Also alot of times they die due to lack of food. Also, water parameters need to be consistent and in fairly good order or they will parish. Joined: Sep 8, Messages: 1, When they start falling off the glass and rocks and turning upside down, they are losing energy.
Yep, if they start to turn upside down a lot and the little plate sinks deep, take them out before they die and rot. Be sure to acclimate them when you bring them in, they do get shocked too y ou know. As bad as an anemone!! Man I took out the two that haven't moved in days and they smelled BAD! Almost worse then a dead anemone!! Well I'm not sure what happened to those 2, the other 2 seem to be steaming along with no problems I tested my water and the nitrates are a little higher than normal, like Usually they are undetectable, but that's probably because of the rotting turbos in the water for a couple days Everything else seems fine, especially all my corals.
Which usually are an indicator of bad water in my experience. I did a change a little more than a week ago. In my battle with red slime, I have cut back feeding a LOT. Brandon , May 27, As mentioned earlier, Cerith Snails are great for cleaning that bottom strip of algae on tank glass that is often not cleaned or eaten.
Although they will rarely end up on their back, they are able to flip themselves over. They are much smaller than the Conch Snail, but they can do a lot as they sift through your sand bed. This snail is one that should already be a part of your clean up crew.
Nassarius Snails are another interesting sand sifting snail. Although they primarily come out at night to scavenge for food, they will also come out whenever you are feeding the corals or fish. They have ferocious appetites. Not only do they feed on fish waste and leftover food, but they help to keep the sand bed aerated. Another interesting thing about nassarius snails is they sometimes stick their long snout out of from under the sand bed.
This behavior is fun to see in an aquarium and will certainly get some attention from family and friends. Snails are a very peaceful creature, which also makes them great sources of food for predatory animals. Wrasses are infamous for harming snails. Although not each will do it, there is a group that will. Avoid getting these kinds of wrasses if you plan on having snails in your clean up crew. If you have to have that Bluehead Wrasse, save your money and avoid getting snails.
Other large saltwater fish, such as triggerfish, will eat snails as well. For this reason, it is best to keep snails away from these crustacean killers. Other potentially snail-eating fish: Hogfish, Hawkfish, and Pufferfish.
Some Hermit Crabs may also go after snails in search for a home. You can avoid this by having other empty shells for hermit crabs to live in. Saltwater Snails: they are the best for algae control and cleaning up waste. These peaceful creatures are something every tank should have. Whether you are trying to control algae or have another intriguing creature, snails can do it.
From the Cerith Snail to Trochus Snail, there is one for every kind of algae and form of waste. They are hardy creatures, especially if they are captive bred. Great article! Snails are our friends in the reef tank!
You all covered all the major snails I use in my tanks. Thanks Algaebarn! I love these types of articles. It helps really define the strengths of all the different inverts available for a clean up crew and how one can benefit from having a diversified CUC.
Great article. Snails are a great part of your clean up crew. So many different kinds. I love to watch my fighting conchs. I love the hearty Nerite snail. They are my favorite. Is your tank normally pretty clean? Then they probably starved to death. Is your tank still dirty? Then it's probably something else. I was leaning towards that answer. It seems like my tank has enough for them to eat, especially since my astrea snails are growing. But maybe they are lacking some specific food item that they crave.
A lot of turbo deaths are due to the fact that they can't upright themselves when they fall over. When I had turbos, it seemed like they were always falling off the rocks or glass and landing upside down. Sometimes I found them in time and uprighted them, sometimes it was too late.
Stupid clumsy turbos! I've got 3 astreas in my AP12 that I've had for a long time I encountered a similar problem with the astrea snails I had. They weren't moving for a few days, so I removed them and they smelled quite awful, at which point I knew they were dead.
After that foul experience, I purchased three turbo snails that have proven to be quite sluggish. I've noticed that they are somewhat able to right themselves, and I seldom find them upside down. However, they haven't been moving a heck of a lot lately, and I just conducted the "sniff test" and don't smell like anything.
There's plenty of algae on the rocks for them to chow on, but they don't seem to want to explore. I got 2 astraeas and 1 turbo last summer.
The turbo lived about a month, but the astraeas are still going strong. In retrospect, I should not have gotten that many for a 12 gallon tank, but I was very new and the LFS owner had told me I should have 5!! So, I thought I was being conservative with 3 of these!
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