Snails die almost as soon as I add them

salty joe · Jul 27, 2018

I drip acclimated a couple snails for four hours. They didn't look good and were dead the next day. They were probably dead when I put them in the tank. I'm using IO Reef Crystals.

I figured something in my tank aint cool so I was going to acclimate a snail into a bucket of new RO/DI water (0 TDS) using IO Reef Crystals and introduce things from my tank one by one to find the problem. The salinity the snails came in was 34ppt, so I adjusted the new water to 34ppt and acclimated for four hours. The snail died that night, which was a surprise as well as a relief-maybe my tank is not the tank of death after all.

I didn't check pH or alk of snails water, could that be the problem?

tdileo · Jul 27, 2018

First thing that comes to my mind is copper. I would test it.

salty joe · Jul 27, 2018

I just checked the bucket water for copper and there is none detected.

The first dead snail problem happened awhile ago so I had ATI check out my water. https://lab.atiaquaristik.com/view/12669
The only thing that looked really bad to me was lithium. I think I introduced it with my MagFlake and various brands of Epsom salt. So I drained and refilled the tank and waited a month or so and promptly killed another snail. Last night I killed the snail in the bucket, like I said in the first post.

I had a little reef 17 years ago and never had this kind of trouble. There are all kinds of things in the tank that maybe could be a problem, like Portland cement products, but the bucket I used is my fish bucket. I'm at a loss.

Neo Jeo · Jul 28, 2018

I think 4 hours is to long. I would do 30min and clump the snails in a ball then place in the corner of the tank.

Brian Treadwell · Jul 28, 2018

Check your magnesium

Billldg · Jul 28, 2018

I have read that you do not need to acclimate snails. I may be wrong and may have been mislead. Either way I have found that some make it and some don't. This may sound bad but they do die in nature and are a part of the natural balance of an ecosystem. So don't dwell on the loss as it happens. Good Luck.

Bill_Moorman · Jul 28, 2018

I added two astrea snails and two trochus about a month ago. One of the astrea died over night. Everything else is okay.

It happens.

salty joe · Jul 28, 2018

Thanks for the replies. I'm bummed out because I'm finally ready to start adding things to my tank and can't even keep a snail.

I'll try another in a bucket but this time I'll compare not only salinity but also mag, alk, Ca. and pH. I'll also get the snail from a different store and use a shorter acclimation.

salty joe · Jul 28, 2018

The mag in the bucket is 1230 and the pH 8.06 but the alk is in the 16dKH range!!! This is a new bucket of water, I didn't check last night's bucket water but a change in alk that drastic could maybe kill a snail. The only thing I can figure is, it was a small part of a Reef Crystals 50 gallon bag of salt and the components were not evenly distributed. I can't imagine IO putting out salt at 16 dKH.
My display tank (also Reef Crystal salt) is mag 1230, pH 8.06, Ca 410 and alk 6dKH. I added enough baking soda to bring up alk to about 7dKH.
I think I'll try a snail in display. Fingers crossed.

EW_Fish · Jul 28, 2018

salty joe said:
The mag in the bucket is 1230 and the pH 8.06 but the alk is in the 16dKH range!!! This is a new bucket of water, I didn't check last night's bucket water but a change in alk that drastic could maybe kill a snail. The only thing I can figure is, it was a small part of a Reef Crystals 50 gallon bag of salt and the components were not evenly distributed. I can't imagine IO putting out salt at 16 dKH.
My display tank (also Reef Crystal salt) is mag 1230, pH 8.06, Ca 410 and alk 6dKH. I added enough baking soda to bring up alk to about 7dKH.
I think I'll try a snail in display. Fingers crossed.

Thats weird that it was 16DKH. Did you retest that bucket?

salty joe · Jul 28, 2018

I did. It really was that high.

Jeremy Luke · Jul 28, 2018

16 dkh is definitely high but I seriously doubt that it's killing snails

EW_Fish · Jul 28, 2018

So are you dumping them into the new bucket of salt water then drip acclimating from the tank>?

falconut · Jul 28, 2018

If you're getting them from a local store, I'd just do a 30 minute to 1 hour drip. That's all I do, then take them out 1 at a time and hold them against the glass until they grab on. And yes, some do die quickly.

salty joe · Jul 28, 2018

EW_Fish said:
So are you dumping them into the new bucket of salt water then drip acclimating from the tank>?

No, I floated snail in bucket and acclimated to bucket water. I can't get to store until tomorrow, then I'll see if can acclimate a snail to the display tank.

lapin · Jul 28, 2018

I have about a 50% success rate with snails. No matter how I acclimate them. Now I just squirt a little tank water in the bag every 5 min, while its floating, for 30 min. Drain water, then dump them in on the sand.

andrewkw · Jul 28, 2018

One thing not mentioned is check for stray current. It's possible though it's just the long acclimation killing them if they are in a bag of ammonia. A lot of times you will see snails shipped without water so a long drip in that case is impossible.

Scurvy · Jul 28, 2018

The first snails I ever ordered were from reefcleaners and they say to float only so thats all Ive ever done on snails/crabs. Very little loss from following this recommendation regardless of where Ive ordered.

https://www.reefcleaners.org/acclimation

dwest · Jul 28, 2018

salty joe said:
I drip acclimated a couple snails for four hours. They didn't look good and were dead the next day. They were probably dead when I put them in the tank. I'm using IO Reef Crystals.

I figured something in my tank aint cool so I was going to acclimate a snail into a bucket of new RO/DI water (0 TDS) using IO Reef Crystals and introduce things from my tank one by one to find the problem. The salinity the snails came in was 34ppt, so I adjusted the new water to 34ppt and acclimated for four hours. The snail died that night, which was a surprise as well as a relief-maybe my tank is not the tank of death after all.

I didn't check pH or alk of snails water, could that be the problem?

Been a reefer for a long time. I find that snails are one of the more difficult animals to acclimate . I found that faster acclimation is better for me. I’d do it in 15-30 minutes depending on difference in temperature and salinity.