Help plz

[cumminz]

I bought a Large snail and a Large hermit yesterday. My Hermit is all over the tank, very good buy. But my snail, he is always upside down, but i never see the actual snail, just his shell. I reach in there and tip him back over, and watch him for about 30 minutes to see if he moves. He never does, so I go and do whatever I need to do and come back, and he is upside down again. Any ideas?

 

[reeffreak]

Pick up the snail,smell it and if it smells like death then toss it.

 

[cumminz]

I just figured it out! I have been watching my tank for 4 hours and the asshole crab is trying to take his shell. can i take the snail out if he is dead and throw the shell back in for my other lil bastard?

 

[reeffreak]

If the shell is empty than you can put it back in the tank.Otherwise no,I wouldn't put a dead snail to rot back in the tank.

 

[cumminz]

Well, if he isnt dead, he will be soon. how would i get him out since he is dead?

 

[reeffreak]

Escargot anyone?

I'm not sure how to remove the body.Perhaps boiling it will loosen the body from the shell.

 

[cumminz]

Damn that will probably get stinky

 

[cgoodman381]

If the hermit is already trying to get its shell then I would just leave it. The hermit will eat the snail and take its shell.

If you want to do it manually then yes boiling or manual removal is the easiest way to go as far as i know.

 

[cumminz]

Ya cuz my tank is very new and i dont want to poison it so i took it out

 

[cgoodman381]

It doesnt really matter how new it is, it would raise your levels no matter the tanks age. What size do you have?

 

[Piggy]

Number one reason why I hate hermit crabs. They kill the snails for their shells. You can have plenty of empty ones lying around and they still do.

 

[cumminz]

Ya well, He was a badass. my tank is a 45 i think. Havent actually measured it yet. it is the same size as a 20, just taller

 

[Bifferwine]

One snail dying won't necessarily raise the levels in your tank, especially in a more mature tank. Hell, I've had entire fish disappear in my tank and never seen a spike in anything. When snails die in my tank, I leave them in -- it's food for the cleaner crew. And if you have a sufficient cleaner crew, they'll do their job and you won't notice a change in your water parameters.

That being said, I wouldn't leave it in to rot in a smallish tank like yours.

Hermits will do that. Hermits suck.

 

[McCrary]

Small red leg hermits and astrea snails instead of larger hermits and turbos will help to reduce the hermits preying on the snails for their shells.

Established tanks handle fluctuations in ammonia much better than tanks that are newer.

A single snail probably isn't going to do that much to a tank, unless the filtration is bordering on nonexistent. But if anyone has ever smelled a dead snail it is enough to make you want to throw up. They are nasty and I could see how water quality might be slightly degraded by having one of those things rot in a tank. Larger tanks will probably not even notice a snail dying and may not notice a fish dying a Biff pointed out.

 

[cumminz]

I did get 2 new red legged ones about 20 mins ago and got a flame scallop. I am looking for a skimmer right now. I just need a smaller 1, but i think i do need 1

 

[cgoodman381]

some people have trouble with flame scallops to.... I think you need a more mature tank for em

 

[cumminz]

They are filter feeders, And the guy said that i could feed them DT if i needed to(Whatever the hell that is?)

 

[Bifferwine]

Flame scallops have extremely poor survival rates. Another one of those "expert only" animals that rarely live longer than a month or two. They have very poor survival rates even in mature, established tanks. The guy that sold you it gave you bad information -- the LFS knows that they are difficult animals to keep.

 

[cumminz]

Well, I go to that store all of the time and that is the first time I have seen that guy, and if i go in there and see him again, i will turn around and walk out. what an asshat.

 

[Bifferwine]

Some people are just out to sell you stuff, unfortunately. He is correct about what the scallops eat, but he should have been more forth coming about how difficult they are to keep. Some people do keep them successfully, but they are in the minority. I hope that you have good luck with yours.