Turbo Snails Question

[svirid]

Good day,

I have 28 gal tank, in there I have 4 turbo snails. There were fine for the last 4 month, but a month ago I notice one,
stopped moving. I took him out thought his dead but he was alive. I move him back in. He kinda hide under the coral for a while,
dd not move for a couple of days.
Now I have 2 turbos doing the same thing but in different places of the tank. Is that something they ussually do?
Kinda go to sleep for a while or they sick and dying?

THank you very much.

 

[Crazy fishes]

If your chemistry is fine then the snails are most probably fine. It is the nature of a snail to be lazy and conserve energy. Also algae, they like algae. If you have little or at worst none, these voracious algae eaters go belly up so to speak. For the time being just relax and watch them, no need to worry.

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Snail mortality in captivity is unfortunately high. There's a lot of reasons they may be dying. Are you sure they're true turbo snails? Many snails often sold under that moniker are actually colder water specemins which perish over time in reef aquaria temperatures

 

[Donya]

A few thoughts on Turbos (assuming that's what these snails actually are)...

Turbos have high metabolisms as snails go, and need to eat A LOT. In smaller tanks the odds of having enough food to feed multiple Turbos each day is pretty low. I have to target feed twice daily in additon to what they clean out of my nano. Lack of food leads to inactivity, and if it persists then eventually die of starvation.

Adult Turbos will be less active than younger ones. However, healthy adult Turbos will move around daily and will particularly spring into action if they smell food. A couple days of inactivity is cause for concern in my book unless the snail is really old.

Some things that can cause persistant inactivity:
- harassment from other animals (even bristleworms if the snail is injured already)
- injuries
- unsuitable temperature ranges
- old age. Symptoms of this are: lack of appetite, little or no shell growth, and a very gradual slow down in activity over several months