Dosing nitrates and snails

[zalick]

I started dosing nitrates last night. My system has had undetectable levels of nitrates and phosphates for a long time and I've had a big dino outbreak.

Yesterday nitrates and phosphates were 0. Last night, using mcarrols calculator for nitrate dosing using spectracide stump remover, I dosed 10g, in solution, in to my 300g system to raise nitrates to 10ppm.

My system is closer to 400g total volume.

This morning I tested and nitrates measured between 5 and 10 using API. So the 10g in ~400g was spot on.

I only have a few snails, including 1 turbo. The turbo is usually very active. He hasn't moved from his spot this morning. A trochus was upside down on sand this morning and I picked up and put on a rock. Hes moved a couple inches since then.

Everything I read said increasing from 0 to 10 won't cause any issues.

Could that jump in nitrates have shocked the snails?

As I understand it, some inverts can be sensitive to nitrates and not tolerate high levels. 10ppm is certainly not high.

Mostly curious for future dosing.

Thanks!

 

[flsalty]

Personally, I wouldn't have raised it in one shot like that. I have no scientific explanation for that. It's just now how I do things. I suppose it's possible that a large jump like that could shock them a little. Also, what kind of dinos? Some of them are toxic. That could be contributing as well.

 

[zalick]

Personally, I wouldn't have raised it in one shot like that. I have no scientific explanation for that. It's just now how I do things. I suppose it's possible that a large jump like that could shock them a little. Also, what kind of dinos? Some of them are toxic. That could be contributing as well.

I'm generally in that camp of not raising anything quickly. In a different thread Randy said it was no problem to raise nitrates in one shot. :/

The genus is coolia. I don't know the exact species. So they definitely could be toxic. I actually suspect they are as most of my snails died last year. The ones in there now held strong and I figured they had some sort of immunity to the Dino's.

 

[KrisReef]

Or they were holding on by a thread and the minor shock pushed them beyond their limit?

Interesting observation.

 

[zalick]

Or they were holding on by a thread and the minor shock pushed them beyond their limit?

Interesting observation.

Could be. That makes the most sense to me. I'll be interested to see them tomorrow morning.

On a more positive note: my softies and LPS were much happier today! And Dinos maybe were a bit less.

 

[zalick]

This morning the turbo had made a 180 turn, but still in place. I doubt he or the trochus are going to survive. I have a few more trochus in the rocks that I rarely see, and hundreds of baby trochus. Will be interesting to check tonight when it's dark and see how they fared.

I guess going from 0 to 10ppm nitrates in one dose can have an effect on snails!

 

[zalick]

Update:

The turbo seems to have fully recovered and is back to cruising around. The trochus died after a couple days. I do have hundreds of baby trochus that are still coming out at night, so that's interesting....

Tested my nitrates again today and they were at ~3ppm. So in two weeks the net consumption was about 4ppm. (noted here just for my reference.

For anyone who sees this in the future:

Going from 0 to ~7ppm nitrates in one dose may have a negative effect on your snails. Its possible the snails were weakened by dino toxins and the increase in nitrates pushed them over the top.

From here on out I intend to dose at 1ppm per day to achieve my desired level of 10ppm. Then figure out the maintenance doses.