[nucleuscracker]

Well the snails I orderer about 2 months ago are starting to die - i think its because they are running out of food. I realize that having some empty shells is a good thing but is there anything i can put in the tank for them to feed on?


thanks!

[the_blue_tuna]

Why do you think they are running out of food? Algae is always present in our tanks to varying degrees. The snails dont need "extra" shells like the hermits do . Snails grow their own. How many snails do you have in what size tank? You can always feed alittle heavy to produce more algae if you need to. The phosphate from the food should fuel the algae growth.

[icemark]

they are also very sensitive to the salinity, make sure that it has not varied much lately

[nucleuscracker]

tuna - i have been starting to feed a little heavy to spark algae growth. As for the numbers I got the 75 gallon package from FFexpress for my 90 gallon tank so I started out with

15 Scarlet Reef Hermits
30 Turbo / Margarita Snails (mix determined by availability)
45 Red Leg / Left-Handed Hermits (mix determined by availability)

plus 3 abalones, 3 mirithrax crabs and one tiger stripe cuke.


Icemark: I just checked the salinity and it is at 1.024 slightly down from the norm 1.025. It is time for a W/C - I imagine the heat and humidty as well as having the a/c on when its been hot hasn't helped the water conditions.

thanks for the help!

[the_blue_tuna]

Your red legs may also be the magicians making the snails disappear. Keep an eye on that too!.

[nucleuscracker]

thanks Tuna I will keep an eye on 'em. A couple of the snails I noticed that were dead still were in the shell (meaning it has been emptied out by a predator).

So is it possible that crabs and snails just do not get along?


can't they just all get along...

[the_blue_tuna]

Some crab species are not aggressive , some are moderately aggressive and others are just down right mean. The crabs will take an opportunity if they have one and are hungry. The scarlet reef hermits are the best choice as far as being aggressive goes,,,,they mind their manners pretty well. With the load you have I would not say they were starving so you may want to reconsider the upped feeding.How many of your snails have died? Have you done an ammonia test lately? Sometimes these guys will die in the rock where you cant see them and if the bio-load is very low (just a cleanup crew) their death can raise the ammonia level a bit before enough bacteria can be built up to process it. One snail would not cause a big spike but if several died it could be enough to cause a problem. Just a thought.

[nucleuscracker]

I Just got back after spending the weekend upnorth and I am off to do an ammonia test...wish me luck....

[nucleuscracker]

Tuna - I did my tests on sunday and here are the results...

Temp - 82F
Salinity - 1.022
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
nitrate - 10
pH - 8.0

.....


Maybe its just a lack of food for them. I have been feeding the tank heavy lately and have started to see an increase in the algae growing - maybe that will help...dunno....

I'll keep ya posted........

[nucleuscracker]

well I think I have found the problem. While starting to change my water I discovered my cuke in the sump (somehow the little $@# got thru my egg crate blocker in the intake) and he wasn't looking to good - no, more like he was on his last breath. . Which, correct me if I am wrong, could end up wiping out other inhabitants of the tank. .

So I went into water change mode to change out as much water as i could with "fresh" water. Only to decided to clean out the filter to get me by until tomorrow. Well I had the sump sitting on the counter as I wanted to also clean out the silt on the bottom of the sump and in the process I bumped it and yes, you guessed it, it crashed to the floor. Thankfully the only thing that broke (that I know of so far) was the center divider. So I ran BACK up to the LFS (again) to get some aquarium silicone to put the divider back in its place.

So now it sits in the kitchen ,drying, along with the rest of my water changing "tools" which must be why mrs. nuc aint to happy .

Well enough of my ranting, should there be anything i need to do if in fact the cuke died and released some of its toxins......?


thanks!

[the_blue_tuna]

Water changes , poly filters and carbon would be my first choices. Dont worry ,,,,,your luck cant stay that way forever ,,,,,,,,,,,,,can it???You better take Mrs. Nuc out for a nice dinner and some dancing just to take her mind off your tank Is the cuke alive or dead??

[nucleuscracker]

thanks Tuna - I'll go get some more Carbon and a poly filter..

as for the cuke... its dead....



Hopefully this will have solved my problem........