Every time I put Margarita or Turbo snails into my tank they die within a few weeks.
What could be the killer?
My nitrate, nitrite, amonia, ph, salinity, & temp are good.
Could high Iodine, Calcium, or Strotruim do this?
Every time I put Margarita or Turbo snails into my tank they die within a few weeks.
What could be the killer?
My nitrate, nitrite, amonia, ph, salinity, & temp are good.
Could high Iodine, Calcium, or Strotruim do this?
Hi,
I agree with what Rob said but I must say please post your exact readings of the water parameters. If you want some help then these reading will give us a better understanding of what is going on. I think that any reading of nitrate will effect the snails in a bad way and high amounts will kill them. also check the salinity, it should be at 1.023-1.025 although I like to keep my tanks at the 1.025 level. also aclimation is a very important part for the snails, if acclimated wrong or not long enough it could cause death a few days later. Just a few things to consider.
Another thing to keep in mind is that many snails sold as "Margarita" are temperate snails as opposed to tropical and simply will not survive in a reef environment. They are collected from colder waters of the Pacific and will slowly succumb and die in 80+ degree F waters.
you might want to check your temp. i keep my tank at around 82-83 and i had two turbos. well the turbos dont like high temp so one died and the other i gave away to a colder tank. I use aestrea snails now and they seem to like the hotter temps. IME
But still some good information from David. Margarita snails are typically cold water snails and are sometimes collected from water temperatures in the 50s. It is no wonder they do not survive long in our systems.
Almost all "Turbo" and "Astraea" snails in the hobby are also from cold water and do not survive long at typical saltwater aquarium temperatures. Yes they might live 1, 2, 3 years in our systems, but their natural lifespan could easily be in the decades.
I think people should be encouraged to buy captive bred snails that are known warm water species that are capable of reproducing in our tanks. Some examples are Columbellids (IPSF Strombus grazers), Stomatella varia, Collonista and a relatively new, but promising warm water Turbo snail that my project is raising.
What is better, slowly replacing inappropriate snails in our tanks, or exporting babies of snails that readily reproduce?
Rhetorical question guy,
Brian
PS. I should add the guy never responded with water parameters, so the snail deaths could have been from numerous sources.
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