CUC dieing, some advice please, newbie on board

[horteco]

Originally Posted by Myka

Hmmm, this is interesting. It doesn't make sense...unless we are missing some sort of pertinent information (that you may or may not realize lol). The hermits eat algae mainly, and should start killing snails if they are starving to death. As well, it should take longer than a week for the hermits to starve to death. If copper was the culprit it should kill the snails too, and probably be quicker than a week. My guess is that you may never know what killed them.

I agree that you should try to return 6-8 snails. While the tank is new you will not need very many critters to clean up. As you stock your tank, you will probably need to slowly add a few more critters here and there. A Fighting/Strawberry/Orange Lip Conch (sand sifting bivalve) would be a good candidate for your tank in 4-6 months when the sandbed has matured.

Myka

Being new to the hobby, it is very likely I've missed something. I sure hope I didn't, but...

The hermits appeared to be eating what ever they could find. It seems though that the tank was cleaned up so fast that the amount of cleanup crew recommended was to high. Now I'm scrambling to make sure the remaining snails don't die.

The snails are cruising around the tank so fast, the crabs may not have been able to catch them.

The fighting conch sounds like a great addition.( in the future)

Thanks for your advice I will for suren take it slow from here on.