Snail Exodus

[Inconservatory]

Hi all,

I am having a little difficulty with keeping snails in my tank. This morning I found a little white/black snail crawling outside of the water. A few other snails I got in a cleaner crew set haven't made it either. It is said that a high magnesium content would lead to snail death, but my Mg isn't that high. The nitrates are below 5ppm. There may be a stray electrical current in the tank, but I can't tell without the right equipment. Any thoughts on the matter?

The larger turbo snails seem to be doing fine, as well as the larger burrowers. It was the astrea stars and smaller snails which don't seem to be happy with the current conditions.

Thank you.

 

[lvsuckerfish]

is there anything in there for them to eat?

 

[HumblePie]

Some snails are substantially hardier than others. However, you should do a quick check of your other water parameters (such as ammonia, pH, and salinity) to see if the water is the culprit. Additionally, as lvsuckerfish mentions you'll want to ensure that you are not overstocking a cleaner crew so there is enough food for them.

 

[mfinn]

There may be a stray electrical current in the tank,

If you suspect this, then I would do all it takes to investigate it before doing anything else. There are some inexpensive testers that can be bought at places like Lowes or Home Depot.

A small stray voltage leak can turn into a large one and put you at risk.

 

[Chichas01]

Are the smaller snails nerites? They like to spend a fair amount of time out of the water. If you have ever seen them in the wild, you will see tons on the rocks out of the water just baking in the sun until the tide comes in.
Astrea snails to me seem to have a hard time righting themselves when they fall over, especially on sand, so maybe they are just getting flipped over and dying off? If you can find them, Trochus snails have been the best I have found. They can right themselves when on the sand and I've had them breed in my tank on a couple of occasions.