Snails and hermits are lethargic

[phillygeeks]

I've noticed over the past few months my snails and hermits have been lethargic and tend to have a shorted life span. The trochus snails seem to be the most resilient. However, they tend to stay in one place and move infrequently rather than the constant roaming I have seen in the past. I even replenished some this past weekend and they all seem to be lethargic. The fish are acting fine.

My thoughts at the moment are to check for stray voltage and Dino's. Any other thoughts on causes?

Also, if anyone is in the Philly area and has a digital multimeter they would be willing to lend out, it would be appreciated.

Temp 78.5
Sg 1.024
alk 8.1
Ca 435
Mg 1300
Nitrate 0.5
Phos 0.02
I 0.06
Weekly 10% WC
RO/DI TDS 1 (this is new and am buying replacement cartridges) problem existed the past several months with 0 TDS also

 

[Potatohead]

Double check your magnesium level with another kit. Anything much more than about 1550 or so and inverts will start to get lethargic.

 

[mckinney0171]

yeah i was gonna ask what brand Mg test kit you are using. I have found Salifert to be the most repeatable.

 

[phillygeeks]

I have the Red Sea Pro test for Mg. I have been curious and was thinking of getting a Triton ICP test. This gives me a more solid reason to do it.

 

[mckinney0171]

Yeah Red Sea Mg Pro test was what I was going to warn you about. I can test with that kit three times and get three drastically different results. I stopped using it for that very reason. I have seen several reviews mention similar types of results. Their other tests are great. It's just the Mg one that has repeat ability and accuracy issues.

 

[phillygeeks]

Thanks. I will definitely look into it. It's been fairly consistent in terms of level, but that would definitely be an easy fix.

 

[phillygeeks]

The new hermit crabs are actually more active and I realize I actually don't know a typical life expectancy for scarlet hermit crabs in captivity. Maybe the prior had reached an expected demise after a little over a year? However, the new snails are still acting lethargic like the prior replenishments.

Triton water sample was taken today and will be sent out. Current Mg is 1360 per Red Sea Mg Pro

 

[phillygeeks]

Triton test returned with a Mg of 1462. Off about 100 points from the Red Sea Mg Pro test I did when I sent it out, but not too high. I did have high levels of Fe and Zn and low Iodine. I do test Iodine with Red Sea and it is typically 0.6 or between 0.3 and 0.6 on the color chart, so this was an interesting result. K and Sr were also modestly low but not absent like Iodine. However, I don't think much of this has an affect on the snail behavior.

 

[Tim Olson]

Did you have any luck finding out what was making your Hermit Crabs lethargic? I've been having the same problem and haven't been able to find a solution. Currently, I'm thinking it might be low Iodine (Iodide) levels, but I've been dosing it for the last 5 days and have had variable results, in terms of Hermit Crab activity.

Thanks for any help

 

[phillygeeks]

Things are slightly better but definitely not the activity I remember. I've decided I'm not going to do anything drastic and just keep things stable and see how it goes. I'm not sure how much iodine affects them. Only changes are I switched to ESV B-ionic from BRS and occasionally dose some of the iodine containing Redsea coral colors that contains iodine, as my Triton test revealed low iodine. I plan to send another test next month or so.

 

[Tim Olson]

Thank you! That very helpful.

On my side the snails and Hermit Crabs seem to be doing much better, but not what I consider normal yet, and the only thing I changed was dosing Seachem Iodide.

I will getting my ATI test in a couple days, since the Triton test seems to be sold out for now. It will be interesting to see how close my Iodide tests are to ATI's. If my tests were correct the Iodide was virtually nonexistent when I started and they've gradually risen with dosing to >0.01. Now I'm trimming back the dosing to get to the recommended 0.06-0.08 ppm Iodide. Then I'll do ATI's test to compare.

BTW, I'm thinking the Iodide got low to begin with due to my refugium starting to work well about 3-4 weeks ago. Evidently the macro algae consumes Iodide. That's about the same time I noticed the Hermit Crabs hiding in their shells and many of my snails not moving or dead.

I'm also thinking about switching from BRS 2-part to B-ionic or something else, but I'm going to wait until I receive the ATI results.

All the best