Falling Turbo Snails

[Lilo]

Hi all,
I am very new to the reef tank hobby and this forum....I have casualties already and need advice!!
All my Turbo snails just dropped from the tank and rocks over about ten minuites and haven't moved since. The hermit crabs are all still ok and the marine lab tests are all where they are supposed to be.

Any ideas...?

 

[ChrisRD]

Hi and :welcome:

How long have you had the snails?
What tests did you do and what were the results?

 

[Lilo]

Thank you for the welcolme....

We have had the tank going since begining of Feb this year.

5 Turbo snails and 5 hermit crabs went in about 2 weeks ago. They were fine so we put five more of each in last week.

Our tank lab readings are as follows;
Ph 8.2, Alk is on the line between normal and high, NO2 is 0, NH3/NH4(Amonia) is 0, NO3 is also 0. The temp is a stable 25 and the SG is 1021.

 

[ChrisRD]

Have you added any new equipment to the tank recently or dosed any product/supplement?
Are you using tap water for evaporation topoff or do you use purified water like RO, RO/DI, etc.?

 

[Lilo]

We have recently added 12lb in weight of living rock.
No new equipment.
The water we used for top off is RO.
The correct amount of salt was added at the store.

 

[Omni2226]

Mmmm just to make certain the topoff water you are using has no salt in it right? Freshwater for topoff saltwater for water changes.

If they all kicked off at once it sounds like maybe soap or something got in the water..have any small children around that may have thrown something in the water?.

My nephew decided my Oscar (4 year old beast) was hungry one morn and dumped fruitloops in the tank...bye bye Oscar.

Just tossing out ideas as to what may be wrong.

 

[Lilo]

What I did was a 10% water change with RO that was salted. However the snails dropped/fell before I did the water change.

Not sure what a topoff is?

There are no small kids in the house just large ones that would not dare touch the tank.

You mentioned soap. Before putting my hands in the water, rings come off and I wash my hands with an antibacterial soap and rinse well. Could this be my problem?

We have noticed that the algea bloom comes and goes, could the snails have starved? I only have hermits and snails in the tank at the moment as we are trying to go slow with it.

 

[Omni2226]

Topoff is when you add water during the week/weeks inbetween water changes to keep the tank full.

Could be the soap. Snails are kind of sensitive to chemicals. I dont think they starved because they all died at once. This is what makes me think it may be soap or another chemical like window cleaner or air freshner.

What I would do is add one or two more snails and see what happens, and just use plain water with no soap to wash your hands before tinkering with the tank then soap and warm water after (dont want fishy poo on the fingers when making a sandwich heh?).

 

[Meloco14]

The circumstances kind of do point to some sort of "poison" or something, since they all died at once. However, I personally have had very bad luck with turbo snails. Only about 10% of any I've bought have survived any length of time. I think it's because they are commonly collected in Mexico in water that is a bit colder than most of our tanks. I dont know what 25C is in F but if its on the higher end of the accepted range this may be a factor. If I were you I would try a 2 or 3 of another species of snail and see what happens. GL

 

[Anonymous]

In my opinion your salinity is too low to keep Turbo snails.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with Guy. When I was just getting started, I had this happen a time or two till I realized how important rock solid salinity is(IMO). I keep my tank at 1024, and raises once in a while 1025. This is my comfy spot. You may be diffrent.

Keep up the work! It will pay off.

 

[Lilo]

Many thanks to you all for your advice.

25C is about 77F,

I think you are right and the soap is my problem. That will teach me to wash my hands !!!

I need to be able to keep snails before I attempt to keep fish as they are not cheap here in the UK.

To fix this I presume I need 10% water changes every week?

 

[KenFitz]

A Larger water change say 50% plus would remove half of the problem (If the soap is indeed the problem) where as to remove half with 10% water changes would take at least 5, 6 or more for the same result.

Just match the current SG and Temp as close as possible - use the same salt mix as you used the first time (probably ensures the same chemistry as already in the tank).

Do a couple of large water changes and you should be able to reduce the toxin by 75% plus.

But then what do I know... I'm a relative noob anyway - it's just what I would do.