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Turbo Snail not moving


rsach

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Yesterday I got couple of black turbo snails and couple of hermit crabs. The snails have not moved at all since I put them in the tank yesterday afternoon. I did acclimate them. The crabs are fine. Is this normal? or did I get dead snails? Thanks!

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Turkey Baster

One of my Turbo's would not move when I first put him in the tank. He sat in the same spot for over 24 hours and I thought he was dead. I quickly realized that if he was dead, my hermits would be eating him. So, I picked him up and moved him next to some algae on a rock and he quickly woke up and began to work.

 

He was "sleeping" on the sand next to a Zoa colony before I moved him.

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bluebastion

^ I agree with the above. If you have a clean up crew (CUC) in your tank already, specifically hermits.. they will crowd toward a dead snail because of the "scent of death" released in the water. So if you see them crowding or picking at the snail.. even if the snail is closed up, it's probably dead.

 

Turbos, IMO, are the best snails in a CUC, closely followed by ceriths, They munch on almost every nuisance algae in their path. Unfortunately these guys are very bad shippers, and can be just as bad to acclimate.

Edited by bluebastion
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So far I don't see the hermits coming towards the snail. I moved them to a different spot, if they still don't move I will probably take them back to the LFS. They said they will exchange them.

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I exchanged the snails for new ones, however I think I messed up during acclimation, I floated the bag for 15mins to match the temperature and then cut it open and poured a little tank water, I left the bag floating and came back to check after five minute and the whole bag sinked in. I am not sure if the snails survived, they are still in the same spot. I am having bad luck with snails :(

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The snail haven't move since yesterday. Today we moved them on top of the rocks, we saw one of them come out and then went back in. A friend of mine got similar snails this evening and put them in without acclimation and they are doing fine. Is there something I can do to make the snails comfortable?

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The snail haven't move since yesterday. Today we moved them on top of the rocks, we saw one of them come out and then went back in. A friend of mine got similar snails this evening and put them in without acclimation and they are doing fine. Is there something I can do to make the snails comfortable?

 

 

I have seen some of mine like that too ... its usually fine ... if they don't do well ... they will become the hermit's dinner ... so the eco-system will take care of itself ... snail dies the easiest and you just have to replace them sometimes ... I only have two that was eaten up by my blue knuckles so far ... if you pay too much attention to these little details ... you might get too stressed out ...

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I guess the two snails did not make it. I am going to get some more over the weekend. The salinity of the saltwater that I get from the LFS is 1.022 isn't that kinda low? I was thinking maybe the low salinity is causing the snails to die. I will be adding some clownfish over the weekend, is 1.022 fine?

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I have the same luck with my clean up crew. First day I threw in 5 blue knuckles and about an hour later one was out of his shell dead and today (about 4 days later) found another one out of his shell dead. Also for some reason my star fish is missing 2 of its legs. Weird. all tank parameter are fine which would lead me to believe there is some sort of turf war going on in the tank.

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+1

 

 

The salinity of my tank is 1.022 and the store tank measures 1.025. I did acclimate the snail, shouldn't that take care of the salinity issue?

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  • 2 weeks later...

After checking the water parameters, I bought 5 Astrea snail over the weekend. I acclimated them and put them in, one of them moved a little, but now i non of them move. I can't figure out what am I doing wrong. I can't get a snail to survive in my tank. The only one thing that I suspect is the temperature fluctuation, it goes from 79.8 to 83.5(when the lights are on), would this cause the snails to die? My water parameters are as follows

Ammonia, Nitrate = 0

Phosphate = 1

KH = 10

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How did you aclimate them?

 

Edit: Forget it ... I see it now...

 

I have had some snails not do well with just temp acclimation... while with others it seems like I could just dunk them in and let them run.

Edited by Pickle010
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How did you aclimate them?

 

Edit: Forget it ... I see it now...

 

I have had some snails not do well with just temp acclimation... while with others it seems like I could just dunk them in and let them run.

 

Well, I did 15 min temp acclimation and then poured a little water from my tank and waited 5 mins, and did this twice before putting them in. I saw a little movement on one initially but, but after that none of them moved. I am thinking it has something to do with the temperature fluctuation.

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johnmaloney

Now reading this is this a used tank? I ask because many used tanks have fish medication or copper in them. Also, are you measuring nitrites, or nitrates? Or both, big difference on vowel will make in that word. What kind of tests are you using?

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Now reading this is this a used tank? I ask because many used tanks have fish medication or copper in them. Also, are you measuring nitrites, or nitrates? Or both, big difference on vowel will make in that word. What kind of tests are you using?

 

This is a new tank. I have checked both nitrites and nitrates, and both show zero. I am using API test kit. I have a feeling that the issue might be temperature fluctuation, the temp were going from 78.8 to 84. I did some modification couple of days back and now the max temp is around 82F.

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Yeah, 84 is not happy.

You may want to pick up a dripline for acclimation. They're generally only a few dollars and are a much more gradual way to acclimate critters.

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Yeah, 84 is not happy.

You may want to pick up a dripline for acclimation. They're generally only a few dollars and are a much more gradual way to acclimate critters.

 

I have drip line that I ordered online. However, I did not use it on the snail before as the LFS guy told me that it's not recommended as it takes a long time and would deprive the snail from oxygen and I might end up loosing them. So I never used the drip method on the snail. I now found out from this forum that there should be no issues using the drip method on the snails. I guess I learnt the hard way. Should have asked here first. I love this forum.

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i dont think temp flux is killing them. my tank goes from 79-83,84 and ive had the same snails for almost 2 years (turbos,astreas).

 

In that case I think it's the acclimation method being used. I will try out the drip method over the weekend and will post the results.

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when u go get new snails id take some water and have it tested for copper. i know u said the tank is new but maybe there was some in the lr or something.

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