hermits/snails dying

[elephantshoeyou]

my hermit crabs, little snails, and larger snails(dont know what their called, their shell looks like a typical garden snail except they have a little mouth that looks kind of like a butt and their body is orange w/ a black stripe) have just been dying gradually over the past couple weeks for no apparent reason. my fish are perfectly fine as are the levels of my water: amm: .25 (just rose i think because of the snail deaths etc.) ph 8.4 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 5 do you guys know what the problem might be? thanks!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Make sure you do some PWC's to get your ammonia back to 0.

Do you have any hitchhiker crabs in your tank? Did you recently get the snails/hermits? If so, how did you acclimate them?

 

[elephantshoeyou]

no hitchhiker crabs. i got the snails 3 weeks ago and they died last week, i got the small snails and 3 of the hermits then as well. then i got more last week (hermit crabs) and those are dying. i just floated the bag in the aquarium water. the guy at the fish store told me that crabs and such are hardy so they dont need any special acclimation process. could that be why their dying? also, the algae is building up like crazy right now (fuzzy brown algae and the purple coraline is starting to spread as well.) would getting a cleaner shrimp help keep that down as well? thanks

 

[tecwzrd]

Did you ever go back and read this post? Acclimation is the issue.

 

[seaham358]

ever use any copper in the tank? Or is there anything in the tank that might have copper in it, LR fram a tank that had copper used in it? Just some ideas.. Could be acclimation but if they lasted 3 weeks that probably is not it.

 

[elephantshoeyou]

ok so i need to buy new ones and just acclimate them properly. it seems so time consuming but i guess thats just part of having an aquarium. so theres no other way to acclimate them that is quicker? also, the hair algae in my tank has grown to more than an inch in some spots. dont know if thats bad or not.

 

[seaham358]

"it seems so time consuming" do not get a larger tank if you think acclimating some fish or snails is time consuming. Cutting corners will only end in dead fish and inverts. So if you don't have then time then don't get the inverts or fish.
HA is a problem and can take over a tank.
Can you answer the questions from above.. and what type of water are you using.

 

[elephantshoeyou]

no copper in the tank to my knowledge; havent used any medications or anything. i've been just using tap water, and using kordon amquel plus to condition the water and insant ocean salt.
thanks!

 

[tecwzrd]

You can usually get away with using tap for FW tanks but with SW it’s best to use ro/di water so you don’t introduce po4 to your tank and get algae blooms.

These articles go into depth on taking the steps needed to remove it.
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium - Part 1
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium - Part II
Nuisance Algae in the Reef Aquarium - Part III

 

[elephantshoeyou]

thanks for the articles! i've been looking at getting a nano skimmer (nano fission skimmer) and i bought one online tonight. i have a 12g aquapod and its supposed to fit in there. i'll also just start doing waterchanges with R/O water instead so hopefully that'll clear things up as well. thanks for all your help.

oh one other thing, should i be getting a cleaner shrimp or any shrimp? i havent gotten one yet because i was waiting for my tank to be established for a little while longer but i feel its probably long enough, would he help eat some of the algae i have growing? thanks!

 

[tecwzrd]

Shrimp are carnivores and will not help with the algae. About 5-10 Turbo Snails would help though. Nassarius Snails are also a great addition to keep detritus from building up and to keep your sand stirred up. For shrimp I would stick to cleaner & peppermint and only get one and wait a month or two before adding more. Make sure they both have enough to eat once the tank is cleaned up.

If your tank is at least 3 months old and your nh3/no2 are 0 and your no3 is <10 ppm then you could try them. Keep in mind that both shrimp and snails are sensitive to high levels of copper-based medications and will not tolerate high nitrate levels. Both IMO require a slightly longer drip acclimation period of 4 hours to thrive long term. If getting from the lfs ask for an extra bag of water from the same tank to put in the 5 gal bucket for drip acclimation. Once done acclimating I would use a small cup to scoop up the shrimp and dump as much lfs water out as possible before adding it to the tank. Snails can just be picked up and placed in the tank by hand.

As far as changing out your tap with ro water make sure the ro water doesn’t contain po4 and if it does buy ro/di water from a lfs if possible. As long as you take the steps in identifying your nutrient source you should be able to slowly eliminate the algae. Until then reducing your lighting schedule to 4 or less hours a day will at least help to keep it from spreading too quickly.

Best of luck and just remember to take your time and not rush things. Especially with such a small tank.

 

[elephantshoeyou]

thanks! tommorow i'm going to get some r/o water from the fish store and do a water change and add some snails (using the said acclimation method). so to make it drip i start siphoning and then tie a knot? how do i go about doing that? also, do you think 5-10 turbo snails would be to many for a 12 gallon aquapod? i had 2 snails before so 5 or more seems like alot; i'm probably wrong though.

 

[tecwzrd]

The number of snails really depends on how much food is available to them. You could just get 2 again and see how they do but I suspect you will probably need more. Also as long as they don’t die then they really have little affect on increasing nh3 within the tank.

Float the bag in the tank for 20 minutes to get the water up to tank temperature.
Gently place them into the 5 gal bucket making sure they are completely covered. Siphon the water from the tank into the bucket and tie a loose knot in the tube till you get around 2-4 drops per second. You basically don’t want it too fast that it defeats the purpose of drip acclimating but also fast enough that the water in the bucket is at least 3-4 times the original amount from the lfs after 4 hours of acclimating. Just check on it every ½ hour or so and adjust as needed.