Astrea Snails

[pinkfloyd]

Just curious, I just bought 50 astrea snails off of ebay and they arived in a bag with no water. Now call me crazy but shouldnt they have been shiped in water? I put them in my quarantine tank and it has been 6 hours and not one has moved. Do they take some time to aclimate? Any info would be much apreciated.

 

[mmkeeper]

A lot of times snails will be shipped with out water but with wet newspaper or paper towels. As to your other question I don't know.

 

[corey]

Just curious, I just bought 50 astrea snails off of ebay and they arived in a bag with no water. Now call me crazy but shouldnt they have been shiped in water? I put them in my quarantine tank and it has been 6 hours and not one has moved. Do they take some time to aclimate? Any info would be much apreciated.

snails should be dripped/aclimated just like you would a fish

 

[stuntkiteflyer]

When I got my snails they didn't move untill the main lights went out and the moon lights came on, infact they still don't tend do do alot of movement accept at night.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

They ship best "dry." Damp but out of the water.

 

[returnofsid]

Snails require even more acclimation than fish or most corals. Snails, crabs and shrimp need a very slow acclimation which is best accomplished with a long 2-3 hour drip acclimation.

It may be too late now, you'll need to read the ebay sellers live arrival guarantee, if one exists. In the future, take pictures as soon as your stuff arrives in the mail. If the box appears wet, take pictures before even opening the box, then take pics of the items before opening the bag. Most ebay sellers require pics in unopened bags before they'll credit for any deaths.

I'd still contact the seller and see what steps they're willing to take.

Although, as was mentioned above, sometimes snails will take a day or so before they start moving. You may be lucky and they may be alive

 

[pinkfloyd]

Thank you for all of the advice it seems all 50 snails are dead. My quarantine tank reeks and they have nasty black stuff coming out of them. They were probably dead before he shipped them. I should have taken pictures but i thought maybe they were alive.

 

[returnofsid]

I would still attempt to contact the seller and see if there's anything he's willing to do. Keep in mind that most sellers don't like bad feedback...lol.

 

[pinkfloyd]

I just contacted the sell and he said he would ship more snails on monday

 

[trido]

I just contacted the sell and he said he would ship more snails on monday

Sounds like you are working with one of the few honorable people (so it seems sometimes) left in the world. It sure is nice to hear a good ,bad, story sometimes

 

[returnofsid]

That's great!! Glad to hear you have a seller who values his reputation. In the future, whenever buying anything online, make sure you read the live arrival guarantee to see what steps need to be taken when merchandise arrives. Some require an immediate picture of packaging and of merchandise in UNOPENED bag before they'll honor any guarantee. To be safe, I always take digital pics of my online purchases as soon as they arrive and as I'm opening them.

 

[NaH2O]

It is true snails ship best in wet paper without a bag full of water. If your salinity is the same as NSW, then you should just have to acclimate them to your tanks temperature.

Read the following differences between wet shipping and dry:

The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea and Kin

The vessels in the kidney are numerous and delicate, and may rupture if the animal is not slowly acclimated when being moved from one set of water conditions to another. If the acclimation is too fast, the animal will die in a few minutes to a few weeks. If the snails are drip acclimated, the acclimation time may need to be on the order of five to ten hours for maximal survival.

According to this quote, it is very important to acclimate snails in a slow manner.

I generally acclimate about 2 or 3 hours per 0.001 specific gravity unit. So for a change of 1.022 to 1.024, I would acclimate about 4 to 6 hours. A lot of animals can be acclimated more rapidly, but stressed snails can’t.

Sometimes you may receive snails shipped in wet newspaper. According to Dr. Ron, this is actually better for the snails. Here is what he has to say:

When animals are shipped they respire normally as long as their gills are wet. If they are immersed in sea water, and they have a reasonably high metabolic rate (snails, clams, crustaceans, many worms), they will rapidly exhaust the oxygen from the sea water and fill the sea water with carbon dioxide. This gas is exchanged at the water surface in the bag, mostly by diffusion and some by turbulence. This is a very slow way to replenish oxygen. Assuming some motion in the bag, this water will be partially mixed, but it will always be lower oxygen tension than is normal or optimal. Sometimes very much lower. This REALLY stresses the animal. Recovery at the end of this treatment is always somewhat iffy.

If the animals are kept moist in 100 percent humidity air, the gills are covered by a thin film of water, both carbon dioxide and oxygen can diffuse rapidly through this thin layer and the animals will survive a whole lot better than if kept submerged in water. The animals suffer no oxygen deficit and remain inactive as well. They basically just "wait it out." When put in water at the far end of the trip, they are ready to go...

I use to ship temperate marine inverts from one lab I worked at pretty much all over the US. I wrapped 'em in algae (kelp - lotsa mucus, keeps everything damp), then in damp newspaper, then into plastic bags. Most species could live a week or more under these conditions, and be fine at the far end.

 

[fly guy]

It is true snails ship best in wet paper without a bag full of water. If your salinity is the same as NSW, then you should just have to acclimate them to your tanks temperature.
:

If the wter they were shipped in has a signifigantly lower salinity than yours you want to acclimate them slowly. Its sudden rises in salinity that is really hard on them.


edit.....NM you were talking about when being shipped damp, my bad