I killed them?

reefwars · #1 01-05-2012, 03:10 AM

crabs and shrimp molt making it look theres dead bodies arond , hermits kill snails for their shell when the opportunity arrise leaving empty shells....alot of times an empty shell doesnt mean the occupant is dead...if thats the case

whatcaneyedo · #2 01-05-2012, 03:42 AM

How old and what size a tank do you have? 30 cleaning members is huge. Unless your tank is massive they might be starving to death.

AquaticFinatic · #3 01-05-2012, 03:48 AM

Maybe link your build thread to this?

If they are margarita snails I wouldn't worry to much. I never have much luck wih them.

reefgirl189 · #4 01-05-2012, 04:30 AM

It is a new tank but was finished the initial cycle. 180 gal. I added everyone slowly, over the course of an hour. Floated the bag for the temp adjust, and slowly adding more tank water every 5-10 just like they teach you back in freshwater school.

I added 10 snails at first, all of which survived to my knowledge.

A week later added 15 or so hermits, 10 more snails and two turbo snails. Also about 20 empty shells for future upgrades for the growing hermits.

As far as I can tell they've got plenty of food. No ones going hungry.

I guess some just die. I did notice that all they dead guys are of the trochus or nerite variety and all the Astrae ones that I had only added with the original 10 are doing well.

Nano · #5 01-05-2012, 04:34 AM

For future acclimations, Its best to do a drip, you can put them all in a bucket and the use an airline tube to drip the tank water into it, about 5:1 ratio, and for fish about 15-30minutes tops, and snails IME 30++ I did my turbos for 1 1/2 hours. but thats just me! drip acclimation is a great method and I thank many users on here for reminding me of that

lastlight · #6 01-05-2012, 04:54 AM

I've seen large die off in the LFS tanks when they get new crews in. Sometimes you might be taking a bunch home that weren't going to make it even at the LFS...

whatcaneyedo · #7 01-05-2012, 01:00 PM

What species of snail did you get? Not all species eat the same foods or are well adapt for our tanks. Hermit crabs are opportunistic omnivores and will eat whatever is convenient including snails even if they don't want their shells.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveycoopa

Maybe link your build thread to this?

If they are margarita snails I wouldn't worry to much. I never have much luck wih them.

Margarita snails are a subtropical species that slowly cook to death in typical reef tank temperatures.