My mexican is slowly dying.. i think it's because there isn't enough algae in the tank. I got it to take care of my gelidium, and it did an awesome job, but now there's not much else to eat.

Is there anything i can feed it with?

Nori...I.E. Dried/Roasted seaweed.

my mexican snail loves some salsa in the tank... add a spoon or two of pico de gallo and he'll be set!
sorry couldnt resist and im on PILLZ

Nate: i'll check out the nori at the LFS! Thanks!

Adam: i'll throw some Corona in there too!

!!!!

lol@adam

Yeah get a veggie clip for the tank and dried seaweed, my snails love the stuff, get the garlic scent and they'll find it like a pack of hound dogs.

^ thats good to know and thanks for posting it

I don't really like mexicans.

They don't clean like i would expect them too, even though they're pretty cheap.

they sometimes hibernate, where they aren't moving at all, but are very much alive.

I think it's dying because it's a temperate water species in a tropical tank. Temperate animals have higher metabolisms in warmer water, causing them to have shorter lifespans.

Mine all died b/c my water was 80. I would say don't bother with them.

I didn't know that mexicans were temperate water animals... thought Mexico would be pretty hot!

Only reason i got it was to eat the gelidium algae... are there alternatives?

Update: unfortunately, my mexican didn't make it, when i got the seaweed, i stuck it under its shell but it didn't move for a few days. I went on vacation and when i got back, my hermits were all over it.

I know its already too late, but next time you need dried seaweed/nori, try an Asian market, typically you get huge sheets of it for MUCH cheaper than what the LFS sells. I keep mine in the fridge folded into a ziploc bag to keep it as fresh as possible, but as cheap as they sell it, I could get a new package twice a month and still be ahead of the LFS cost.

+1 Yes they will eat a lot of nuisance algae that others won't eat but they will only last a few months in our tanks.

Odds are high that its a temperate not tropical snail. Most of the "Mexican Turbo's" come from Baja area which is on the Pacific side of Mexico which is a temperate zone.

UH

Thanks for the seaweed advice Gregz, i like eating those myself!

And it's unfortunate that mexicans only last a few months, i'll avoid buying them (not because of cost, but feel bad for slowly killing an animal because it's too warm) but my nuisance algae is coming back... tempted to just remove that piece of LR!

I had some nuisance algae come in on a frag I've been removing it often but it just keeps coming back. Once the coral spread to the surrounding rock I just too the whole frag disk out and thew it out I haven't seen any since.

dont get the roasted/toasted or flavored nori..less nutrition + more phosphates...just seaweed dried is all you need...

ive had one for 11 months, and hes 6 inches across

i always have chaeto sprouting up around the tank, thats what he eats. also coralline algae