snails not moving much? And other Help needed.

[pos_user]

first of all, let me apologize for these pathetic newbie questions that I keep asking you guys. Being a former moderator of FW forum..i know how it is. But..for all its worth, you guys are my crutch...i cant go to my LFS, they are making 7 dollars and hour and dont care about the health of my fish, or how happy I am. Plus you guys know how hard it is to get help or information after telling them you have a 10 gallon sw tank. With that being said, here is my question.

 

Tank has been up for about 3 weeks now. All i have for my clean up crew is 2 snails, and 2 hermit crabs. They went in about 2 weeks after the tank has been up. So far, one snail has die, and the other hasnt really moved much in the past week. I would say its been on the same piece of LR that is the size of a cigarette pack. Its still alive cause when I go to touch, it clamps on the rock and protects itself. Is this normal, i mean i know snails are slow...but I thought they would move a little faster. lol.

 

PH is 8.2

Salinity 1.025

Am 0

Nitrates, about 17-20 ppm, hopefully dropping soon.

 

I use distilled water for tops offs, and havent done any waters changes since I feel that the tank is not done cycling yet...could my following parameters be trouble for the snails and hermits?

I thought clean up crew is the first of the livestock to go in due to hardiness and they are tolerable to changes in the enviroment?

 

Thanks guys.

 

Sorry for the long post.

[darwin604]

Snails are suprisingly fragile in new tanks. It's best to let your tank cycle completely before putting anything in. I'm also a long-time FW aquarium guy and I've made tons of mistakes too, so ask away.

 

Since your snails are already in there you should just keep an eye on them, if they move, they're alive . . if it pulls through, that's good, but if you even THINK it's dead remove it asap since if it starts to decompose it could spell disaster for the rest of your cleanup since your nitrates will spike and stress everything else in the tank.

 

d.

[pos_user]

yeah, thanks for the help. Im gonna keep a close eye on the snail and 2 hermits, and also check params every night to see whats going on. I added some nice LIVE rock that has been at the LFS tanks for about 6 months. They have established nicely and should ait in the cycling process with their already present nitrates in the system...hopefully it will turn out for the best.

[TroyT]

What kind of snails are they? I have a couple that don't move for like two weeks then they eat themselves to sleep again for a couple of days. Snail are not really hardy. They are very sensative to the water and environment.