new turbo snails... deader than soccer

[Juan Valdez]

I have a young reef tank. It consists of about 55 lbs. of Fiji rock
in about a 32 gallon tank. It's recently through the amonia/nitrite
cycle... ended about five days ago. I got two big turbo snails around
that time to tame a little algae growth. One of them ate a little,
the other hardly moved. Now, they are deader than soccer...

I didn't think nitrates could kill TSs. I bought some carbon today to
suck up any metallic or other chemical impurities...

Questions:
1. Why did they die? (I expect definitive answers, plus offers to
replace them. Heh.)
2. Are TSs very sensitive to nitrates?
3. How about dissolved copper, etc.?

One of my camel shrimp also committed suicide by jumping out of the
tank. My emerald crab looks fine, but my red crabs are a little
lethargic. My mushroom polyps (I know, I added them too soon...) are
improving. They weathered the cycle.

adTHANKSvance,
Juan

[maddie]

I think that turbo snails are especially vulnerable to high nitrate levels.
I wanted to put some in my newly cycled tank and the guy at my LFS told me
to wait until my tank matured. I did and I actually still had trouble
keeping them alive. I've had better luck with other species.

Good Luck!
"Juan Valdez" > wrote in message
...
> I have a young reef tank. It consists of about 55 lbs. of Fiji rock
> in about a 32 gallon tank. It's recently through the amonia/nitrite
> cycle... ended about five days ago. I got two big turbo snails around
> that time to tame a little algae growth. One of them ate a little,
> the other hardly moved. Now, they are deader than soccer...
>
> I didn't think nitrates could kill TSs. I bought some carbon today to
> suck up any metallic or other chemical impurities...
>
> Questions:
> 1. Why did they die? (I expect definitive answers, plus offers to
> replace them. Heh.)
> 2. Are TSs very sensitive to nitrates?
> 3. How about dissolved copper, etc.?
>
> One of my camel shrimp also committed suicide by jumping out of the
> tank. My emerald crab looks fine, but my red crabs are a little
> lethargic. My mushroom polyps (I know, I added them too soon...) are
> improving. They weathered the cycle.
>
> adTHANKSvance,
> Juan
>

[Juan Valdez]

>I think that turbo snails are especially vulnerable to high nitrate levels.
>I wanted to put some in my newly cycled tank and the guy at my LFS told me
>to wait until my tank matured. I did and I actually still had trouble
>keeping them alive. I've had better luck with other species.

Huh. Can you suggest some other specied that perform the same
function? Or other animals for that matter... crabs, shrimp, etc.

Gracias,
Juan

[maddie]

Hi Juan,

In my experience, the Cerith and Nerite snails seem to be a little hardier
than the Turbo Grazers. About half of them have survived after 2 months.
Also, they are surprisingly fast grazers. I mail ordered mine from:

http://www.garf.org/hairalgae.html#SPECIAL

Good luck!

Maddie
"Juan Valdez" > wrote in message
...
>
> >I think that turbo snails are especially vulnerable to high nitrate
levels.
> >I wanted to put some in my newly cycled tank and the guy at my LFS told
me
> >to wait until my tank matured. I did and I actually still had trouble
> >keeping them alive. I've had better luck with other species.
>
> Huh. Can you suggest some other specied that perform the same
> function? Or other animals for that matter... crabs, shrimp, etc.
>
> Gracias,
> Juan
>

[paul mannion]

Hi Juan,

To honest pal, they died because you did not have a good soccer match on TV
for them to get excited about!!
Even better for them if it had been the English premier league.

Take care,

Paul.
England
UK.
"Juan Valdez" > wrote in message
...
> I have a young reef tank. It consists of about 55 lbs. of Fiji rock
> in about a 32 gallon tank. It's recently through the amonia/nitrite
> cycle... ended about five days ago. I got two big turbo snails around
> that time to tame a little algae growth. One of them ate a little,
> the other hardly moved. Now, they are deader than soccer...
>
> I didn't think nitrates could kill TSs. I bought some carbon today to
> suck up any metallic or other chemical impurities...
>
> Questions:
> 1. Why did they die? (I expect definitive answers, plus offers to
> replace them. Heh.)
> 2. Are TSs very sensitive to nitrates?
> 3. How about dissolved copper, etc.?
>
> One of my camel shrimp also committed suicide by jumping out of the
> tank. My emerald crab looks fine, but my red crabs are a little
> lethargic. My mushroom polyps (I know, I added them too soon...) are
> improving. They weathered the cycle.
>
> adTHANKSvance,
> Juan
>

[PaulB]

Collonista and stomatella snails will reproduce in your tank. Usually you
can get them from someone local, or as hitchhikers.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/


"Juan Valdez" > wrote in message
...
>
>>I think that turbo snails are especially vulnerable to high nitrate
>>levels.
>>I wanted to put some in my newly cycled tank and the guy at my LFS told me
>>to wait until my tank matured. I did and I actually still had trouble
>>keeping them alive. I've had better luck with other species.
>
> Huh. Can you suggest some other specied that perform the same
> function? Or other animals for that matter... crabs, shrimp, etc.
>
> Gracias,
> Juan
>

[Martin Streicher]

My tank is about four months old. I originally had one turbo in it
after the cycle ended, but it died. Many weeks later, I tried to add
more to curb an enormous diatom bloom in the tank. That worked, but
once the tank was clean, the turbos went lethargic and some have died
or are in the process of dying.

Originally, folks thought that my salinity was out of whack due to a
bad hydrometer. I bought a refractometer and that revealed that
salinity was not the problem. My nitrates typically run a little above
0, too.

I think ultimately they starved to death. Too many snails and too few
things to eat. The blenny is very voracious, too.

Instead of turbos, I would suggest trochus and ceriths, both of which
can upright themselves after a fall. I also like margarita snails
because they are voracious. Trochus are too. Beware that astreas and
margaritas (among others) cannot right themselves, so sometimes you
have to intervene as a human crane.

I also have nassarius in the tank, and those have spawned, leaving some
babies and lots of white eggs on the glass.

For me, skip turbos and get trochus and ceriths. And perhaps a blenny.





On 2004-11-08 22:02:50 -0500, Juan Valdez > said:

> I have a young reef tank. It consists of about 55 lbs. of Fiji rock
> in about a 32 gallon tank. It's recently through the amonia/nitrite
> cycle... ended about five days ago. I got two big turbo snails around
> that time to tame a little algae growth. One of them ate a little,
> the other hardly moved. Now, they are deader than soccer...
>
> I didn't think nitrates could kill TSs. I bought some carbon today to
> suck up any metallic or other chemical impurities...
>
> Questions:
> 1. Why did they die? (I expect definitive answers, plus offers to
> replace them. Heh.)
> 2. Are TSs very sensitive to nitrates?
> 3. How about dissolved copper, etc.?
>
> One of my camel shrimp also committed suicide by jumping out of the
> tank. My emerald crab looks fine, but my red crabs are a little
> lethargic. My mushroom polyps (I know, I added them too soon...) are
> improving. They weathered the cycle.
>
> adTHANKSvance,
> Juan