Nassarius Snail - Dead or Alive?

[Ohime]

I recently started my tank (10g), cycled it with live rock, waited for ammonia and nitrates to settle and decided to add a CUC before getting any fish.

I picked up one Nassarius, two hermits, and two astreas. When plopped in, they all seemed fine. Now, two days later, the nassarius is half way out of its shell and not moving. It never really buried itself like they are supposed to either.



Prior to adding them I checked all levels, they were fine. Yesterday, the ammonia levels spiked due to one of the astreas dying and did a water change. Today's levels all checked out fine. I put the remaining snails in a separate container within the tank after taking these pictures in case they are dead/dying so they do not tamper with the ammonia levels.


I'm just trying to figure out what I did wrong or if I did nothing wrong and he just didn't make it.
**I did try to acclimate the snails for a bit before plopping them in.

 

[Super Fly]

can u please explain "I did try to acclimate..."? Snails/inverts should be carefully acclimated unless ur water parameters are exactly same as the source water from where snails came.

 

[James M]

Welcome to reef2reef!!!
As said above...How did you acclimate it ?

 

[Ohime]

So I don't have a titration device (yet), so I manually added some (like a tablespoon) water every 5 minutes for 30 minutes.

My friend who has had two successful tanks said that I didn't need to acclimate the snails. My LFS said that I don't "usually" have to acclimate them.

I've been looking around and this seems to be the biggest issue with other people as well. How long am I supposed to acclimate them for?
I definitely will be purchasing something to aid with the acclamation so I am not bombarding my poor creatures with too much water.

 

[James M]

Your friend and lfs gave you bad advice....inverts are really sensitive to chemistry/water changes.
This is a really good product:
https://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Marine-IM01177-Accudrip-Acclimator/dp/B009M3M37O

 

[Bryce M.]

They are super sensitive, but be careful getting another with the hermits though. Use drip acclimation

 

[Stuartmercer]

why would they feed you lies? Next time add more water and acclimate for longer, maybe an hour

 

[Ohime]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate everyone's input.

I'm going to try to go to my LFS on my lunch break and see if they have that AccuDrip in stock for a similar price.

They are super sensitive, but be careful getting another with the hermits though. Use drip acclimation

As a general rule of thumb, should I not keep hermits with snails? My friend's seem to get along fine, he has had 2 nass, 1-2 hermits, and 1 emerald crab in a tank larger than mine.
Or does it just depend on how much space there is?
(I have done research on this but mixed reviews were given as well)

 

[Super Fly]

u can drip acclimate or use turkey baster to slowly acclimate. Most important thing to acclimate is salinity and temp of water. While bag sits in existing tank water for temp acclimation, I slowly add tank water every 5 mins so the bag water's salinity matches tank water. After about 45mins-1 hr, I add snails to tank.

U can keep hermits w snails no problem and space is not the problem but lack of food. Just note that the red legged hermit crabs are least opportunistic eaters whereas other hermits and esp emerald crabs can turn to eating snails if there is insufficient food in tank.

 

[reef lover]

Welcome to r2r!!

 

[Barry_Cuda]

As a general rule of thumb, should I not keep hermits with snails? My friend's seem to get along fine, he has had 2 nass, 1-2 hermits, and 1 emerald crab in a tank larger than mine.
Or does it just depend on how much space there is?

Different people seem to have different experiences. Some people will say that blueleg hermits are more likely to go after snails than scarlet hermits are. I haven't seen either of my scarlets go after my trochus snails yet, but it's early days and it could happen any time. Hermits are sometimes known to attack snails for their shells as well as for food, so some people keep a variety of shell sizes in the tank to discourage banditry. Keeping the hermits well fed is probably a good idea as well. I suspect that at least some of the time, when you see hermits feasting on a snail it's because the snail died and the hermits are doing their job consuming the dead matter, but I don't trust my scarlet hermits 100% and expect I could lose a snail to them whenever they feel like it.

 

[Bryce M.]

Thanks everyone! I appreciate everyone's input.

I'm going to try to go to my LFS on my lunch break and see if they have that AccuDrip in stock for a similar price.


As a general rule of thumb, should I not keep hermits with snails? My friend's seem to get along fine, he has had 2 nass, 1-2 hermits, and 1 emerald crab in a tank larger than mine.
Or does it just depend on how much space there is?
(I have done research on this but mixed reviews were given as well)

in my 65 my hermits kill all my snails within 5 months