turbo snails/coral
 

i have a 29gal bio cube saltwater tank ive had it running for about 6 months, i have 2 hermit crabs i put in when i first cycled the tank and 2 small fish one i had for about 4 months they other just put in and seem to be doing fine i test my water and do routine water changes/water testing about every 3 weeks using petco's nsw temps are about 78 degrees and all is well. my problem is that when i try to put snails in and small coral {xenia} and some pulps they all die, the snails turn over on their shells and coral dont seem to even have a chance i dont understand because the hermit crabs and fish are fine but cant seem to add anything new i cant figure out what im doing wrong can someone help me..

How do you aclimate them? What are you water parameters? Lighting schedule?

Snails are very sensitive to salinity changes, are you acclimating them long enough? Is there any chance the tank or any thing in it has been exposed to copper, many medications for fish have copper in them.

Go get some real salt mix and dump that Petco crap right down the sink.If you continue to use that,the crabs will die also.....mark my words here.
If you listen you'll save yourself all kinds of BS/$$$$.
Get in the habit of mixing your own salt with a quality salt mix.
And get yourself a good refractor and test kit.

fish store told me to use a bucket and drip the tank water in the bucket with the snails and corals for an hour but i did it for 2 and i my lights run 8 hours a day i had put red slime remover but that was before i bought the snails and coral and did a water change 2 days after the treatment i do have a maxi jet powerhead in the tank just to circulate the water a little better.. what salts do you recommend in using instead of petco water i do have the marine labs test kit with a hydrometer but not sure what a refractor is but anyway thanks for getting back so soon...

It sounds like you are acclimating your live stock appropriately. I have a feeling it might be your water chemistry.

any suggestions on what to do?? or just basically make my own salt mix

[url=http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=9957&ref=4177&s_kwcid=TC-2758-22782407521-S-2395663021&N=2004+113761&subref=AA]This is a refractometer. [/URL] Hydrometer are not as reliable. Well worth the money.

You say tests are good but do you test for Phosphate,Alk,Calcium , nitrate , nitrite ,ammonia , PH and salinity?
Type of light?
How much LR and LS?
Do you do water changes and the amount changed and how often and do you let the new batch circulate before you add to main tank?1 powerhead isnt enough.Look here.

[url]http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/startinganaquarium/tp/topmistakes.htm[/url]

[url]http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/1/aafeature/view[/url]

thanks for the info i will but the refractometer ... yes i do test for all of thoes you have mentioned above i have to test kits and do water changes every 3 weeks and all my water parameters seem to be good im using the lighting the bio cube came with which is actnic 03 blue compact fluorescent lamp and one 10,000k daylight compact fluorescent lamp as i mentioned above i am using petco nsw, and the one powerhead i have in the tank your saying isnt enough its rated for a 100gal tank or should i put 2?? but when i finish acclimating using the drip method nothing seems to live, can it be the petco water i mean my fish seem to be fine should i listen to what stingy had mentioned and just mix my own saltwater ???

test the water in the bag from the LFS store--some keep the salinty as low as .018. The best case in this senerio is to use a small quarantine tank with salinity close to the bag and gradually bring up the salinity in the qt tank to the level of the main tank--over 24 hrs is good.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11431762#post11431762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ski979 [/i]
[B]thanks for the info i will but the refractometer ... yes i do test for all of thoes you have mentioned above i have to test kits and do water changes every 3 weeks and all my water parameters seem to be good im using the lighting the bio cube came with which is actnic 03 blue compact fluorescent lamp and one 10,000k daylight compact fluorescent lamp as i mentioned above i am using petco nsw, and the one powerhead i have in the tank your saying isnt enough its rated for a 100gal tank or should i put 2?? but when i finish acclimating using the drip method nothing seems to live, can it be the petco water i mean my fish seem to be fine should i listen to what stingy had mentioned and just mix my own saltwater ??? [/B][/QUOTE]

you need a flow rate in the tank between 20 and 40 times the tank volume per hour
in your case roughly between 600 and 1200 gph
Two hydor korilias either number ones--450gph or number twos--650 gph would do great.
Two of them because you can reposition them so all the tank is receiviing oood flow-- and korilias because they supply turbulent flow rather then straight laminar flow with power heads.

crank up the flow over the xenia and watch it grow--it loves being bashed around by a turbulent flow.

ok thanks alot i'll try that capn, do you think i should discard the petco nsw water

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11431836#post11431836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ski979 [/i]
[B]ok thanks alot i'll try that capn, do you think i should discard the petco nsw water [/B][/QUOTE]

in the main tank---no, but mix your own salt from now on--I use Instant Ocean but there are other good ones.
that said --check the salinity level in the cube and make sure it is .026---it not gradually bring it up over your next few top ups by using .026 salt water instead of just r/0 water.

quarantine tank---always use a qt tank for new purchases--a good observation period is 4-6 weeks. This gives pathogens--ge ich time to appear and treat and allows you to get difficult eaters to feed etc.
In your case now it gives you a place to gradually acclimatize your snails like I posted above.

by the way---hermit crabs and snails are not a good mix--sooner or later the hermits will attack the snails for their shells or simply for sport--a gastropodic NFL:lol:

"ok thanks alot i'll try that capn, do you think i should discard the petco nsw water"




Discard the Petco and get yourself some Instant Ocean.
If you're going to be serious about this hoddy......get mixing.
And do a very larg water change in your tank,at least 50% now and then another 50% in a week.Let me put it to you this way.
I could mix up a fresh batch of I.O.
Get it to temperature.Place some xenia in there and it would live a lot long than you described.Maybe even weeks....
Face it,your water is poison.
Anyways,you've been warned...

*Any chance these fish are Damsels that lived?

yes damseles and thanks again i'll start mixing with the i.o.

Great.......
You see,I've been in your shoes.
When you first start out there's nothing to compare what you're doing too.So you keep blaming yourself the whole time and it turns out to be one of the"trusted" components you purchased for your set up.
Post some results later after you change the water out.
You also get much more enjoyment from the hobby knowing you mixed up the water the critters are living in.I think you're going to be shocked at how much better things are going to be.

*** Use RO or distilled water****

You can sometime prchase ro/di from the local fish store.
Or just pick some gallons up from Walmart(green or purple cap).

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11432273#post11432273 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ski979 [/i]
[B]yes damseles and thanks again i'll start mixing with the i.o. [/B][/QUOTE]

discard the damsels along with the water:eek2:
Damsels are big trouble down the line--they become very agressive and territorial--or just plain bulleys.

ok i thats what i'll do and thanks again for putting me on the right track and for the info i'll keep you guys posted thanks...

good luck--give us some feedback on how it goes

definitely.... thanks again