# Disappearing snail trick???



## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Ok so I finally started to add a cleanup Crew. 9 black turbo snails. They first started out great for a few days, eating algae galore. I also added 1 Mexican turbo to spice things up! 

Most my black turbos started grouping together near my heater and not moving. After a week and a half they are all dead and I can't find the Mexican turbo anymore.. 

All my paremeters seem on point. My temp is 80.5. Im wondering if it's a temp thing since they all huddled near the heater. Please help I wanna get more snails but find it pointless at this point...


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

What is your salinity, and is there anything for them to eat?


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Chris S said:


> What is your salinity, and is there anything for them to eat?


Well my salinity is 1.024, temp is 80.5 and there is lots of algae on the glass and live rock. I forgot to mention I have also 2 emerald crabs and about 8 Scarlett hermit crabs so I am wondering if they got ambushed and eaten? Don't see how they could get attacked since they were on the glass though...


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

Very unlikely that the crabs killed them all. I have over 15 different crabs and hermits, and never have they eaten anything that wasn't dead or dying already.

Snails are much more vulnerable to ammonia spikes than crustaceans; maybe that might be an issue if your tank is new???


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## kies1 (Oct 8, 2009)

Had a hard time keeping Mexican Turbo's as well. What i eventually did was lower my tank temp to about 76.5 and so far this has worked. The higher temps from what i have heard are not good for the Mexican turbo's. Lower the tank temp gradually. i did this on a recommendation from a fellow reefer who was having the same problem. Worked like a charm.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Agreed, and in general I would suggest keeping the tank a little cooler.


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

I will try the cooler temp and see what happens, thanks all


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## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

What is your acclimation like?

Weird that they all grouped near the heater.... Must be female snails?


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Drip method untill water atleast doubled. then place them in tank.


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Is one species of snail more hardy than others?


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## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

Not sure, ive stuck with Astrea snails and havent lost any of them....


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## BettaBeats (Jan 14, 2010)

I read that black turbos are also called margarita snails which are cold-water species. They tend to die when the temperature is too high. I keep my tank at 76F and I haven't had a problem with them dying prematurely.

I could be mixing these guys up, but Big Al's does mis-label from time to time.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Margarita snails and true turbo sp. are different, but the margarita's are typically cooler water.


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Ok so the temp is now 76.5. 

I ended up taking a water sample over to NAFB to confirm that my testing materials were up to par and found out that my salinity tester was off. I was keeping tank around 1.024 and after testing at NAFB same water came out as 1.028! WTF

So now I'm gonna try to reduce my salinity before I buy more snails... Very frustrTing when I was putting faith in this piece if plastic and it Was what was probably killing all my little guys...


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## Kweli (Jun 2, 2010)

I would advise getting a refractometer..
you can get one used for 30-40 bucks, or a new one from 50-60 bucks...

Well worth the precision you get with it


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## herefishyfishy (Jan 24, 2011)

Ok so my levels are all good. Salinity is 2.014 and confirmed this time... Temp is about 76.5..... Bought 15 total snails. Astea, nassarius and black turbos. 5 of each. Been about a week and a half and lost last one last night. Worst part is there shells are never really visible in my tank...

Is it possible I have something eating them now??? All I have in there is a flame angel, watchman goby and a recently added CB shrimp. I had 3 pepp shrimp and can't seem to find one of them. 2 emerald crabs. 1 small that I have not seen in a long time either... 

Since adding cuc to my tank I have lost hermit crabs, all sorts of snails and some small emerald crabs and my original pepp shrimps... I'm very confused. And I noticed the other night a noise from the tank. Sounded like a click maybe. If you were to bang 2 rocks together kinda noise. 

Any thoughts???


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## JulieFish (Apr 8, 2011)

How often do you check your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate? I would make sure that they are always consistently low, also any dead snails or other animals rotting in the tank are going to make that problem considerably worse. Then I would make sure that ammonia and nitrite are at 0, and that nitrate is well below 20, and that your temp is 76-77 and that your salinity is 1.025... then make sure that there are no dead animals in there at all... then maybe try to add just a few snails... like maybe 3 trochus snails and 3 cerith snails...

the click you are hearing could be a stomatopod, they can come in as hitchhikers... I'd be surprised if a mantis shrimp would be eating ALL of your guys though. There are threads about how to catch them.

Good luck


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