Is 8mg/l ammonia normal or not?

[Pszemol]

No, not in the tank... in the shipping bag with snails.
I have ordered 100 small astrea snails and they crammed
them into small bag with 1/2 water. The bag was basically
1/3 full of snails sitting on each other...

I have problems with survival rates: almost 1/2 snails
did not recover after shipping. Many snails are completely
dead, gapping operculum. Others are weak and do not stick
to rocks - just sit dormant. Very few are looking healthy
and grazing... Last night I spend about 5 hours aclimating
them slowly, hoping they will recover, but today morning
I found even more dead snails in the group I considered
ok yesterday... They did not make over night. 1/2 is dead.

I always leave water sample from the bag in a separate cup,
just in case I want to make some testing later, and I measured
ammonia off the chart on my AP test - about 8mm/l or more...

Is it normal? Should I blame packing too many snails in
a small bag for these deaths? They use the same small bag
they use for packing 6 emeralds, or 12 cerith snails...
Compare this to 100 astrea in the same bag - it sounds crazy.

[Microbot]

Sounds like alot of Snails for one bag designed for only a few snails..
Do they have a policy to cover deaths on arrival?

Cheers
Microbot

"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
> No, not in the tank... in the shipping bag with snails.
> I have ordered 100 small astrea snails and they crammed
> them into small bag with 1/2 water. The bag was basically
> 1/3 full of snails sitting on each other...
>
> I have problems with survival rates: almost 1/2 snails
> did not recover after shipping. Many snails are completely
> dead, gapping operculum. Others are weak and do not stick
> to rocks - just sit dormant. Very few are looking healthy
> and grazing... Last night I spend about 5 hours aclimating
> them slowly, hoping they will recover, but today morning
> I found even more dead snails in the group I considered
> ok yesterday... They did not make over night. 1/2 is dead.
>
> I always leave water sample from the bag in a separate cup,
> just in case I want to make some testing later, and I measured
> ammonia off the chart on my AP test - about 8mm/l or more...
>
> Is it normal? Should I blame packing too many snails in
> a small bag for these deaths? They use the same small bag
> they use for packing 6 emeralds, or 12 cerith snails...
> Compare this to 100 astrea in the same bag - it sounds crazy.

[John]

They might have packed a dead or dying snail?
~John

[Dan Norgard]

I received 100 Nassarius from a vendor in a bag with just a wet paper towel
and all were fine. I then purchased another 100 from a different vendor and
they arrived in a 6"x12" inch bag full of water and although well packed,
only five survived. When I contact vendor #2 he immediately offered to
replace them so I asked for the wet towel method...all survived.
I read somewhere that most snails are intertidal and need to be able to get
out of the water every so often aor at least get their siphons in the air.
Dan


"Pszemol" > wrote in message
...
No, not in the tank... in the shipping bag with snails.
I have ordered 100 small astrea snails and they crammed
them into small bag with 1/2 water. The bag was basically
1/3 full of snails sitting on each other...

I have problems with survival rates: almost 1/2 snails
did not recover after shipping. Many snails are completely
dead, gapping operculum. Others are weak and do not stick
to rocks - just sit dormant. Very few are looking healthy
and grazing... Last night I spend about 5 hours aclimating
them slowly, hoping they will recover, but today morning
I found even more dead snails in the group I considered
ok yesterday... They did not make over night. 1/2 is dead.

I always leave water sample from the bag in a separate cup,
just in case I want to make some testing later, and I measured
ammonia off the chart on my AP test - about 8mm/l or more...

Is it normal? Should I blame packing too many snails in
a small bag for these deaths? They use the same small bag
they use for packing 6 emeralds, or 12 cerith snails...
Compare this to 100 astrea in the same bag - it sounds crazy.

[Boomer]

Yes, you could expect readings that high

--
Boomer

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"Pszemol" > wrote in message ...
: No, not in the tank... in the shipping bag with snails.
: I have ordered 100 small astrea snails and they crammed
: them into small bag with 1/2 water. The bag was basically
: 1/3 full of snails sitting on each other...
:
: I have problems with survival rates: almost 1/2 snails
: did not recover after shipping. Many snails are completely
: dead, gapping operculum. Others are weak and do not stick
: to rocks - just sit dormant. Very few are looking healthy
: and grazing... Last night I spend about 5 hours aclimating
: them slowly, hoping they will recover, but today morning
: I found even more dead snails in the group I considered
: ok yesterday... They did not make over night. 1/2 is dead.
:
: I always leave water sample from the bag in a separate cup,
: just in case I want to make some testing later, and I measured
: ammonia off the chart on my AP test - about 8mm/l or more...
:
: Is it normal? Should I blame packing too many snails in
: a small bag for these deaths? They use the same small bag
: they use for packing 6 emeralds, or 12 cerith snails...
: Compare this to 100 astrea in the same bag - it sounds crazy.

[Pszemol]

"Dan Norgard" > wrote in message ...
> I received 100 Nassarius from a vendor in a bag with just a wet paper towel
> and all were fine. I then purchased another 100 from a different vendor and
> they arrived in a 6"x12" inch bag full of water and although well packed,
> only five survived. When I contact vendor #2 he immediately offered to
> replace them so I asked for the wet towel method...all survived.
> I read somewhere that most snails are intertidal and need to be able to get
> out of the water every so often aor at least get their siphons in the air.

This is good point and I have noticed similar thing with shipping snails...

I am not sure if this is about their siphons because snails we
keep in reefs usualy have gills - only some freshwater snails use
air, like ampularia...

I would rather say in the wet towel they go into slow metabolism,
(hibernation or sleep mode) and they do not pollute their water so much.
Also, there is much better gases exchange in the case of wet, humid snail
body contacting air than when the bag is filled with water and snails use up
all oxygen from the bag. Less water = more room for the oxygen in the bag...