I'm getting annoyed

[BarryF]

I've only had my Astreas for a few days, and I'm already tired of flipping them over. (*(*^&(%*&%)&%)*$ Argh.

Anyone know where I can purchase stomatellas from? I hear that they are very similar in clean-up capability, but they can right themselves. These will be going in my 7 bow. If anyone can recommend another snail that will do a good job, and is able to right themselves, I'd certainly appreciate it.

Many thanks in advance,
Barry

[Yellotang]

More then likely the problem you are having is from the snails dying! Not accidently falling over on their backs. Most snails just don't fall down with out there being some problem with them unless you're puling them off the glass and flipping them onto their backs.

[chess_wizard]

placeing a few argaonite stones near the glass will help the snails correct themselve if they fall close or next to the stone.

[BarryF]

I don't think they're dying, but I could be wrong. Sometimes a hermit will knock them over, other times they try to climb a rock and their shells get caught in a crevice...etc..

Or, they could be dying, although I can't figure out why that would be.

PH 8.1/8.2
SG 1.025/1.026
Nitrates 5ppm
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Calcium 380
Phosphate .03

[absolutc]

Might want to get the nitrates lower. Even though most people accept .5 as OK. Inverts are very picky about what they can tolerate and what they can't.

If you have snails that are picky about nitrates being .5, this could be part of the problem. Think of it as cabonmonoxide poisoning. If we inhale just a little bit, we get dizzy and cant walk right. If we continue to inhale it, we suffocate and die.

The same goes with inverts and nitrates. A little is somewhat acceptable. As you get higher, they get dizzy and start acting funny. Even higher, and they die.

[Ewan]

I've had astraes do that before. It's a compound problem... they sound like they're not doing well, and because of that, if one starts to decay, the water quality gets worse, another dies, worse still... it's exponential.

It seems to be in the shipment. I had the same problem, ordered 10 more to see what's going on and used a method Dr. Ron prescribed for acclimation... it worked great:

Dr. Ron basically described the "old man in the hottub" method (I'll talk to him about trademarking that term). Here's the scoop; Lower the water level, in my case, I turned off the return pump and the water level dropped below the overflow box, and hold the snails against the top part of the glass (above the water line) The snails will slowly go below the water line at their own pace. In this situation, they acclimate themselved to the differences in osmotic pressure.

I should mention that I acclimated my "bad" batch of snail over a period of 3 hours. They all dies except one. Using the "hottub" method, they all survived. I will do this from now on.

Acclimation and snails is very tricky. No matter how much effort you put into gently acclimating them, sometimes there's just too much stress during shipping, etc.

Good luck. Pull the "flipped" snails outfrom time to time and give them the sniff test. If they're dying, the sniff test will tell you to remove them. If they're OK, place them back in and keep an eye on them.

jm$.02

E.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

I just got 6 small astreas from my LFS and I used the "Old man in the tub" method (heh heh, I love the term)! First, I floated the bag in the tank until the temp was about the same. Then I took the snails out and put them under the rim of the tank. I think it took several hours before they all started to move throughout the front glass, but so far so good. It's been about 5 days and they're all gliding across the glass eating! Great technique and I've used it a bunch of times already!

[BarryF]

Thanks. I'll give them the "sniff test" when I get home tonight.

If they're on their way out....I'm gonna feel bad getting rid of them while they're somewhat alive. :(

What do you folks do with an animal on its way out?

[BarryF]

I mentioned to my gf that we may have to do away with the Astreas and go with a different type of snail. After that statement, not a single snail has fallen.

Heh....I guess they do have ears.;)

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Maybe they were acclimating still? Ya never know... :D

[scd]

Stomatella and hermit crabs don't mix well. Trochus supposidly can right themselves, however I would agree with YellowTang, I never had to flip my astrea, sounds like it was not a problem with the snails.

[Pinecone_Jeff]

Tiger trochus snails are awesome! I have 6 or 8 of them and they're heavy work horses, never bulldoze (which is astounding because they're pretty big snails), and they're cool looking. If you can get trochus' I'd highly recommend them. And they do indeed right themselves if the fall on their backs. They're foot is amazingly big and flexible.

And you know what they say about snails and big feet! <badda boom> ;)

[scd]

I ordered 2 ring cowries for my 15g per a recommendation from Dr Ron (they are what he uses in his tanks). They get to be about 1" long and may even eat trimmed hair algae, so I think they will be a nice addition to my other snails. Plus cowries look pretty cool. I'll let ya's know how they do.

[BarryF]

SCD:

Please do!

[scd]

Update on the ring cowries...

I received three of them a couple weeks ago... So far so good!! The only problem I would report is that one has climbed into a cave and I have not seen it move in about a week... So I'm not sure if it is alive or not.

They are very shy/nocturnal. I only see them when it has been very dark in the tank for a couple hours. (These would be great for people who don't like to see their snail on the front glass and such). I have caught them on the rocks, sand and glass.

AND they are small! 1" - Great size for a nano...