More snail death!

[mschloss]

Dr. Ron,

I have had a recent problem with Turbo snail die-off in my tank. It is a 120gal SPS/clam tank with some tangs etc... The fish and corals are doing very well, but I can't keep my snails alive to save my life. My tank parameters are fine, and have a SG of 1.024.

I believe my tank temperature, which ranges from 80-84 degrees is the culprit (you alluded to this in a recent post). Assuming I don't go blow $1000 on a chiller, what can I replace my snails with for clean-up crew duty. My luck with hermits was just as dismal. I have a queen conch and some fighting conch which are doing well with the sandbed.

I no longer have significant algae problems and just need some inverts to keep it looking nice.

Are other snail species more tolerant of higher temperatures?

Does the SG play an important role in snail survival?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Matt

[rshimek]

Originally posted by mschloss

Hi Matt,


I believe my tank temperature, which ranges from 80-84 degrees is the culprit (you alluded to this in a recent post).

I really doubt this is part of the problem.

Are other snail species more tolerant of higher temperatures?

Those that are truly from the tropics thrive at tropical temperatures.

Does the SG play an important role in snail survival?

Definitely. They are quite sensitive to lower salinities.

However, I don't believe those factors have much to do with the problem. I believe the key to your situation is in the following statement, "I no longer have significant algae problems and just need some inverts to keep it looking nice."

Without algae to feed on, the snails die of starvation. I suspect that you simply don't have enough food in the tank to support a lot of snails.

The general pattern in reef aquaria is to put some snails in a tank, and then increase the number until the algae are gone. This results in a situation where none of the remaining animals have enough food. They all starve to death. The algae return.

Repeat the cycle.... :(

If you start to get a problem with diatom growth, add one one or two snails. Let them work on the problem for a few weeks or so. If there is still an algal problem, introduce one or two more snails.

Continue this until you reach a population level, where, at the end of the lighting period, there is a barely noticeable film of algae. At this point don't add any more herbivores on these algae. Your system will be as good as it can get with them.