Snails dying suddenly??

[maleks.reef]

Over the course of the last 3 months, Ive lost 2-3 bumblebee snails and 2 trochus snails. When the first snail (trochus) died, i assume it was because of old age, but now im starting to think it is something else. Both types of snails have been in the tank for about 6 months, with no hermits or fish that could go after them.

Any explanation please?

 

[maleks.reef]

PS: 3 days ago i saw one of the trochus snails literally drop dead. It just dropped from the back wall onto the sand and never moved.

 

[blaxsun]

What are your water parameters?

 

[maleks.reef]

What are your water parameters?

Everything is in check as of last week.

 

[maleks.reef]

Sal 1.025, alk 7.9, PO4 0, NO3 0 and temp is 25-26. I am also having trouble keeping LPS for some reason. I wonder if there is a connection?

 

[blaxsun]

Sal 1.025, alk 7.9, PO4 0, NO3 0 and temp is 25-26. I am also having trouble keeping LPS for some reason. I wonder if there is a connection?

Possibly. Are you feeding the snails anything?

 

[maleks.reef]

Possibly. Are you feeding the snails anything?

No but i there is plenty of algae in the tank plus i feed reef roids occasionally and they steal it from the corals.

 

[blaxsun]

You could try a bit of seaweed wrapped to a small rock. If they’re malnourished they’ll instantly flock to it.

 

[maleks.reef]

You could try a bit of seaweed wrapped to a small rock. If they’re malnourished they’ll instantly flock to it.

I actually going through a bad wave of algae rn; sea lettuce, hair algae and film algae. So i doubt they were malnourished, plus bumblebee snails eat detritus and small worms, so their death wouldn't make sense if it was due to starvation.

 

[Harold999]

I actually going through a bad wave of algae rn; sea lettuce, hair algae and film algae. So i doubt they were malnourished, plus bumblebee snails eat detritus and small worms, so their death wouldn't make sense if it was due to starvation.

Your nutrients are bottomed out (no3/po4 0), are you sure those algae aren't dino's?
If your snails have noting else to eat they might eat dino's (ostreopsis are poisonous to them) and die.

 

[MaxTremors]

Do you have real live rock? If so, you could have an orange/mollusk eating bristle worm. They’re usually quite large, over a foot, you might never see it, I would look at your tank at night with a flashlight and see if you see any large bristle worms.

 

[MikeTheNewbie]

Do you have any if those bricks that are used to host nitrifying bacteria?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

you have bad algae problem, LPS not doing well, and snails dying, these first clues sounds a little like tank neglect. Snails and inverts, like corals, are sensative to changes in water chemistry.

i would start with regular water changes and working fixing the algae problem. Algae problems can deteriorate oxygen levels in the water

 

[maleks.reef]

Do you have real live rock? If so, you could have an orange/mollusk eating bristle worm. They’re usually quite large, over a foot, you might never see it, I would look at your tank at night with a flashlight and see if you see any large bristle worms.

Nope started with dry rock. That being said I have found very small bristle worms before, 3 to be exact. All have been removed. Also, i always look at my tank at night, never saw a mollusk eating bristle worm.

 

[maleks.reef]

Do you have any if those bricks that are used to host nitrifying bacteria?

Yes but not a brick. I got a small of bag Seachem rocks from a reefer with a 2 yr old tank. That bag has been in the back sump ever since i got it. (the rocks are very small, almost pebble like)

 

[maleks.reef]

you have bad algae problem, LPS not doing well, and snails dying, these first clues sounds a little like tank neglect. Snails and inverts, like corals, are sensative to changes in water chemistry.

i would start with regular water changes and working fixing the algae problem. Algae problems can deteriorate oxygen levels in the water

Neglect how? The only neglect id say is the lack of WCs in the tank due to problems with getting rodi water. However, i have bought an rodi unit last week so I should be doing regular WCs now. The last WC was about 4 5 months ago but I doubt that would kill snails, maybe lps, but not snails, right?

 

[homer1475]

Is this a brand new tank, and brand new dry rock and sand?

 

[maleks.reef]

Your nutrients are bottomed out (no3/po4 0), are you sure those algae aren't dino's?
If your snails have noting else to eat they might eat dino's (ostreopsis are poisonous to them) and die.

Interesting, never knew dinos are poisonous to snails. Also here is a vid of the algae im getting, hope you can confirm its not dinos.

 

[maleks.reef]

Is this a brand new tank, and brand new dry rock and sand?

It's almost at the 10 month mark now, but yes I started with dead rock and dead sand. However, i did use Dr tims nitrifying bacteria to cycle it and I did add that bag of 2 year old media from a local reefer.

 

[homer1475]

I was wondering if a new tank, just because sometimes used tanks, may have had copper in them. That would explain your mysterious invert deaths, but obviously if it's a new tank with dry rock and sand, thats not an issue.