Emergancy

[Tommy3492]

Hi so ive noticed a number of my snails not doing to good, i have 2 casualties in the padt day, and lke 3- 4 of them are kinda alive, i just did a 10 gallon water change, its a 90 gallon reef... into the 4th of cycle, will the snails dying cause more death throughout the tank????


What should i do ?


Thanks

[kar93]

What are your water params?
How do you know something is wrong with the snails?

[Shnabbles]

what is "the 4th of cycle"?

You should not have any inverts in the tank if your tank is still cycling.

[Tommy3492]

4th week, got 170 lbs of live rock 140 lbs of live sand, i just did a water change, i am not sure on my parameters just yet, and i found in internal workings of a snil floating around my tank...

My paramteres from 2 days ago...

Temperature: 78 F
pH: 8.0
Salinity: 1.025 SG
Calcium: 500 ppm
Nitrate: 20 mg/l
Phosphate: 0 mg/l
Nitrite: <.3 mg/l
Ammonia: 0 mg/l
Carbonate Hardness : 11 dKH

[Tommy3492]

ammonia are at 0 nd nitrates have gone down to around 10 ppm, i just tested...

[Sk8r]

Did you drip acclimate your snails when you put them in? They need that.
Good on your readings, but that calcium is a bit high. Most salt tops out at 380, if I recall. Are you dosing anything like Purple Up?

And you know that the pointy snails can't right themselves on sand and must be flipped back upright with a chopstick or the like. They cannot crawl on sand.

[Tommy3492]

i did the bag method , but i did it for like 45 min, 15 min was doing the temp alighnment, then the 30 min was adding 1/2 cup of water at a time, i usually flip all of my snails over. i got the drip acclimation rig setup so when i add new things ill do it that way, and could the calciu have a effect? im using a calcium reactor, do i even need it on atm????

[m2434]

IMO acclimation is never the issue with sails.. We're talking about animals that can live out of water for extended periods of time and are usually shipped in damp newspaper...

How are your other inverts doing?
Where are the snails from?
Do you have any cyanobacteria or dinoflagettes?

[Tommy3492]

my hermit crabs seem to be doing ok, but the problem is everything really is NOT active... when i first brought these guys home they were very active cleaning the algea all of the place but not since there is none really left they are doing anything... the snails are from a really crazy nice all reef store.... im not sure what the cyanobasteria and dinoflagettes are....

[Shnabbles]

No you dont need the Calcium Reactor yet.. and probally not until you have a large amount of stoney corals growing.

Could be the slightly low PH, could be the nitrates... they could be starving.

[Tommy3492]

alright turned off my calcium reactor, ph is now at like 8.06, and nitrates have gone down my 10 ppm, i think i might be ok in the days to come, but what are cyanobasteria and dinoflagettes?

[m2434]

Cyanobacteria and Dinoflagellate are bacteria and algae respectively, that can produce toxins. Grazing animals such as snails can occasionally be effected by these toxins.

Dinoflagellate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate

Cyanobacteria:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria

[Tommy3492]

ok then so how would i know that i have them, and if so how can i get rid of them???

[Davidb6]

Maybe I missed something in the thread but based on your testing ( Nitrate: 10 mg/l (should be zero) Nitrite: <.3 mg/ (should be <1)) it doesn't look like you tank cycled yet. You really shouldn't put anything in the tank while its cycling and many people would not change any of the water during this time either.

[Tommy3492]

.3 is less than 1 and the reason i believe that the nitrates are high now, is beacuse the cycle has been done 2-3 weeks ago, and have not been doing water changes... based on the books ive read, with the setup i have it is estimated for 3-10 day cycle, but i know its different for every tank, and after i did a water change today the nitrates went down by 10 ppm, so now there at 10ppm

[wayoutacontrol]

your tank is only 4 weeks old?
Remember nothing good happens fast.

[spike78]

Do you have any algae in the tank for them to feed on? As well, make sure you don't have any copper or brass in your plumbing. It sounds like a stupid question, but I've seen it before.