My Snails Dont Last.

My LFS sells at least 3 different types of snails. One of them is the Margarita snail. It's a cold water snail that does not last long in warm water tanks. They are smaller and round, without the conical point that the turbo has.

You are probably talking about turbos but I thought I 'd mention it just in case you have margaritas.
 
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Most of the snails in our tanks come from cold waters. Astrea, turbo, margarite - all come from cool water.

We are slowly boiling them in our tanks. Even at 75F it's at least 20F warmer than they are evolved to live in.

From the article I linked to earlier:
They are even found in the tropics. However, when they are found in the tropics, they live several thousand feet down in water whose temperature is 39° F. or lower. In other words, there are no snails of the genus Margarites that are found in warm tropical waters. One finds examples of the common North Pacific species, Margarites pupillus (Figure 13), offered for sale and this invariably leads to a quick death for this species if kept in reef aquaria. As with the species of Tegula, with which they share the common name "margarite" snail, they have no place in reef tanks. Still vendors persist in selling them. Go figure...
Click to expand...

And the astrea snail:
Given that they also are not warm water animals, they tend to die young and leave a good-looking corpse in the aquarium. Purchase them if you wish. I would spend my money on tropical species, however.
Click to expand...
 
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Something else thats not been mentioned.
Whats the salinity in your tank and is it tested with a hydrometer or refractometer?

I've found that nearly all inverts will do better when the salinity is kept at 1.025-1.026.
 
I still havent found the Problem with my snails. I bought some on monday they seem to be fine. 3 Turbo's and one Larger one that has some black stripes on the shell. 2 out of three Turbo's are moving around one is Just hanging on to a rock. The Stripped one is Awsome, tho he hides during the day.

I will check the Salinity and the electrical Current again. I am tired of Dumping money into snails.

Cheers
 
Me and Pufferguy must have the uncoordinated breed of snails. Mine never flip back over. They lay there till they die or a crab comes along and kills them. If they are in the front and I see them, I flip em back over, most of the time, they are back behind the rocks.
 
as stated, if a snail is healthy it will right itself. I you are having to reach in to "help" it you are likely just postponing the inevitable.
 
Thats not really correct.

Astrea snails cannot right themselves. It's well known. They have evolved to live on the coral reefs. 10's of millions of years of evolution. If they fall off the reef, the chances are so great that they will find something to attach their foot too and pull themselves upright - they never evolved the ability to flip themselves over when they land on the sand.

They just never evolved and "grew" the ability to right themselves from the sand bed because there isn't enough need for that little trick on a real coral reef. Anytime they take a tumble they are going to land on another rock or someplace where they can stretch out and grab something with their foot. They don't need the ability to right themselves from the sand bed because 99.99999999999999999% of the time they will land somewhere and still be able to grab hold and pull themselves up. The dumb or unfortunate ones (Darwin wins again) are naturally culled from the gene pool.

But our tanks are not natural. They can and do fall down into the sand bed where they cannot reach out and grab a rock or glass with their foot. They die as a result.
 
Pilot, I read about half of the article that link sent me to. Good Stuff. I think I need to acclimate my snails for longer than a half hour. Especially since the snails can live up to "a few weeks" before kicking the Bucket if not acclimated properly.
Another thing, that Link was from an on line Monthly Magazine. I saved the link so I can look into that sight, pretty solid information.
 
One other thought Ninja... Do you have any other inverts or clams that are surviving? I just got to thinking about your other thread, where you are making LR out of rocks you are harvesting from the wild. Maybe you are leaching heavy metals that are poisoning them.
 
My crabs and snails get along pretty good, last night there were no less than 2 snails riding on the hermit crab's shells...kinda funny...goodluck with your snails!
 
I do have Small clams and Starfish that are Thriving in my tanks.
I don’t think my rocks are the Problem. I don’t have that many left that I made. (I am due to make a new batch.) All the rocks I get are from a Creek bed that is Spring Feed. It might be the problem but I doubt it.

I just checked my Hydrometer and realized I have 2 of them. Both read differently, and their Ranges are Unacceptable. I have to get a new one and see what the deal is,
 
dont waste money on another hydrometer, as you can see they wear out pretty quick. Get a refractometer once, and you'll be all set. As far as the rock goes, creek beds tend to be a naturally high source of concentrated iron, magnesium, and other heavy metals as they are usually fed from springs from below the earth's surface. If it's a "hot" spring, you can be sure that it's full of heavy metals as those are created by magma at the earths core when it interacts with water. It creates steam and upward pressure that drives nutrient rich water to the surface. If it's a mountain spring, it can be a similar issue. As the water travels through the rocks and soil below the surface it will carry nutrients and then deposit them in the creek beds as the water reaches the surface. All that to say that if you aren't sure of the purity of your rock, it's something that you may want to give a second thought to. Either way, I hope your luck with snail changes!
 
No Idea If the Snails Flip back over, But I think I may have figured out a Problem with my Own Snails.

I got My New Refractometer Yesterday and My water was at 1.031 Salinity. Needless to say I was pissed off. I checked all my Hyrdometers and they were all reading Lower Salinity. </SPAN>

I took the Salinity Down a bunch and will have to do some more water Changes tonight; I hope that helps my snails.
 
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