Snail deaths

[Falconwithaboxon]

Hello everyone,
So I had four mystery snails, two black and two white, and I am down to one, one of the white ones. I only had them about two months old when they died. There are three things I think it might be. I think it's either disease, something wrong with my water, or they got out competed. The first two are fairly obvious what they mean. But I thought of them being out competed because they didn't die until about 3 weeks after I got my albino cories and my Chinese algae eaters, 4 of each. I don't know if I would be enough time for them to really get out competed. So I'm just wondering which one of those three would be the most likely to be the case. My water is 0,0,30 with a pH of 7.5 and everything is consistent.

 

[the_lock_man]

How old is the tank and filter? How long ago did the snails die?

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

How old is the tank and filter? How long ago did the snails die?

The setup is about 2 months old and I changed the filter every month. The first snail died around two weeks ago and the most recent one died a week ago.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

The one that is still alive is also the one that was by far the biggest if that helps with anything

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Have you tested for ammonia and nitrites? By "changing your filter" do you mean changing out filter cartridges? If you're doing that, you're removing most of your beneficial bacteria and killing your cycle. That might be what did them in.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Have you tested for ammonia and nitrites? By "changing your filter" do you mean changing out filter cartridges? If you're doing that, you're removing most of your beneficial bacteria and killing your cycle. That might be what did them in.

Those are both at 0.

Yes changing the cartridge, I was reading you're supposed to change that about every month. Was that wrong?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Yeah, that's a common frustration. The filter companies say to change them every so often, and pet store people usually copy that advice. That's all about $$. In reality, beneficial bacteria take up residence in the filter media, given time, and help keep your water clean. Have you read about cycling a tank? Every time you change the filter media, you remove all those good bacteria and start your cycle all over. So you should just rinse them out and put them back in. Eventually they might get so rotten you can't rinse them out any more; when that happens replace one of them every couple weeks to the bb can regenerate. A lot of people just replace the cartridges with sponge and/or bags of ceramic filter media. What kind of filter are you using?

Also, what kind of water test are you using?

Competition is a possibility, depending on how you're feeding, how bioactive your tank is (how much algae and biofilm), and so on. How big is your tank? Just so you know, chinese algae eaters get very aggressive and quit eating algae as they get older, so you might want to have a plan b for them.

Sorry about your losses. Unfortunately it's part of the learning curve, sometimes. We've all been there.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Yeah, that's a common frustration. The filter companies say to change them every so often, and pet store people usually copy that advice. That's all about $$. In reality, beneficial bacteria take up residence in the filter media, given time, and help keep your water clean. Have you read about cycling a tank? Every time you change the filter media, you remove all those good bacteria and start your cycle all over. So you should just rinse them out and put them back in. Eventually they might get so rotten you can't rinse them out any more; when that happens replace one of them every couple weeks to the bb can regenerate. A lot of people just replace the cartridges with sponge and/or bags of ceramic filter media. What kind of filter are you using?

Also, what kind of water test are you using?

Competition is a possibility, depending on how you're feeding, how bioactive your tank is (how much algae and biofilm), and so on. How big is your tank? Just so you know, chinese algae eaters get very aggressive and quit eating algae as they get older, so you might want to have a plan b for them.

Sorry about your losses. Unfortunately it's part of the learning curve, sometimes. We've all been there.

I am using one of the whisper filters, I honestly forget which one but it's for a 29 gallon.

Yeah someone told me in one of my previous posts that the Chinese algae eaters get big and aggressive so I am moving them into a 125 gallon tank next summer, I have the tank just not the room yet.

For feeding I do 3 days of 3 meals followed by 2 days of 1 meal and repeat that pattern. I use the wafers for my bottom feeders and mostly flakes for the rest of the fish, although I will give them a treat of vegetables sometimes.

Yeah it's been interesting since this is my first tank. I've not had luck with my snails, my mollies (water), or my shrimp (dwarf gourami and angelfish) but I'm learning and I am setting up a second 20 gallon tank soon.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

It's a learning experience, for sure. Have you tested your water hardness? What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

It's a learning experience, for sure. Have you tested your water hardness? What kind of test kit are you using?

API Strips
Hardness is KH 0 and GH 30

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Just so you know...strips are notoriously unreliable. My strips always show zero nitrates even when the actual reading is 30 ppm+. You might want to get a liquid test kit--they are a bit harder to use but far more accurate. It's possible you have ammonia in your water and don't know it.

GH is 30 degrees, or 30 ppm? I can't remember how the strips read. If it's 30 ppm, that's pretty sort, which might be part of your snails problem, too. They need some hardness in the water or their shells get soft.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

Just so you know...strips are notoriously unreliable. My strips always show zero nitrates even when the actual reading is 30 ppm+. You might want to get a liquid test kit--they are a bit harder to use but far more accurate. It's possible you have ammonia in your water and don't know it.

GH is 30 degrees, or 30 ppm? I can't remember how the strips read. If it's 30 ppm, that's pretty sort, which might be part of your snails problem, too. They need some hardness in the water or their shells get soft.

Yeah I'll look into getting a different kit, I figured these wouldn't be as good since they are cheaper but it is what I could afford at the time

The strips measured in PPM

 

[Sgooosh]

Hello everyone,
So I had four mystery snails, two black and two white, and I am down to one, one of the white ones. I only had them about two months old when they died. There are three things I think it might be. I think it's either disease, something wrong with my water, or they got out competed. The first two are fairly obvious what they mean. But I thought of them being out competed because they didn't die until about 3 weeks after I got my albino cories and my Chinese algae eaters, 4 of each. I don't know if I would be enough time for them to really get out competed. So I'm just wondering which one of those three would be the most likely to be the case. My water is 0,0,30 with a pH of 7.5 and everything is consistent.

tank size? you need to up your kh a looooot snails will be happy in like 120+ ppm

 

[the_lock_man]

API Strips
Hardness is KH 0 and GH 30

And there's the issue.

We all thought that when you posted 0,0,30, that you meant ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You don't. The API strips don't even have an ammonia test. among them.

I would say that the most likely cause of death of the snails is ammonia poisoning.

I see that others have advised you to get a decent water test kit, and I would add my voice to theirs. API test strips are not worth the money, IMHO.

 

[Falconwithaboxon]

And there's the issue.

We all thought that when you posted 0,0,30, that you meant ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. You don't. The API strips don't even have an ammonia test. among them.

I would say that the most likely cause of death of the snails is ammonia poisoning.

I see that others have advised you to get a decent water test kit, and I would add my voice to theirs. API test strips are not worth the money, IMHO.

They do have ammonia. They have ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, gh, and kh. But yeah they were pretty cheap. It's all I could afford at the time but I didn't have to want to always keep driving to the fish store to get it tested so I just bought them. I'm going to get a more expensive and better kit next time I make it out to the fish store.