astrea snails dying?

jared

Member
i have about 6 astrea snails in my tank, they have been in for 2 weeks or so now, been happy muching on algae all day for most the time up until now, they start falling off the rocks daily, so i turn them over so they can keep moving, but they fall again, eventually they either die or the hermits have a feast on them.

any idea what causes this?? the tank is cleaned weekly, 2 gallon water change, fresh filter and carbon, clean the glass etc. everything is consistant no sick fish, the cleaner shrimp just molted and is doing great, so nothing is seemingly out of whack.

i have 2 other snails not astreas, maybe nerite? that were in the chaeto i bought and they are doing great still, and grown over 2x the size they were when i got them in the same 2 week period.
 

DML08

Member
post your water parameters and temp.. If I have to guess I'm going to say salinity.. what do you measure it with?
 

jared

Member
i measure the salinity with a cheap hydrometer, can't afford the refractometer now, i can barely afford to buy salt LOL.

its 1.025-1.026 and it stays consistant
temp is 78-79 day/night
ammonia 0
nitraite 0
nitrate 0
phosphates .1 ppm
calcium 450 ish (no corals or anything, no additives)

i haven't retested for alkalinity lately, but last time i believe it was high around 3.5 meq/l but i don't know if thats really good or bad
 

DML08

Member
get yourself a refractometer.. I bet that swing arm is way off.. when I first started I had the same issue and when I got my hands on a refractometer my salinaty was way off...
 

Sapphire

Active Member
I would agree - either buy one or at least beg borrow or steal one. We were measuring our s.g with a hydrometerand thought it was a perfect and consistent 1.026. We took some water to the LFS and it was 1.30!!
 
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