Crabs And Snails Dying

[stefday]

Hi,

I have had a marine tank set up for about 3 months. Nitrites,nitrates and amonia are 0 with a Ph of 7.8 to 8.2 and salinity of 1.025 to 1.026.

I have bought a few turbo snails and blue legged hermit crabs that seem fine for a week or so but then die.

I would welcome any thoughts as to why this may be happening.

 

[seffieuk]

Have they all died?

Seffie x

 

[stefday]

Have they all died?

Seffie x

All of the snails have but some of the crabs are okay.

 

[Donya]

Tough to know what's goin on in your tank without more info on it.

Tank size?
Initial stocking? Anything else living in the tank?
Were these proper Turbo genus snails, or Astreas/other Turbinids sold under the "Turbo" label?
Are you finding the animals dead, or are they dissappearing?

If the snails are actually Astreas or another Turbinid, it's not unusual for them to be less than healthy when purchased and get had by something like blueleg hermits. Hermits, if overstocked, will also fight with each other and cause some attrition. Could be other things going on though.

 

[ben1987]

copper?

 

[Jimyfloyd]

did you drip acclimatise them to your water?

your salt is 1.025/6 but the fish shop may have been a lot lower. I lost a few when I forgot to do this.

Unfortunately they seem VERY sensitive to even the smallest changes and each is different. I still have 2 snails from my original batch and they've grown very big and are fine - the smaller ones died

I'm getting a load more this week and will be drip acclimatising them for at least 4 hours.

James

 

[stefday]

Tough to know what's goin on in your tank without more info on it.

Tank size?
Initial stocking? Anything else living in the tank?
Were these proper Turbo genus snails, or Astreas/other Turbinids sold under the "Turbo" label?
Are you finding the animals dead, or are they dissappearing?

If the snails are actually Astreas or another Turbinid, it's not unusual for them to be less than healthy when purchased and get had by something like blueleg hermits. Hermits, if overstocked, will also fight with each other and cause some attrition. Could be other things going on though.

Tank size is 130 litres. At present I have 3 hermit crabs, a blue cheek goby and two humbugs. I am finding them dead so don`t think they are being attacked but not sure.

 

[stefday]

did you drip acclimatise them to your water?

your salt is 1.025/6 but the fish shop may have been a lot lower. I lost a few when I forgot to do this.

Unfortunately they seem VERY sensitive to even the smallest changes and each is different. I still have 2 snails from my original batch and they've grown very big and are fine - the smaller ones died

I'm getting a load more this week and will be drip acclimatising them for at least 4 hours.

James

Sorry to be dumb but I am not sure what the procedure is for drip acclimatisation. I basically let the bag float for 10-15 minutes and the added a little of the tank water every 5-10 minutes over the next 30 minutes.

I would be very grateful if somebody could explain this procedure.

Thanks to everbody for their help.

 

[milkton]

have you ever put ANYTHING that contained copper into your tank? cause the turbo's are extremely sensitive to it.

 

[Jimyfloyd]

did you drip acclimatise them to your water?

your salt is 1.025/6 but the fish shop may have been a lot lower. I lost a few when I forgot to do this.

Unfortunately they seem VERY sensitive to even the smallest changes and each is different. I still have 2 snails from my original batch and they've grown very big and are fine - the smaller ones died

I'm getting a load more this week and will be drip acclimatising them for at least 4 hours.

James

Sorry to be dumb but I am not sure what the procedure is for drip acclimatisation. I basically let the bag float for 10-15 minutes and the added a little of the tank water every 5-10 minutes over the next 30 minutes.

I would be very grateful if somebody could explain this procedure.

Thanks to everbody for their help.

Right well drip acclimatisation using an airline, a container for the creatures and a knot.

Start the siphon process and then tie a knot in the air line. It needs to be made really tight so you are getting 1-2 drops per second. This will slowly acclimatise the critters to your tank water and hopefully mean the transfer will be safe.

However, if you've got copper in there they will die and if you salt is too high they will probably die.

Good luck!