I keep finding my snails upside down. What gives?

[FishyFish]

I've found one of my trochus snails upside down in my tank four times now in the past three days. Each time he's been just lying there looking dead, making no effort to right himself, but he starts crawling around a few seconds after I flip him over. I'm not sure if it's the same one snail doing this or several snails, I have five in the tank total, plus five nassarius snails who are acting normal.

Anyone know what might be causing this? The snails have been in there for almost 3 months now and I've never found them upside down before this week. I know they're capable of flipping themselves over. My tank parameters are normal; salinity at 1.026, ammonia/nitrite 0, nitrate 15, temp is 78.4. Any ideas?

 

[ZoWhat]

Any predatory fish in the tank that might be flipping him over and nipping as a snack?

 

[SeaJay]

Mine will sometimes crawl into the rock work upside down, then fall off and land on the sand bed and just kind of stick there. I frequently have to flip my snails back over.

 

[FishyFish]

Any predatory fish in the tank that might be flipping him over and nipping as a snack?

Hmm I hadn't thought about that. I do have a longnose hawkfish but I've never seen him show any interest in the snails at all. The only other fish in the tank are a pair of ocellaris clowns, but they never go near the snails. I guess it's possible that someone is nipping them but not very likely.

 

[Fourstars]

Do you happen to have an outbreak of Cyanobacter? Sometimes I think they feed on it and it causes them issues.?

 

[FishyFish]

Mine will sometimes crawl into the rock work upside down, then fall off and land on the sand bed and just kind of stick there. I frequently have to flip my snails back over.

Do you have trochus too? I got them because they're supposed to be able to flip themselves over. I just find it odd that I've never seen one of them upside down and suddenly it's happening every day. I just did a snail inventory, two of them were upside down so it's not the same one for sure.

Do you happen to have an outbreak of Cyanobacter? Sometimes I think they feed on it and it causes them issues.?

Not currently, I did have an outbreak about a little over a month ago but it's been almost completely gone for two or three weeks now.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Cyano or dinos seem to cause them issues. Nothing like that?

 

[FishyFish]

Cyano or dinos seem to cause them issues. Nothing like that?

No the tank is pretty clean. There's a teensy bit of cyano left in one small spot on the sand but that's it. Never had any dinos.

Maybe the tank is TOO clean and they've been eating the cyano?

 

[PatW]

Your snails might be weak. I find that if they don’t get enough to eat, they often end up turned over from falling off of the rock work. If your rock work is clean, the snails might not be getting enough food. You might think of bumping up your lighting some to grow algae faster or increasing your nutrients: phosphates and nitrates, just a bit. You could also feed some algae pellets.

My snails seem to get enough but they are hungry. If the glass gets an algae film they are out skating across it. One turbo snail managed to find a clip with nori on it and went to town.

 

[FishyFish]

Your snails might be weak. I find that if they don’t get enough to eat, they often end up turned over from falling off of the rock work. If your rock work is clean, the snails might not be getting enough food. You might think of bumping up your lighting some to grow algae faster or increasing your nutrients: phosphates and nitrates, just a bit. You could also feed some algae pellets.

My snails seem to get enough but they are hungry. If the glass gets an algae film they are out skating across it. One turbo snail managed to find a clip with nori on it and went to town.

Thanks, I bumped up the timer on my lights a few hours and put a couple of nori clips in there right next to them. Three of the snails seem like they're okay but two of them haven't moved since last night. I took them out and put them in a bucket with some nori. I don't think they're dead because the nassarius didn't go for them and they're sticking to the sides of the bucket, but it doesn't look good.

If this is an issue of not enough algae, my nassarius snails should be okay since they're scavengers right? I tried to count them but that's next to impossible without tearing apart the tank. The three that I did find looked okay.

 

[Saltfishlover]

Mine do this now. They sat in one spot for a week. I took them out and they looked alive. Out them back near glass. Off they went, but about two hours later. Sideways back on the sand.

 

[Damon Jensen]

I've found one of my trochus snails upside down in my tank four times now in the past three days. Each time he's been just lying there looking dead, making no effort to right himself, but he starts crawling around a few seconds after I flip him over. I'm not sure if it's the same one snail doing this or several snails, I have five in the tank total, plus five nassarius snails who are acting normal.

Anyone know what might be causing this? The snails have been in there for almost 3 months now and I've never found them upside down before this week. I know they're capable of flipping themselves over. My tank parameters are normal; salinity at 1.026, ammonia/nitrite 0, nitrate 15, temp is 78.4. Any ideas?

I find my snails upside down all the time. Some is self inflicted others are due to multiple fish, triggers and my rock mover wrasse. I flip them right side if I see them, but I can't keep up. They will flip themselves when ready mainly at night. They are vulnerable and my fish enjoy a good escargot!!!!!!

 

[Saltfishlover]

I don't have aggressive fish