ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 So far I can confirm 2 turbin snails KIA. 1 is MIA and the other 2 are fine. Only critters in there with them are some bristle worms, various pods, 5 mixed hermit crabs and 5 nassarius snails. my water parameters follow as such: SG-1.025 Ammonia-0 Nitrite-0 Nitrate-0 KH-12 Phosphate-0 Calcium-400 PH-8.2 Mg-960 Can anyone help me ID why they are dead? Both did have a spider web mucus on them. One of my hermits did molt over night as well, but didnt switch shells. Could these deaths be the hermits or just their time to go? Also no body was left behind only the shell was left. Link to comment
seabass Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 Why is your magnesium so low? With calcium at 400ppm, I assume that your alkalinity is out of wack. Not sure why your snails died. Could be any number of things like acclimation, exposure to copper (or other toxin), or even your hermits. What do you use for a phosphate test? While I don't think phosphate killed your snails, I find it unlikely that the level is 0.00ppm (unless you are using a very efficient export method). Note, API's phosphate kit is a high range kit that goes up I'm 0.25ppm increments (while the target level is around 0.03ppm), making it practically useless for reef tanks. Link to comment
ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 I use api. I just did a water change last night. I have no idea why my magnesium is low im trying to correct as we speak. Everything has been fairly stable. Link to comment
seabass Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'm not a big basher of API test kits. I think they offer a decent line of kits. However, their high range phosphate kit isn't suitable for reefing. I wish they would just label it as a high range kit. So what's the alkalinity level? How old is this tank? Any issues that it might be experiencing (like Cyano)? Link to comment
ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 Yeh I'm going to be switching all to salifert after my api is used up. my alkalinity has been at 8 when my Ca dropped to 360 and my Mg to 900 then back up to 12 when my Ca went up to 400 and my Mg to 960. the tank is 2 and a half weeks old. and i havent had any problems really as of yet. Link to comment
seabass Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 So what, if anything, are you dosing? Do you have any corals yet, or just the cleanup crew? Link to comment
ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 have some zoas and polyps that came on my live rock. im dosing aquavitro magnesium and calcium. after i finish this io salt ill be switching to red sea coral pro. im thinking of replacing the 3 snails with 2 hermits and adding a cleaner shrimp later down the line. Link to comment
antsypants Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 If it's not your water parameters, it might be acclimation as previously mentioned. Inverts are more sensitive to salinity swings and could cause them to stop moving and eventually die. The film you found over the shells was most likely caused by the nassarius snails when they slimed over to snack on the dead/dying snails. Hopefully you figure out what went wrong soon! Link to comment
ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 i have been spending about the past 2-3 hours researching them and i found that they die from hermits all the way up to poor acclimiation or they just die due to them just dying. some were saying the snails die just because they die no real reasons. my other 2 are doing fine for now as are my nassarsis snails as well as my hermits. Link to comment
seabass Posted August 21, 2014 Share Posted August 21, 2014 If it's not your water parameters...I agree, but I'm going down this path because the info posted in the first post didn't make sense. have some zoas and polyps that came on my live rock. im dosing aquavitro magnesium and calcium. after i finish this io salt ill be switching to red sea coral pro. im thinking of replacing the 3 snails with 2 hermits and adding a cleaner shrimp later down the line. These corals wouldn't be consuming much of anything. You shouldn't need to dose yet. I'm also wondering how alkalinity went from 8 to 12 and why magnesium was so low. I'm not sure what Instant Ocean is supposed to mix to, but it should be at least 1200ppm of magnesium. You might try rolling the bucket of dry mix around to mix up the contents, then test a new batch (before you put it in your tank). If it's still off, you might want to switch before you use it all up. I'm guessing that the magnesium was too low and that the addition of calcium caused alkalinity to precipitate. Did you notice any precipitation? Proper magnesium levels allow calcium and alkalinity to exist at natural seawater (NSW) levels. When it's too low, either alkalinity or calcium will throw the other out of suspension. Therefore it's very important to have proper magnesium levels before dosing either. That alkalinity swing can cause havoc with some coral. If mixing the salt doesn't solve your parameter problem, then switch to a new salt mix. It will be much easier (and possibly cheaper) than trying to manually adjust everything. Link to comment
ghostgr Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 I dont have much IO salt left so I think I'm just going to flat out switch. I do have a BUNCH of coralline so I think that may be contributing to the calcium consumption, plus its been spreading like wild fire. Link to comment
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