their death could have to do with the water, or whether it was the stress of changing habitats, not enough food, or something else entirely. Thanks for your time!

 

[Autumnsky]

Do you have any Loaches in the tank?

Medications previously used in the tank could have a possible residual effect, like copper which toxic to invertebrates like snails and shrimp.

Did you buy this tank new or used?

Buy any new plants recently (sometimes might have been treated with pesticides when importing).

Sometimes snails don't transition well. Did you buy these from a store or local hobbyist?

But also if often refill the evaporation with tap water and do not do very large pwc's, the TDS / total dissolved solids can really build up. This can make the environment less than ideal. Especially if the snails are from a commercial facility and are used to clean water being pumped through to keep the tanks in excellent condition to get the snails grown up asap.

If that could be the case, you can try to start doing 25% pwc as often as you can say, each day, morning and evening to start off. Then every day or if you skip a day it is okay. Do this for a week or 2 (maybe 10 -14 25% pwc's) and it will really help the tank freshen up. And reset back toward the same water parameters as the tap water.