Snails very unhappy

[MitchM]

Any chance you had some H2S released from the old live rock if it was previously sitting in a sandbed?

[ScubaSteve]

Possibly, though I wouldn't expect that is the culprit. That would have been something that would have showed itself pretty quick after the move and when I recently move stuff around I didn't move rock around, only the frags and colonies. If there was a continual source, then it's a possibly but it's pushing close to two months since the move with at least 8 sizable water changes.

[Youngster Dan]

Originally Posted by gobytron

which part were you specifically referencing youngster dan...I must have missed it.?

I was referencing that it was an interesting read

You mention that you had a small diatom outbreak, could it be possible that it may be dinoflagellates instead? I know dino's can be toxic to snails, at any rate just throwing an idea out there.

[ScubaSteve]

I'm pretty sure it's diatoms. I've had dino's in the past and what I have doesn't look like that (and the snails didn't this response to it either). It's got that golden brown dust look as oppoed to the brown snotty look of the dino's and it doesn't have the associated air bubbles. And it's really only on the sand, so I thinkit's just diatoms using up the silicates in the new subtrate. And my conch is eating it and is the only gastro who is super healthy in the tank at the moment.

[MitchM]

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

...That would have been something that would have showed itself pretty quick after the move and when I recently move stuff around I didn't move rock around, only the frags and colonies. If there was a continual source, then it's a possibly but it's pushing close to two months since the move with at least 8 sizable water changes.

Right, but a combination of a really large water change (doubling of the tank size), acro die off and the resulting decaying tissue, 8 sizeable water changes, a nudi dying (even though you think you caught it before it released any toxins), 8 sizeable water changes...may have added up to enough of an unstable environment to negatively affect the invertebrates.

I don't know for sure that that's what happened, but I do think it's a possibility.

Mitch

[ScubaSteve]

I completely agree with you. There are SO many things here that could be the culprit. Moving stress I think had a big impact though things have been, for the most part, stable (except for an initially low pH). I have other more sensitive creatures in the tank which have always been my 'canaries in a cage' and they're all doing great which is why I am concerned about these other things that are happening, whether they are signs of something I am not seeing or monitoring (if even possible).

I've been doing all the things we've always been told to do (check params, check temp, check salinity, is there something stinging your leather?, is there a worm eating your acro?, Is something dead?, etc) and nothing is coming up. I've even moved my tanks like 4 or 5 times now and I haven't seen this before. I'm just... so confused....

[MitchM]

Which more sensitive creatures are you referring to?

Mitch

[nlreefguy]

This has hapened to me in the past, almost always associated with large or sudden shifts in pH and/or alkalinity. Yes, I've been dumb enough to let it happen more than once. I lost a lot of snails once when I started dosing kalk, in probably too large volumes at once and again when I added too much alaklinity to my top off water over a period of a couple of weeks (when I tested the alk it was 17).

[ScubaSteve]

Mitch: Usually my pulsing xenia, purple xenia and one of my pocci colonies are the first to display signs of displeasure if there is something going on in the tank, no matter how minor. Their behaviour is now pretty predictable (tends to happen after watching the tank for hundreds of days); I can pretty much tell you the pH based on what my xenia is doing.

Today, things aren't looking as bad as they have over the past while. The Strawberry Top is finally sticking back onto the glass though is still looking a bit rough (hadn't come out of his shell in a few days) and I found nassarius eggs on the glass this morning (they have a pretty distinct pattern), though I have yet to see the cerith perk up (if they survived). We'll have to wait and see...

[MitchM]

I suspect that as your system stabilizes, the problems will settle down.

Mitch