Snails hibernating, or is something wrong?

[the_chef_pierre]

My tank is only 4 months old now, and I had lost a couple snails previously due to underfeeding, but now I'm seeing something different. I have a large algae bloom, but my two turbo snails appear to have gone into hibernation mode or something. They have attached themselves to the bottoms of a couple of my rock arches and have been staying there for the last 2 weeks or so, not even coming out at night to feed. Is this normal, or is something wrong? My parameters seem to be ok. I do appear to have digitate hydroids kind of springing up all over the place so maybe they are scared of them or something? Any ideas?

 

[AZMSGT]

#reefsqaud anyone know snails?

 

[muzikalmatt]

I know you said your parameters seem to be ok but you didn't provide any specific numbers. Is your magnesium high? High magnesium can cause inverts to act lethargic and if high enough can potentially kill them. Other than that, I'm not sure what would be causing this behavior.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Last I checked mag was ok. I'll check again tonight though. They dont seem to be dead because they're not floating or anything. They're just staying attached upside down to the same spot they've been for weeks. Its strange

 

[ahiggins]

The only snails I’ve ever seen “hibernate” is nerites. They’re active a few days, sleep for a few.

 

[ahiggins]

That being said, if they’re attached and not falling off, they’re fine for now. Not saying they won’t be in a few days-you haven’t posted parameters but as of now if they cling, they’re fine.

 

[New&no clue]

My two turbos did this as well. It was right at the time I was having issues with high phosphates. I'm not sure that was the cause, but if you're also having an increase in algae it could mean you have high nutrients in the water. Once I got my phosphates down they started to move around again. I was sure mine were dead they got into the corner of the tank and didn't move for days.

 

[Streetlamp]

My turbo goes back to the same place nearly every day. Are you sure they're never moving?

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Yup. I check every night and day and they never move. Used to be really active but for 2 weeks now, nothing. Ammonia and nitrite are pretty much at 0. Nitrate was 0, but now it's around 15 thanks to a nutrient booster I added. Might have been battling dino in this new tank as everything was around 0. My phosphates are at around 0.1 and mag was around 1290 ppm last I checked. Ph is around 8.1 and alkalinity is around 4 meq/L. I keep the water temp at around 78 and salinity tends to sit around 1.025.

I have been battling a lot of algae and trying vibrant, to no avail so far. But yeah, the snails have had this behaviour since before I dosed anything. The only snail I have that appears to love around is my astrae. The turbos used to be super turboish but now they do nothing

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Any more ideas?

 

[the_chef_pierre]

Theres a lot of algae but it's not enticing them to come out at all

 

[the_chef_pierre]

So one of my snails has appeared to move a bit closer to where the other one stays in the back of the tank. But overall, the turbos just stay in the same spot all the time. I'm still totally confused why

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So one of my snails has appeared to move a bit closer to where the other one stays in the back of the tank. But overall, the turbos just stay in the same spot all the time. I'm still totally confused why

Crazy and I’ve never really noticed my snails behaving that way. But again I haven’t watched this closely!

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I've been watching them, and still barely any movement compared to when I first got them. Considering it's been like a month, in really puzzled

 

[the_chef_pierre]

I'm still thinking I may have dino, and that maybe they're eating it and that's what's making them behave like that. Just picked up a cheap microscope so if it works I'll hopefully be able to find out if I have dinos or not

 

[the_chef_pierre]

So I managed to clean out a lot of hair algae from my tank last night, and in the process I decided to move one of my turbos that I found out to a rock near the front of my tank. I monitored him for a few hours over night and he didnt appear to move, yet this morning I did find him back at the spot in the back of the tank where hes been staying for over a month. Strange. I also noticed this weird pinkish spot in his shell area. Any idea what's happening? I dont know how snails reproduce, but for sure they are still behaving weird. And I seem to have only been able to find one of my two turbos

 

[HuduVudu]

The spot is a serpulid worm. You mentioned a lot of algae in your tank. My guess is that they are full.

My snails do this also. I am very careful to pyramid my herbivores and when I need a new Apex herbivore I go to the store and get them. When I first put them in the tank they go bananas, and then after a while they slow down and I don't see really much movement from them. Clearly the reason being that they were "starving" in the dealer tank and when they get their fill in my tank they slow down to a more manageable (for them) schedule.

 

[the_chef_pierre]

The spot is a serpulid worm. You mentioned a lot of algae in your tank. My guess is that they are full.

My snails do this also. I am very careful to pyramid my herbivores and when I need a new Apex herbivore I go to the store and get them. When I first put them in the tank they go bananas, and then after a while they slow down and I don't see really much movement from them. Clearly the reason being that they were "starving" in the dealer tank and when they get their fill in my tank they slow down to a more manageable (for them) schedule.

Awesome. Good to know i'm not the only one experiencing this. I did just clean out a ton of the hair algae but think maybe I should get more snails. So far I only have the 2 turbos, 1 astrea and 1 cerith (that may be missing). My tank is the nuvo 30l, with 20 gallon space in the display tank and 10 in the rear sump area. How many more snails would you recommend I get to help with all the algae and to level things off so theyre not all filling up too quickly?

 

[HuduVudu]

You need to get your nutrient input down first. Figure out where the input is coming from and get that under control then use water changes to dilute what is in the tank. If you have had algae for sometime then your rocks are going to leach nutrients back into the water. This will take some time to calm down.

My philosophy on herbivores is that they are living creatures too and therefor not expendable. I do as much to keep my snails and urchins alive as I do my coral and fish. That said I use a pyramid type approach to provide maximum adaptability. At the lowest level I have the little chinaman's hats. These are for me the same as the half shells. They form the base of the pyramid and their populations expand and contract based on food. At the second level I use most of the types of snails that you see in the stores ... Astria, turbo etc. I try to not add to many of these. In my 20 I have 2 astrias and 2 nerite. These populations don't expand or contract much. I add mostly based on their consumption AFTER they have settled in, because as I mentioned before when you get them from the store they are more than likely starving. At the top of the pyramid I have a conch and 2 decorator urchins. These don't change at all and you MUST be very careful adding them in because they are larger consumers and when the food dwindles they die.

I don't run a starkly clean environment. Algae happens and is a natural part of the biome that you are trying to create. Algaes also provide a lot of plankton material and for me this is essential because I have filter feeders that depend on this. As with all things salt water balance is the key.

Hope this helps you out