All My Mts ... Dead..

[nurglespuss]

Hi all, bit of a strange one here...

My main tank upstairs (3ft) is externally filtered, and lightly stocked with a sand substrated, flower pots, a few plastic plants (and today some java moss kindly donated!).

The tank has been running for ages, the fish are very healthy, ph is 7, nitrates/nitrites are minimal (should be the tank is over filtered), water is crystal clear (with no carbon in use), doesn't contain any predator species. However, I'm away in another part of the country for long periods, and on my return, it took me a little while to notice that there weren;t any snails (there were many, many snails), and in my other tank, they are still present. I dug through the sand a little, and have found loads of shells (no bodies), the shells havent 'dissolved' and have ony just started to lose colours, and so must have happened in the last month.

I'm at a real loss, as I'm used to these little beasties surviving absolutely anything. No copper based medication has been applied to my knowledge (will check). Has anyone else ever experienced a mysterious mass dye off of MTS?

 

[loraxchick]

not enough food for them?
just a thought...esp if they are little ones.
sorry for the loss of the snails
cheers

 

[nurglespuss]

you could be right on the not enough food....

the two hoplos are absolute hoovers...

Hmmm will have to check with Mrs see if she feeding them regularly...

 

[loraxchick]

reason i pointed that out is that if you overfeed a tank that is when you get overrun with snails (i do it on purpose-love the snails
you will always see some small ones, but if not enough food, they quickly die and only the older, bigger, stronger ones will survive.
just add some more food, if it wont affect the fish's health (ie they are pigs and will eat till they explode (not literally of course).
all the best.
cheers