How to keep turbo snails alive?

[pitkat]

Is there something I need to test for apart from, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 2, Calcium 456, Magnesium 1430 ish, PH 8.13, salt 35 ppm, temp 78f, 300 gal tank but can't keep turbo snails alive, all my other snails do well and I have baby snails but turbo snails just die. :frusty: I get this feeling I am not testing something that I should be testing for. Acclimatized the snails for 3 hours adding a shot glass of tank water every 20 mins. 10 days later all 40 snails dead. time before lost all 20 I put in. Plus side is I have plenty of shells for my hermit crabs.

 

[user 26995]

maybe there isnt enough for them to eat? I dont know. its crazy its just the turbos. all other snails are fine?

 

[pitkat]

Everything else is fine. Just can not keep turbo snails alive. There is plenty for them to eat, have a slight hair algae problem at the moment Just tested KH at 8

 

[user 26995]

What do you have for fish? It could be a fish that is killing them.

 

[NanaReefer]

My experience with my turbo is it eats a lot of turf algae and film algae...


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[pitkat]

Not seen the fish harming the snails. They just seem to fall of the glass. When you look at their foot it seems to be shriveled up and no longer able to stick to the glass. when I flip them upright they seem to just give up and become hermit and bumble bee snail fodder.
I have a Gold Flake angel, Flame angel, 2 clown fish, Chevron tang, Purple tang, Hippo tang, Coral beauty, Rabbit fish.

 

[Rea17]

What kind of turbo snails are they? Astreas or the big Mexican turbos? It's possible the angels might be messing with them while your back is turned, but turbo snails are very short lived in captivity anyway. They come from cooler waters and usually only live ~6 months in reef temperatures, at least that is what my research and experience has shown. You should look into getting some trochus snails and see how they do! They are my favorite rock/glass algae eating snail.

 

[pitkat]

They were the Mexican ones. I am running the tank at 78F at the moment. Might try dropping the temp to 76 and see if that helps. I am having a hair algae issue at the moment and I've been told that higher temps(78 and above) promote the growth of hair algae. I will look in to getting some Trochus snails. Thanks.

 

[stylaster]

I would look into getting a seahare they are great hair algae eaters

 

[Rea17]

Higher temperatures will increase the metabolic rate of most reef inhabitants, including hair algae. I wouldn't alter your temp for the snails. It is also worth mentioning that turbos can't right themselves if they should fall off rocks or glass, so you will constantly have to babysit them.

Sea hares are great for algae control, but once your algae supply is diminished he will need a new home. I'm surprised you have an algae problem with your tangs in the tank. Tell them to get busy! Are you monitoring phosphate levels?

 

[pitkat]

Am running GFO and bio pellets at the moment. Phosphates reading 0 when I test but that is in the general water body. My tank is 40 inches deep so testing at sand bed lvl is problematic at best
bought 2 sea hares. One got sucked into the power head and died within 12 hours. The other died after 6 days along with the turbo snails. Like I said, not having much luck lately.

 

[blk822822]

Are you acclimating your critters befor putting them in the tank?

 

[pitkat]

I float the bag in the tank to warm the water up to tank temp. I put a shot glass of water into the bag every 20 mins for 3 hours. When the bag gets full of water I dump half down the drain and keep adding a shot glass full of tank water till the 3 hours is up.

 

[1guydude]

3hrz? Dang lol.

+1 turbo or no go.
Torchus and astrea snails live longer.

Margarita snails r from the cold waters. Still they do well.
Nerite and narrius snails r the bomb.
Ull need about half a million though lol

Turbos eat watever. I think this is a good thing and bad imo.
ceriths r a waste of time imo.
Hths
-d

 

[Rea17]

^ this.

Nassarius, Babylonia, Cerith, Trochus, Astreas, and bumble bee snails I have found to be both useful and long lived. Turbos just don't do well in aquarium settings. I see nothing wrong with your water parameters or acclimation procedure... Possible you just got a bad batch?

 

[TheKraken]

I had a problem with snails and found one of the magnetic mounts for a power head was swollen. Mine would chug along at algae for a few hours and then go listless.

I think a few other tanks have crashed due to metals in a similar way.