Need ICK free turbo snails

[chicago]

Ok.. so i just got done wiht 75 days of half a dozen or so turbo snails in a 20 gallon QT. I will need a dozen or more for my tank. This was my second round of QT for snails.. Before I tried to do too many at a time and most died and then i did the 6 that just worked..

Any thoughts on how to avoid or alternative to 75 day fallow rule. Or does some one have a line on supplier that would fit the need for ICK free.. I am betting the answer is not what I want to hear but thought I would ask anyways.

 

[calvertc425]

generally with all the diseases and parasites fish are bringing into LFS that I have seen working at one myself I would just bite the bullet and quarantine everything regardless! I just went to CMAs yesterday in villa park and bought a cleaner shrimp and a nice green birds nest coral and neither will go into my DT until at least the 76 day quarantine process just FYI

 

[MaryL]

I would like to find an answer to this too. It's driving me crazy trying to keep CUC alive in QT for ten weeks, which is usually ten weeks after I actually need them in my DT. Ugh.

 

[PatrickMorris]

I get mine from Pacific East Aquaculture, they are just pulling their turbos out of their coral propagation tanks when they sell them. Usually you can tell by the shell growth they've been in the tank for a while

 

[ngoodermuth]

Coral/invert QT needs to be almost like a mini-DT. Should be cycled with a good bio-filter, live rock, etc.

Any trace of ammonia can cause a chain reaction, snails die sending off more ammonia... etc etc

 

[Smo]

What I do when QT-ing my snails is every several days grab the ones I can and set them on top of a sheet of dry seaweed placed on the tank bottom. Their weight holds it down while they devour the nori. You can also add macro algae to their tank provided you have a light. A cheap one from a box store works. And don’t clean the glass. Let the snails do it.

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

generally with all the diseases and parasites fish are bringing into LFS that I have seen working at one myself I would just bite the bullet and quarantine everything regardless! I just went to CMAs yesterday in villa park and bought a cleaner shrimp and a nice green birds nest coral and neither will go into my DT until at least the 76 day quarantine process just FYI

Once the shrimp molts you can remove him from QT

 

[clm65]

Would the TTM work for snails, etc?

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Would the TTM work for snails, etc?

@HotRocks @4FordFamily

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Would the TTM work for snails, etc?

Nope

 

[Smo]

No. This snails don’t directly support the life cycle. What you are attempting to do is ensure no encysted tomonts on their shells survive long enough to infect your fish.

 

[Glenng78]

Would the TTM work for snails, etc?

TTM will NOT work on snails. The reason it works on fish is because the encysted stage of the parasite will not live in the fish. It will only live on the shell of the snail, live rock, glass, coral frag plugs, etc etc etc. if the cyst hatches in your display, it will release thousands of free swimming parasites looking for a fish host. I believe the common accepted lifespan of the encysted stage is 76 days until it hatches, and than another 6 days to find a host before it dies. A safe QT period for all objects going into the display is 90 days. I’m sure someone will correct me on the exact timeline. I hope I have explained why ttm will not work.

 

[clm65]

TTM will NOT work on snails. The reason it works on fish is because the encysted stage of the parasite will not live in the fish. It will only live on the shell of the snail, live rock, glass, coral frag plugs, etc etc etc. if the cyst hatches in your display, it will release thousands of free swimming parasites looking for a fish host. I believe the common accepted lifespan of the encysted stage is 76 days until it hatches, and than another 6 days to find a host before it dies. A safe QT period for all objects going into the display is 90 days. I’m sure someone will correct me on the exact timeline. I hope I have explained why ttm will not work.

So in summary, the cysts will stay with the snail while it is transferred back and forth between tanks, making the method useless, correct? Thanks for the education!

 

[Glenng78]

So in summary, the cysts will stay with the snail while it is transferred back and forth between tanks, making the method useless, correct? Thanks for the education!

Yes exactly . The cysts are the ***** of all this. When you transfer your fish - only the free swimmers fall off, and find a place to encyst. Once they encyst, you move the fish to their new tank before the cyst can release the free swimmers looking for a fish. The fish cannot host cysts, but snail shells can. So can basically anything hard.

 

[chicago]

Thanks for all the updates all. I thought this would be the end result.. Yes a mini DT in a 20 gallon tank... that basically is what i have been doing. I feed them nori buy putting it between some rocks every other day.. or I drop in some of my algae from my turf scrubber off the main DT.

I guess the good news is... if we could keep which snails go in when we could add more to the tank during the 75 days so long as we know which ones are which.. so a group of large and then perhaps a group of smaller ones or different snails. batch of turbos and them some astreia. ? This would work because we are waiting on the cyst that might be on the shell to release.. they then look for a host.. but there is none.. however, if doing that we would have to make sure absolutly no water from the QT tank makes its way to the DT.. Hmm..

 

[Lukas75]

What I do when QT-ing my snails is every several days grab the ones I can and set them on top of a sheet of dry seaweed placed on the tank bottom. Their weight holds it down while they devour the nori. You can also add macro algae to their tank provided you have a light. A cheap one from a box store works. And don’t clean the glass. Let the snails do it.

This is a sound plan and I think one of the biggest problems with QTing snails, providing them with enough food.

Coral/invert QT needs to be almost like a mini-DT. Should be cycled with a good bio-filter, live rock, etc.

Any trace of ammonia can cause a chain reaction, snails die sending off more ammonia... etc etc

This is also sound advice and goes a long with providing them food. A stable environment goes a LONG ways towards getting them through and into your tank.

 

[chicago]

Yep... long process. If you told me there was some where that had a huge vat of just snails and QT them for three months.. I would pay a premium.. for them... Vendors like Algae Barn and others should take note.

 

[Lukas75]

Yep... long process. If you told me there was some where that had a huge vat of just snails and QT them for three months.. I would pay a premium.. for them... Vendors like Algae Barn and others should take note.

It's worth noting that algae barn sells captive bred trochus snails. I don't know if I'd trust them not o QT though...

But the bonus of trochus snails is the readily breed in the aquarium.