SNAIL MURDER OR UNTIMLEY DEATH

[supertech99]

OK SO MY TANK CYCLED VERY QUICKLY WHICH WAS GOOD AND BAD. i USED LR, LS, AND BIOSPIRIA (I ALWAYS USE THE TETRA FRESHWATER VERSIONS IN MY FRESHWATER TANKS AND IT ALWAYS SPEEDS THINGS UP.) AFTER MY NO3 WERE WAY UP AND MY NO2 WERE ALMOST NIL ABOUT 1.5 WEEKS, I DID A 25-30% WATER CHANGE NO3 AT ALMOST 20PPM+. AFTER WATER CHANGE 10PPM, FOR A FOWLR TANK I THINK THIS WILL BE OK. WATER TEMP AT 79 1.024 SG. I PLACED 2 MARGARITA SNAILS AND 6 VERY SMALL NARSISSUS SNAILS IN THE TANK AND WAS GONNA LET THEM STEW FOR A FEW DAYS AND THEN GET MY FIRST FISH AS NOT TO OVERLOAD THE TANK. 5 DAYS LATER ONE OF MY MARAGRITA SNAILS HAS KICKED THE BUCKET. TESTED THE WATER AND NO3 ABOUT 10-12PPM. i HAVE ALGE GROWING ON MY ROCKS AND THE MARAGRITA SNAILS HAD BEEN EATING IT I PUT SOME MARINE PELLETS IN FOR THE NARSSUS SNAILS AND THEY HAD BEEN EATING THAT. THERE IS NOT A LARGE AMOUNT OF ALGEE IN THE TANK THOUGH AND i AM WORRIED THAT I KILLED HIM BY ADDING HIM BEFORE THERE WAS ENOUGH FOOD IN THERE FOR THEM. I AM WORRIED THAT I MAY KILL ANY FISH I ADD. UPON SUGGESTION I PLAN ON ADDING MORE ROCK FOR FILTRATION AS I CAN GET IT BUT i WAS GONNA GET A GOBY TOMORROW AND WAS CONCERNED THAT I MAY BE LEADING HIM TO A EARLY DEMISE. ANYONE GOT ANY CLUE? ARE SNAILS JUST TOUCHY?

 

[TimSchmidt]

Snails and invertebrates are indeed sensitive. I would try to lower the NO3 just a bit more. See if you can get it to like 5 or so. It still isn't fun for fish, and it will only get higher before you do another water change. I personally would wait until I had most of my rock in and cycled before adding fish (or letting the rock cure in a separate container like a bucket with heater and power head before adding to my display tank).

 

[supertech99]

SO WHAT ARE THE ACCEPTIBLE N03 PPM FOR A FOWLR TANK? I FOUND SOMETHING THAT SAID UNDER 30PPM WAS BEST. IS THAT TOO HIGH? DO YOU THINK THE SNAIL DIED BECAUSE OF THE NO3 OR WAS IT SOMETHING ELSE. THATS WHAT I AM REALLY WORRIED ABOUT. I WAS PLANNING ON DOING ANOTHER 25% WC BEFORE I PUT THE FISH IN. DOES THIS MEAN THAT I NEED TO KEEP THE NO3 UNDER 5 IF I WANT TO HAVE A FIRE SHRIMP ALSO? DOES ANYONE HAVE A LINK TO IDEAL WATER CONDITIONS TALKED ABOUT IN OTHER THREADS?

 

[TimSchmidt]

Well Ideally even for fish I think the lower the better. That 30 ppm may be fine for fish but inverts are a bit more sensitive IMO. By the information posted I don't think there was anything wrong, may be a sick snail or something else. I wouldn't be worried about the one snail passing on, I don't think it would repeat.

Are you acclimating your snails to temp and salinty before putting them in your tank?

 

[reefman23]

With inverts like snail my bet would be that there was a difference in salinity. Did you drip acclimate them?

Jesse

 

[supertech99]

I DID NOT DRIP THEM, I ADDED ABOUT 1/4 CUP OF WATER SEVERAL TIMES OVER ABOUT 2 HOURS AFTER THEY HAD BEEN FLOATING IN THE TANK FOR ABOUT 3 HOURS TO TEMP ACCLIMATE. I WENT OUT TODAY AND BOUGHT MORE ROCK (MUCH TO MY WIFE'S DISMAY) AND NOW HAVE 15LBS OF ROCK IN MY 10 GAL TANK. AT 6.99/LB I AM NOW GROUNDED FROM BUYING ANY MORE "FISH STUFF" FOR AT LEAST A MONTH. :cry: i NOW HAVE 2 SWEET CAVES THAT MY GOBIES WILL LOVE, I JUST WONT BE ABLE TO SEE THEM LIVE IN THEM FOR ABOUT ANOTHER MONTH OF TWO.................I BLAME TIM HEHEHEHE :lol:

 

[TimSchmidt]

I can handle that. :lol: :cool1:

Good acclimating, actually maybe a bit too long. 15-20 minutes for temp is normally fine and a half hour or 45 minutes will do well for adding water.