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fridmani1

Trouble with Snails - Could these Hitchhikers be the problem?

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by
fridmani1
, 09-12-2012 at 01:43 AM (5555 Views)
I posted before that I've been having trouble with many of my snails dying. Not sure of the cause I've tried many things and received many suggestions.

I took out about 70% of my live rock and have been cooking it for several months. I wanted to see if there was something on the live rock that was killing the snails. I'm happy to report that after a number of weeks in the cooking barrel all the snails are fine. So wanting to do a little control test I took one turbo snail and put it in the main tank.

After a couple of days it slowed down and I found it in the same place over night. Then I found it on its side on the sand bed. Obviously there is still something very wrong in the tank as far as snails go. I was hoping the cleaning up the cyano might have helped but that doesn't seem to be the issue.

I picked it up and it attached to the glass. I looked closely at the snail and saw something strange. Small snails on the turbo. I'm wondering if these guys could be killing my snails?

Has anyone seen something like this before?

Click image for larger version Name: Turbo with Hitchhikers.jpg Views: 985 Size: 21.6 KB ID: 7579

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Categories
‎ Tank Entry , ‎ Questions - Need some input

Comments

  1. cyano's Avatar
    look like baby Cerith Snails to me, i have seen those in my tank and have never had a problem with them
  2. blakew's Avatar
    Yeah agreed, look like baby ceriths to me also...never known them to be a problem.

    Things that are reported to be a problem with turbo snails are:
    (1) changes in salinity, (2) low calcium, (3) changes in magnesium levels, (4) I believe I remember reading most Turbo Snails are from the Gulf of Mexico and actually do better with tank temps around 76° which is cooler than most run their tanks (but that wouldn't account for the other snail deaths you've been having)

    I believe you said your magnesium was high in another post, have you verified the high level?

    At this point I'm inclined to say something nasty may be leaking out of the plentum/DSB. Odd though that the shrimp are fine but the snails are dying. If the snail did fine in the bucket where your cooking rock, but began dying in the tank, I think unfortunately, it's time to set up a hospital/temporary tank(s), move everything to the temp tank(s) and start over with the main tank...maybe think about going without the plenum and DSB this go around.?

    Blakew
  3. cyano's Avatar
    the snails that have been dying haven't been just old snails have they? also in my tank I can only seem to have so many turbos alive at a time it's almost like they out compete for food. the ceriths typically burrow underground so it seems to me that A. baby snails should = a good sign since babies are less hardy than adult versions and B. if it is something in the DSB the ceriths should be affected first I would think since they typically stay under the sand or near the sandbed during the day.

    as blake said a high magnesium level is not good for snails and in my experience when I raised the magnesium levels to fight bryopsis it seemed the turbo snails got hit the hardest. they couldn't stay upright, became lethargic, and would die from apparent weakness and subsequent starvation, they did not have the strength to stay "stuck" to glass or rocks
  4. FlammySnake's Avatar
    I haven't been around in a while, so this is the perfect time to make a comeback, as reef creature identification is my thing!
    Those are what's killing your snails. Similar to the small snails that kill clams! Plenty of mollusk killing snails exist so myself narrowing it down to a species(or even a genus) in a few minutes isn't going to happen. I'm sure others will disagree with me, but thats ok. Someone needs to be the lone voice of dissent! You should send that picture to Bob Fenner, I bet he'll back me up!
    Seriously though, I'm fairly certain those are killing your snails. Good luck with eradication!
  5. fridmani1's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by FlammySnake
    I haven't been around in a while, so this is the perfect time to make a comeback, as reef creature identification is my thing!
    Those are what's killing your snails. Similar to the small snails that kill clams! Plenty of mollusk killing snails exist so myself narrowing it down to a species(or even a genus) in a few minutes isn't going to happen. I'm sure others will disagree with me, but thats ok. Someone needs to be the lone voice of dissent! You should send that picture to Bob Fenner, I bet he'll back me up!
    Seriously though, I'm fairly certain those are killing your snails. Good luck with eradication!
    Thanks for the tip: I never heard of Bob Fenner but I did a Google search and found his web site. Looked up snail diseases and right there top of the list is this picture and article:




    http://www.wetwebmedia.com/snaildisfaqs.htm

    This explains what's going on now I need to figure out what to do about it.

    Thanks again.
  6. blakew's Avatar
    Wow!!! Learned something new. Glad FlammySnake came along when he did.

    Also look directly below the first FAQ about parasitic snails and you'll see another FAQ about Magnesium levels being out of proper ratio with calcium.

    Between the two, figuring out how to get rid of the parasitic snail and getting your Magnesium in proper ratio with your calcium, you'll likely figure out what's been going on with your tank.

    Fingers crossed.

    Blakew