Disappearing snails

[george]

I have a situation where my snail population historically dwindles rather quickly (it would seem to me), but my crabs persist.

Other than my 1/2 dozen or so blue legs killing snails, would something like a mantis be killing only snails? Or is the fact that every 3-6 months I have no snails left normal? Hand-in-hand with this problem is that no Mexican turbo snail has EVER lasted more than 2-3 weeks in my tank. Persistent disease? Anyone know of something like this?

It's a mystery that I'd like to try to solve before I buy a bunch of new snails. Nothing else in the tank dies like this. Crabs are fine. Fish are fine. Corals fine(other than the out of control algae because of low clean up crew). Clams fine.

I'm at a bit of a loss on this and it's been like this for over a year, it seems.

 

[flyingarmy]

Have you taken a look at the shells left by dead snails? If they are cracked/shattered or broken it could be a mantis. It seems that most die from the lack of a food source. Check WetWebMedia they might have an answer! Mine go through stages and I have to re-stock every few months.

 

[george]

No cracked shells. I'm literally overrun with hair algae right now and can't believe that Mexican Turbos can't find food in my tank.

Either way, I'm doing a full tear-down this week-end to attack the hair algae at source and rearrange the rock to eliminate any dead spots, so we'll see how many snails I find.

 

[game411]

I had a similar problem in my previous tank, for some reason ALL my 3 snails dies, but everything did very well, my Xenia was blooming, now I have moved them into my 55 Gal, and my new Turbo snails are doing fine but my Xenia is not doing as great....................Do you think this was a Nitrite problem? I know Xenia if I am not wrong feed off Nitrites, and maybe high levels kill snails, that's the only explanation I can come up with.

 

[game411]

Well, I know you probably have checked this, but what are you Nitrite levels....................

 

[dannybradley]

A lot of snails are not tolerant of warmer tanks. Black foot turbo can start dropping off as low as 80 degrees. Could it be that heat is the problem?

 

[blind1993]

Game411;89352 wrote: I had a similar problem in my previous tank, for some reason ALL my 3 snails dies, but everything did very well, my Xenia was blooming, now I have moved them into my 55 Gal, and my new Turbo snails are doing fine but my Xenia is not doing as great....................Do you think this was a Nitrite problem? I know Xenia if I am not wrong feed off Nitrites, and maybe high levels kill snails, that's the only explanation I can come up with.

you left the 180.

i have the same problem but i know the cause it is my hermits and i only havd 2 left. all i do now is just let it be and clean it myself it lets me spend more time with the tank.

 

[jaandgc]

do you have a six line wrasse or maybe another type of wrwsse. If not do you have any hawkfish?

 

[gmanjeep]

What kinds of fish do you have in your tank?One of them might be the culprit.I have a copper band Butterfly who loves snails!

 

[washowi]

Its a heat problem I bet ya....

 

[george]

The tank (thank you Solaris) is at a 77-79 degree temp. Nitrates are near zero. I'm talking Astrae snails dying too.

Are snails more susceptible to nitrates than shrimp (cbs and peppermint) and other invertebrates? I didn't think they were so sensitive.

 

[FutureInterest]

Well 77-79 is a good temperature range. I keep my tank from 78-80 and I keep all manner of snails, some for a year or more.

You may want to look into whether you have dinoflagellates in some form in your tank. The most common color of dinos is snot brown, but they can be green and apparently even red. Snails that ingest the stuff die slow deaths it seems.

Another possibility is that your snails are just starving. The massive hair algae you have might be a form of unpalatable hair algae like bryopsis for example.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Are we overlooking the obvious? How much algae do you have in your tank? The crabs are omnivorous, so they will sustain themselves on fish food, etc. However, the snails mentioned need to graze. Could they just be starving?

 

[FutureInterest]

George mentioned that he's having a hair algae problem. So there should be plenty for the snails to eat. I did suggest they could be starving if its one of the more serious hair algae strains that snails cannot eat.

A close up pic of the algae would do wonders in identifying it for certain.

 

[tsciarini]

Are you finding the shells near any particular area? Start looking for large bristle worms as well... While I was up at Tom Wyatt's place re-working his tank we found a bristle worm about a foot and a half and 20+ dead snails within 10inches of the rock he lived in.
Just another idea to throw out there....

(btw, if you dont already know... looking at your tank at night with a RED light is the best way to see things without scaring them away.)

 

[jmaneyapanda]

FutureInterest;89887 wrote: George mentioned that he's having a hair algae problem. So there should be plenty for the snails to eat. I did suggest they could be starving if its one of the more serious hair algae strains that snails cannot eat.

A close up pic of the algae would do wonders in identifying it for certain.

Oh yeah. I guess that line about "out of control algae" wouldve cleared that up for me. I'm dumb (and apparently cant read).

 

[game411]

Hey George, I think it is the Temperature then, I had turned up the heat because of an Ich problem and that's when they died, but I have 3 alive right now and they seem to be doing fine..................

Blind: it was a 125 Gal, and no I didn't leave it alone, it's the tank I have and still am trying to set up at the moment, Owner wants her tank set up by end of the month.............

 

[blind1993]

if you lived closer game411 i could have helped you. if she wants more corals just come to petland alphretta and they have some for 10 dollars. and maybe we can meet up there.

 

[george]

It's definitely not a temp problem. The tank hit a 2 month high of 80.5 degrees yesterday. Lowest has been 77.3. There doesn't seem to be a particular graveyard for the snails either. No conchs and odds are my mated coral banded shrimps would make short order of any bristle worm since they pounce on the ones I drop in from the refugium.

I think my population of blue legs may be at fault. The only other possibility is that there's some disease or substance in the water that's getting them.

Are snails particularly susceptible to something (i.e. nitrates, phosphates, etc) that wouldn't kill Peppermint Shrimp, Coral Banded Shrimp, red legs, blue legs, fish, and/or corals?

The tear down got put off until this week-end, but it's on so I'll find any worms, I hope.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

you know, there is also a branch of pyram. snails that feed on snails (rather than clams). Do you see any small pyram snail on the live snails?