Turbo Snails slowing and dying.

Benga · Feb 20, 2018

I found a turbo snail on the sandbed that hadn't been moving much at all for a few days, maybe a few inches a day and so I decided to take it out and put it in the refugium and a few days later i noticed it hadn't moved at all and was dead (horrid smell when i took it out).

I'm noticing two other turbo snails slowing down in a similar fashion and now i'm worrying all my snails are slowly going to die this month. The two slow ones now look like they have their foot out or half out at least.

It's a 40B with:
~Royal Gramma
~Bengaii Cardinal
~Lawnmower Blenny
~5 Turbo Snails
~2 Astrea snails

I do weekly water changes of 10% doing one today.
I just did a parameter test and took out the dead snail yesterday:
~Phosphate: 0.25-0.5ppm
~Nitrate: 0ppm
~Nitrite: 0ppm
~Ammonia: 0.25ppm
~dKH: 9
~pH: 8.2

Jeepguy242 · Feb 20, 2018

They might be starving.

Throw in some algae wafers

Jeepguy242 · Feb 20, 2018

I say that because your tank looks very clean

Reef Stu · Feb 20, 2018

Snails don’t like Ammonia. Why do you have any?

Reef Stu · Feb 20, 2018

I agree with above too

Benga · Feb 20, 2018

Jeepguy242 said:
They might be starving.

Throw in some algae wafers

Algae wafers nice I was looking into them too for the blenny.

Reef Stu said:
Snails don’t like Ammonia. Why do you have any?

I think the ammonia might be from the dead snail that i just pulled out, I did the test the day after i pulled it out. It may have been decaying in there for a day or two before I got to it.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 20, 2018

Agreed with both above. Hungry snails and check your tests.

Benga · Feb 20, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
Agreed with both above. Hungry snails and check your tests.

Do you know if it's normal for turbo snails to occasionally fall off the glass? At least once a day i have to flip a snail over.

EmdeReef · Feb 20, 2018

How old is your tank and what ammonia test kit do you use? Your tank looks very clean/new. In a cycled tank, you wouldn't expect an ammonia spike and no nitrates after a dead snail you removed. They do fall off if they're sick/starving or poisoned, sometimes they don't tolerate high nitrates either.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 20, 2018

Benga said:
Do you know if it's normal for turbo snails to occasionally fall off the glass? At least once a day i have to flip a snail over.

No. I’ve never had a healthy turbo not right itself.

I do disagree with the high nitrates and snails. Or I’d never have snails. Lol.

Benga · Feb 20, 2018

EmdeReef said:
How old is your tank and what ammonia test kit do you use? Your tank looks very clean/new. In a cycled tank, you wouldn't expect an ammonia spike and no nitrates after a dead snail you removed. They do fall off if they're sick/starving or poisoned, sometimes they don't tolerate high nitrates either.

Only about 3-4 Months old. I use the API test kit. I see I thought death would spike ammonia up, could it be that it's too soon for nitrates to go up. I thought it takes a few days to a week for ammonia to convert over into nitrates?

netdawg · Feb 20, 2018

Benga said:
Do you know if it's normal for turbo snails to occasionally fall off the glass? At least once a day i have to flip a snail over.

mine did this when my algae was minimal as well. they're most likely lacking nutrition.

saltyfilmfolks · Feb 20, 2018

Sometimes api will give an error.
It’s almost always .25 error.

Prime and a couple other things may do that.

EmdeReef · Feb 20, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
No. I’ve never had a healthy turbo not right itself.

I do disagree with the high nitrates and snails. Or I’d never have snails. Lol.

Haha, yeah it's hard to believe in my tank as well but some studies indicate high nitrates impact their reproductive system as well as movement.

Mikedawg · Feb 20, 2018

Benga said:
Do you know if it's normal for turbo snails to occasionally fall off the glass? At least once a day i have to flip a snail over.

It is and, unfortunately, some seem to have real difficulty righting themselves - they have a top heavy shell and may soon become crab bait.

Benga · Feb 21, 2018

Just did my weekly water change
Move most snails to the refugium where there is plenty of food. I'll let the DT build up a little with less snails then move some back up.
Picked up Algae wafers for supplementary feeding

Hopefully these changed make a difference.

rockskimmerflow · Feb 21, 2018

Could be a more potent factor in your case, but I generally will not stock reef's with turbos and expect them to last long term. They are a quick clean up snail in an emergency if I cannot get banded trochus. If they are mexican turbos they need temperate water to live a full life. at 73 F or lower I find they can last seemingly indefinitely, but above 74 or 75 F they really don't make it more than 3 or 4 months IME. Also, your tank does look quite devoid of any turf or surface algae so if they are not being supplemented with greens then that will certainly spell the end for them. Even with food being added I still would not expect a common mexican turbo snail to make it more than 6 months if you're running the tank at a normal 76-77 F. Definitely there are some exceptional specimens that will tolerate the warmer temps for longer, but they seem to be rather uncommon at least where I am.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 21, 2018

snails do best in water with a low nitrite/nitrate source and I agree on clean. they are grazers and have nothing to graze on as seen in photo.
Some seaweed and even romaine lettuce would give them a supplement to feed on. I keep mine in 78 deg temp and they have had eggs & babies and last generally a year + for me,