Trouble Keeping Snails Alive

[Monza28]

For some reason I have not had much luck with any snails. I've bought turbo snails two different times from different vendors and bought mexican turbos once. Out of 7 turbo snails I think I've had 3-4 die. I bought two mexican turbo snails and one died within a day or two. When I place a new snail in my tank for the first 2-3 days they are very active and moving great distances along the glasswork cleaning algae film. Then all of the sudden they become lethargic and spend more time than usual on their backs. Some of them then die. I make it a point to at least once a day look for snails that are on their backs and right them. I have plenty of hermits in my tank and it is possible I guess that the hermits are inflicting harm on them before I get a chance to get them upright. But what baffles me is why after 2-3 days they seemling fall off the glass more frequently and certainly move much slower. My water parameters are as follows:

Copper: 0
Specific Gravity: 1.024
Temp: 78-80 F
Ph: ~8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: undetectable
Phosphate: 0
Alkalinity: 9-10 dKH
Calcium: 400ppm

I know there is a cold water turbo snail that doesn't fair well in warmer tanks, but what about the mexican turbos? I have one Mexican Turbo thats still alive but he barely moves at all.

[CarmieJo]

Hi Ricky. Most of the snails sold as turbos, including Mexican turbos, are from temperate seas and don't do well at reef temperatures. However, they usually last more than a few days. How are you acclimating them?

[fat walrus]

The name Turbo Snail has been corrupted. Stay away from "Mexican" or "Cortez" turbo snails. They will not live unless you can maintain a temperature of 72 degrees and below. The same can be said about "Astrea" snails from the Caribbean. Nearly all Astreas snail come from the coast of Florida or the Keys and do not do well in an Indo-Pacific reef tank running in higher temperatures.

[veriann]

ozzie snails disappear too, although you'll usually find them raiding the fridge on a mid night ninja slug mission& too fat or drunk to make the return trip...lol

[JustDavidP]

I found that salinity swings can kill snails fast. They are very susceptible to osmotic shock. You say your SG is at 1.024... good thing.. even plus or minus .001 or whatever. However, do you have an auto top off, or do you dump RO/DI water in there by hand? If you manually top off, how often?

Dave

[Monza28]

i top off ro/di daily, my evaporation rate is about 3/4 gallon a day out of 72 gallons total capacity

[SaltCritters]

Most of my snails get eaten by the hermits. I think my hermits like the taste of snail better than what their supposed to eat.

[Seahorsedreams]

Even if you acclimate and keep them 100% correctly, they can die on you because you have no idea of the hit they took before they came to be in your care. These critters are not given the respect they deserve before and after arriving at most LFSs.

[Phurst]

Any idea what your magnesium levels are? When I raised my mag a while ago to choke out some bryopsis, it "stunned" all my snails for a while. They were lethargic, and were constantly falling off the glass and rock, and plenty of them died. The ones that were left returned to mormal when my mag dropped again.

[Phurst]

You haven't used copper in the tank have you?

[Monza28]

Nope I have never used copper in the tank. I have a copper test kit for treating my QT and I checked the copper level in my DT to be sure its 0. I still haven't gotten around to testing for magnesium so I have no idea what its at. I dont dose for it though, all I'm using right now is Kent Marine 2 part. I need to get around to getting that magnesium test kit, but so far my alkalinity and calcium levels are pretty stable.

[pvtdonut]

i know when i first started my 65 up, i had problems with snails. i found that i had a metal union above my pump in my tank that was rusty.. it was in my sump, and always submerged in the water. until i put a light down there, i didnt notice it. but the rust was in my water for a long time. never could keep any snails alive, i tried 6 of them before i discovered the rusty piece. i replaced it with a pvc piece and got a poly filter. the poly filter removed all of the bad elements in the water and now my snails are staying alive. do you have anything rusting in your tank anywhere? equipment or anything? i believe it disperses high amounts of iron into the tank.. which could possibly kill inverts. it killed sails, shrimp, crabs and a starfish on me. once i filtered it out, and it was all gone, i have had turbos, a starfish, horseshoe crab and hermit crabs in there.

just an option of what it could be.

[Monza28]

Thanks for the suggestions. pvtdonut, I can't think of any metal that I have in the tank except for whatever is in the pumps and powerheads, all of which are brand new. I'll keep that in mind anyways. Thanks