Bad luck with mexican turbo snails. What am I missing?

[aquahobbyMD]

I've never been able to keep mexican turbo snails for very long. Seems like 50% die within a few weeks of adding to the tank and the rest slowly die over the next 3-6 months. And they are never very active. In fact, my trochus snails are much more active. I do a slow drip acclimation process over 1-2 hours. Nitrates and phosphates are zero, water temp 79 to 80. Anemone, corals, and trochus snails are doing fine. No predators and there's plenty of algae for them to graze on. What am I missing?

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

any hermits?

 

[aquahobbyMD]

yes, but trochus snails are thriving.

 

[steved13]

I'm not sure where you are getting your snails from, but I thought this was interesting info on acclimation when they are shipped.

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Acclimation

 

[N83259]

They are native to the Sea of Cortez and is not considered tropical. Some areas there are quite cold. So maybe yours were collected in a cold(er) area and can not adapt to 79F? This is just speculation on my part. But this is the case with the Margaretia snails. My LFS, although a pretty good outfit overall, often unknowingly sells inverts suited to cold water environments.

 

[PSU4ME]

I have the same problem......they go crazy for 3 weeks and then shut down on me. I'll be sticking with the trochus and emerald crabs from here on out.

 

[DesertOrchid]

Nerites, nassarius and cerith snails are awesome for a cuc. They are small but do a big job and they don't disturb your corals. You can get the super Tongan nassarius and they get bigger if you want something of size, great shell shape and do a wonderful job of keeping the substrate clean. I have a few trochus and 1 very large turbo but definitely like my other snails better. Also they will lay eggs and add to the feedings of your corals as they have a planktonic larval stage.

 

[BigAl07]

I'm not sure where you are getting your snails from, but I thought this was interesting info on acclimation when they are shipped.

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Acclimation

I buy all my CUC from John over at ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae and yes his acclimation isn't what you normally hear but once you know WHY you know how! That's how I do it! Thanks John

Nerites, nassarius and cerith snails are awesome for a cuc. They are small but do a big job and they don't disturb your corals. You can get the super Tongan nassarius and they get bigger if you want something of size, great shell shape and do a wonderful job of keeping the substrate clean.

That's pretty much my thought process as well! That's a BIG portion of my CUC!

 

[redneckgearhead]

I'm not sure where you are getting your snails from, but I thought this was interesting info on acclimation when they are shipped.

ReefCleaners.org | Clean Up Crews and Macro Algae - Acclimation

Wow Steve, Thanks for sharing. I did not know that! Plus I quit buying turbos because they do not live long in my tank either. As was mentioned I do not think they like the warm waters of our tanks.

 

[reefer gladness]

I had good success with a snail CUC from reefcleaners recently as well. Express shipping from Floriday to California took 2 days and snails took off within 5 minutes of being introduced. Got a little blue-legged hermit crab that hitch-hiked along too ,

Worth noting the reason why reefcleaners acclimation process is different, it's because the snails they sell live in inter-tidal pools and are more tolorant of temp and salinity changes. I would always follow the vendors recommended acclimation steps so as to not void a return guarantee if they don't make it past the first 2 weeks.

When you do drip acclimate, I think the Reef Gently AccliMate Acclimator / Transporter Tank works fantastic.