New snails dying, where did I go wrong?

[Garf]

Sorry I neglected your first question. Salinity is 35ppm, measured with a refractometer that I recalibrated today before I tested. I tested magnesium too, it’s ~1300. I use Tropic Marin reef pro salt. Did the first water change 3 days before adding the snails.

Perhaps they’ve just had the will to live beaten out of them during transit. I would buy snails locally, if you can, then give them a long acclimation.

 

[Tcook]

Ron Shimek taught me how to acclimate snails 10+ years ago and it has worked well for me. Float the bag to adjust temp. Remove the snails and place in an empty bowl. Let them close up and express the transport water. Set up a small ramp of plexiglass along the glass at the top of the tank (or sump) going from air to submerged. Place the snails at the edge of the water on the ramp and let them slowly crawl in. They self acclimate.

 

[hannernanner]

Ron Shimek taught me how to acclimate snails 10+ years ago and it has worked well for me. Float the bag to adjust temp. Remove the snails and place in an empty bowl. Let them close up and express the transport water. Set up a small ramp of plexiglass along the glass at the top of the tank (or sump) going from air to submerged. Place the snails at the edge of the water on the ramp and let them slowly crawl in. They self acclimate.

Good tip! I’ll definitely do that next time

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

My water comes from a well, so chloramines are unlikely, at least from what I’ve read. The heater pack in the box was still warm when it arrived, so I don’t think they got too cold, but it’s possible.

Well water can be contaminated with any number of things that can harm inverts. I work as an environmental engineer for my states government and we have cases of groundwater contamination from old landfills ranging from nuclear waste to TCE plumes leaking into groundwater. Could be anything really.

 

[hannernanner]

Well water can be contaminated with any number of things that can harm inverts. I work as an environmental engineer for my states government and we have cases of groundwater contamination from old landfills ranging from nuclear waste to TCE plumes leaking into groundwater. Could be anything really.

Stuff that even the RODI wouldn’t take out?

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Stuff that even the RODI wouldn’t take out?

I honestly don’t know. I’m in the landfill section but I can ask my buddies in groundwater and get back to you. I personally don’t use any water from any water service I just buy distilled water.

 

[hannernanner]

I honestly don’t know. I’m in the landfill section but I can ask my buddies in groundwater and get back to you. I personally don’t use any water from any water service I just buy distilled water.

Fair enough

 

[Lizbeli]

we have cases of groundwater contamination from old landfills ranging from nuclear waste to TCE plumes leaking into groundwater.

Good point here too. Off topic- but my father and several neighbors in the same age group have stage 4 bladder cancer. There was an old factory years ago that dumped chemicals into a field. All soaked up and got into the well. Thats what we suspect anyways.

I always assumed my freshwater snails died in my well water because of the copper when I was a kid. But for all I know it could have been industrial waste.

Far out for what may be a simple answer for snails dying in a reef tank. But I personally am not sold on the poor acclimation theory.

 

[pseudorand]

1+ for copper as a possibility, but realized that home test kits can't detect copper at very low levels that are still toxic to some inverts. I learned the hard way that the Hanna LR Cu test isn't for salt (this is directly for Hanna tech support).

I had astrea snails die over the course of a week in a tank that I had used copper in, but cleaned as well as I could. Corals did fine in that tank.ni suspect copper residue, I have no way to be sure.