Need some help - snails are dead

[hyeteck]

hey guys

i have a 90 gallon tank. I had 2 blue damzels and 2 green cromis. I put a clown and 4 snails in there about 2 weeks ago. All the fish are doing fine, swimming, playing, eating normally. I recently noticed that my 4 snails hadn't moved for the past 3 days. I tried moving them but noticed that all 4 were dead. I have another snail that has been in there ever since i setup the tank and he is doing fine. Hes got a pointy sharp shell and a long antenna like head about half an inch long. I am not sure what kind of snail it is though. The other 4 snails that died were much larger and had more of a round shell. My tank is developing algae and i want to get that cleaned off the rock with snails but they died.

A couple people told me to get hermit crabs. any ideas as what caused the death of the snails or if getting hermit crabs is a good idea.

[theplatypus]

You'll get more help if you list the water parameters of your tank. Don't just say everything is fine. How did you acclimate said snails?

[Twitterbait]

also let us know how long the tank has been going

[ChrisPrusha]

Sounds like acclimation problems, perhaps.

[Geoff]

i would also think that the snails were not acclimated properly.

i do not like crabs. they are snail killers. i would only stick with snails as your cleanup crew.

G~

[Stevendietzel]

does your water have heavy metals? I recently moved into a house with bad water and the first thing to die off in my tank were all my snails. that is how I knew something was up. started using RO DI water and now everything is fine.

[hyeteck]

my tank has been setup for around 4 weeks now. I added the clown and the snails about 2 weeks ago. I used water from the faucent to mix my own water in the beginning and did a 20 gallon water change about 2 weeks ago before i put the snails and clown in. I have sample a water from my tank with me right now; I'm gonna head over to the local fish store and have them test all the parameters of my water.

[hyeteck]

how would you acclimate the snails? I had them in their plastic bag sitting on the water for about 25 minutes before letting them free inside.

[theplatypus]

If you didn't run your tap water through an ro/di it might be copper that killed them. Did you allow the tank to cycle before adding the critters?If not you may have very high nitrite/nitrate which also may have killed them. When you're at the lfs pick up a test kit.

Originally Posted by hyeteck

how would you acclimate the snails? I had them in their plastic bag sitting on the water for about 25 minutes before letting them free inside.

[hyeteck]

i tested the water in my tank about a week after setting it up and everything came out normal according to the tests. The tests had little charts showing what was normal. I tests, ammonia , nitrate, nitrite, salt, and magnesium.

[hyeteck]

just got back from the fish store. They tested all my water parameters and said that everything was fine except my salt level needed to be just a liiittle bit higher. Instead of 1.023 it should be around 1.027 or 1.028 since im going to be doing corals and stuff. They said that the reason the snails died was because i just tossed them in after letting the sit on the water for 20-25 minutes. They said i was suppose to add a little bit of water from the tank into the bag and let me sit like that before tossing them in the tank. I got 3 margarita snails am gonna try it once more to see what happens this time.

[dobejazz]

Hmmm I keep my tanks at 1.024 - 1.025. 1.027 - 1.028 sounds kinda high to me I'm sure someone else will correct me if I'm wrong

[hyeteck]

ya thats what i thought too. The previous owner also said that was a little high and that 1.025 should be fine.

My tank temperature is always at 78.5-80 degrees. I read onlien that the turbo snails (my previous snails that died) and the margaritta snails (the ones that i just got) come from cooler waters. Could my temperature be the cause of their death?

[dobejazz]

Margarita's I've read prefer cooler water I've never had any though. I did kill some turbo's when I started my 24 gallon due to improper acclimation. They seem pretty sensitive to abrubt changes in water parameters

[Tasher80]

1.025 is about right for salinity. If you just let the temperature become the same then tossed them in the tank I would say that the acclimation, or lack of killed them.