Astrea Snail Suicide
 

Put a couple of Astrea snails in my tank and within 48 hours I found one upside down in the rocks.

It would appear that it fell and landed upside down, wedged in the rocks. It could have been this way for up to 10 hours before I noticed. I picked it up and put him (her ?) right-side-up on a rock expecting that once it sensed that the world had righted itself that it'd pop back out, but it hadn't 24 hours later.

Is this a freak accident or is this common ?

Seems to me that snails have a pretty good grip so maybe it wasn't an accident at all....maybe the hermit crab is looking at hard time ?

Very common. These snails naturally occur in reef flat areas and rubble zones. They have not evolved to be able to right themselves up because they do not need to in nature. See Marine Invertebrates by Ron Shimek for more information.

ok, so they are prone to falling -but for them to die after such a short period ? Surely they can survive for 10 hours upside down ?

Sure, if they get left like that indefinitely, they'll stave; but 10 hours !?

Sheesh !

Your Blue legged Hermit Crabs will make quick work of them when they fall on their backs.

Tom R

Considering that it died within 48 hours of being added to your tank I think it was more likely as a result of how you acclimated them. What was your acclimation process? It sounds pretty extreme but Ron also recommends drip acclimating for 5-10 hours.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.php

Anytime one of my snails ends up falling over my crabs are right on it.

Yikes ! I don't have a sump so drip acclimation is not something I can do easily so I simply put the bag into the tank and let the temperatures match and then put about 1/4 cup of my tank water into the bag every 15-20 minutes over about an hour and a half.

Clearly I have underestimated the needs of these creatures.

Thanks for the link to the very thorough article !

Thats why astrea are a poor choice for snails. Dont know why they are sold.
Eventually over time each one will fall and not be able to right themselves and they are toast unless you notice them.

Mark, personally I would use Turbo's, they will work to clean your rock and glass, where the others not as much. Plus they can right themselves if they fall. Also they are faster cleaners.

I have had them for months now and I have to right one every once in a while or the crabs get them. There are a few that seem more prone to falling than others the best ones I've found have bee Margarita snails I have not seen one fall yet and they have been in my tank since sept 09 and are they getting large. LMB eats algae that grows on their shell.

Bill