snails going belly up, but not dying

[sadie]

I bought 6 astrea snails last month that have been going to town on the algae in my tank.  then all of a sudden I started finding them belly up.  They aren't dead, just belly up.  I flip them back over and the next day they are belly up again.  Nothing is eating them, they aren't moving, just sitting there.  My algae is starting to get out of control again, just when I had it under control.  it's been like this for about a week. 

 

When I bought them, I was working on getting my nitrates up.  They were at a 1 when I got the snails and over the next couple weeks I raised my nitrates up to 10.  I'm not sure if this could have caused it, but I did it slowly, not like 1-10 over night.  I was also working on getting my phos up.  I had it where I wanted it, then it got a little high (.3)  Not sure if that will do it either.

 

Any ideas why?  Is there anything I can do?

 

I have an established 16 gal BioCube.

 

Temp-79.1

Salinity 1.025

KH 9.6

Mag-1320

Cal- 490

NO3-5

Phos .3

 

 

[jservedio]

They are likely dying - astreas can't right themselves, so they tend to be much stronger in being able to keep themselves from falling off compared many other snails. If they are falling off, they are going downhill and weak and will likely die. Unfortunately, based on the fact you've only had them for less than a month there is no real way of knowing whether it's your tank that's killing them or if they were doomed from before they even entered your tank (where and how they were collected, shipping, mishandling, the LFS, etc.).

 

IME astreas either die within 2-6 weeks and were going to die no matter what or live for at least 5 or 6 years with no in between.

[sadie]

19 minutes ago, jservedio said:

They are likely dying - astreas can't right themselves, so they tend to be much stronger in being able to keep themselves from falling off compared many other snails. If they are falling off, they are going downhill and weak and will likely die. Unfortunately, based on the fact you've only had them for less than a month there is no real way of knowing whether it's your tank that's killing them or if they were doomed from before they even entered your tank (where and how they were collected, shipping, mishandling, the LFS, etc.).

 

IME astreas either die within 2-6 weeks and were going to die no matter what or live for at least 5 or 6 years with no in between.

I always think it's turbos that can't right themselves.  I got 2 turbos at the same time and they are doing good.  I was actually surprised that all the snails made it the first night.  My only LFS is Petco.🙄  Which is hit or miss.  I do have another store that's really good, but it's an hour drive.  

 

thanks

[Jakesaw]

Trochus snails can right themselves, but agree, The astreas are probably dying or not healthy.  One snail could be knocked over.  10, that is not normal. 

 

 

[A.m.P]

I've also found astrea to randomly starve sometimes if the "right" algae isn't present in enough quantities.