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Can't keep nerite snails alive past 24 hours


onlywei
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My nerite snails keep dying within 24 hours of adding to any of my tanks. I've gotten nerites from at least 4 different sources, this latest one from Aqua Huna.

All of my fish and plants are doing fine. There are also brown diatoms everywhere for the nerites to eat.

I tested copper using the API copper test kit, it came back 0ppm.

Does anyone know what else could cause nerite deaths?

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As mentioned any med that has been used even if it has not been for quite awhile can harm snails. They can absorb into seals etc and slowly leak. 
I have heard some meds linger once absorbed in things up to a year. I am not certain how true that is.

What is you kh/gh/ph  I do not think that would harm them right off the bat but if your sources were way different than yours and you just dropped them in that could be an issue  They also do not appreciate really hot tanks.  
 

Are the diatoms on plants or glass?  Certain nerites each eat from different places  my black racers only ever are on the glass etc  

 

 

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On 11/18/2022 at 6:31 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Salt?

What is going on with the tank in question, what's the full setup?

On 11/18/2022 at 6:39 PM, Flumpweesel said:

Some meds are deadly for snails (certainly anything that contains malachite green or methyl blue) so have you been treating the tanks at all recently ?

There are multiple tanks. All planted, none with salt nor meds (never added them ever). One has CO2 injection, the others don't.

 

On 11/18/2022 at 6:57 PM, Guppysnail said:

As mentioned any med that has been used even if it has not been for quite awhile can harm snails. They can absorb into seals etc and slowly leak. 
I have heard some meds linger once absorbed in things up to a year. I am not certain how true that is.

What is you kh/gh/ph  I do not think that would harm them right off the bat but if your sources were way different than yours and you just dropped them in that could be an issue  They also do not appreciate really hot tanks.  
 

Are the diatoms on plants or glass?  Certain nerites each eat from different places  my black racers only ever are on the glass etc 

KH is 5, GH is close to zero, but this time I added a giant wonder shell a few days before adding the nerites. My tap water PH is between 7.8 and 8.2. The one tank with CO2 probably has a lower PH, the other tanks are probably still between 7.8 and 8.2. Temperature 76-78F. Nerites came in a moist paper towel, not in water.

The diatoms are on plants, rocks, wood, AND glass. But I don't think that matters since the nerites only move a maximum of 6 inches before they stop moving and eventually die.

Edited by onlywei
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Yes I think maybe the 0gh could be an issue. It seems like everything else is within there range unless is from lingering meds that could have ve used at one time. We know there are all different types of minerals in the gh category. But for them to die so rapidly is what puzzles me. I wouldn't that that would make them die so rapidly. I could see meds doing that but I would think the gh wouldn't make it happen that rapidly.

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Here are photos of the tank. I dropped the snails in the bottom right corner five hours ago, and I made sure they were upright. They barely crawled any distance at all. One has even fallen off the glass and can’t get back up.

A50896F3-9015-48A7-9338-C8BD95907CEE.jpeg

52BA5561-85EE-443D-A3D1-FAE4D3DF666B.jpeg

03A545D5-D583-43A8-90D6-795175648DF7.jpeg

On 11/18/2022 at 8:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

Try adding a touch of equilibrium maybe your gh being zero might mean not enough of all the different minerals they need. That is a total guess but the only thing I see out of the ordinary. 

My GH shouldn’t be zero anymore after adding a wonder shell though, right? Also GH being zero shouldn’t cause immediate death?

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On 11/18/2022 at 8:16 PM, onlywei said:

Here are photos of the tank. I dropped the snails in the bottom right corner five hours ago, and I made sure they were upright. They barely crawled any distance at all. One has even fallen off the glass and can’t get back up.

A50896F3-9015-48A7-9338-C8BD95907CEE.jpeg

52BA5561-85EE-443D-A3D1-FAE4D3DF666B.jpeg

03A545D5-D583-43A8-90D6-795175648DF7.jpeg

My GH shouldn’t be zero anymore after adding a wonder shell though, right? Also GH being zero shouldn’t cause immediate death?

Have you checked the gh since adding the wonder shell?cit should def make a difference though.

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How long has the tank been set up? I do not see algae in those photos, and if snails were starved (or not fed) before traveling, there may not be enough food to get them nourished and going after the journey.

Also, have you added any planaria treatment? That will kill snails.

Sorry about the losses. ☹️

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On 11/18/2022 at 9:05 PM, eatyourpeas said:

How long has the tank been set up? I do not see algae in those photos, and if snails were starved (or not fed) before traveling, there may not be enough food to get them nourished and going after the journey.

Also, have you added any planaria treatment? That will kill snails.

Sorry about the losses. ☹️

There are so many diatoms that I had to use a toothbrush to remove most of it during a water change the day before. If it was a food issue, wouldn’t the snails first try to find food before dying? They couldn’t even move 6 inches…

Never added any planaria treatment.

On 11/19/2022 at 1:14 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

My very first thought is- how are you acclimating the snails? Do you float their bag and add tank water every 15 minutes? I do this for 45 min to 1 hr if I float acclimate. Most often I do a 1 hour drip acclimate though. They are just like fish; they can’t be just plopped in or they will go into shock.

The snails did not come in a bag of water. They came in a moist paper towel.

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On 11/19/2022 at 9:02 AM, onlywei said:

The snails did not come in a bag of water. They came in a moist paper towel.

This may be part of the problem. Though nerites can breath air I’m not sure they can handle being out of water as long as mystery snails. I’m uncertain so don’t take that as definitely. Nerites I see shipped are always in bay water. 

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I think @Chick-In-Of-TheSea is on the right track with acclimatization. Multiple tanks and sources makes it difficult to pinpoint.  Do you have any other snails?  Did the Nerites all arrive from different sources in paper towels?  How long do you wait before declaring them dead?

I would also think that Aqua Huna would not ship this way if it doesn't work.  Nerites can remain motionless for hours or even days before moving. They can also live out of water for days. This probably requires a humid environment.  Mine have remained above the water line and in the same place for 3 or more days.  My second guess is that some of your snails could have been taken directly from brackish water. I don't know how long it takes them to adapt to freshwater.  It is possible that the snails died as a result of abuse during shipping. I have read that the operculum on a dead snail will be open.  I have found this to be false at least for my Nerites, so they remain in a suitable environment for at least another week.

 

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On 11/19/2022 at 9:02 AM, onlywei said:

There are so many diatoms that I had to use a toothbrush to remove most of it during a water change the day before. If it was a food issue, wouldn’t the snails first try to find food before dying? They couldn’t even move 6 inches…

Never added any planaria treatment.

The snails did not come in a bag of water. They came in a moist paper towel.

What I usually do is float the Tupperware (I’m assuming the moist paper towel was in a Tupperware) with the moist paper towel in the tank for 15-30 min. Then I add a shotglass full of tank water to the Tupperware. I wait 15 min and then I do that again. Then I wait 15 min and put the snails in the tank.

some nerites take 2-3 days to move. Sniffing them will let you know if they are alive. Also for some reason nerites aren’t that great at rolling over if they are on their back, so try to place them with their opening down when they go into the tank. 
@onlywei

Edited by Chick-In-Of-TheSea
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On 11/19/2022 at 1:19 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What I usually do is float the Tupperware (I’m assuming the moist paper towel was in a Tupperware) with the moist paper towel in the tank for 15-30 min. Then I add a shotglass full of tank water to the Tupperware. I wait 15 min and then I do that again. Then I wait 15 min and put the snails in the tank.

some nerites take 2-3 days to move. Sniffing them will let you know if they are alive. Also for some reason nerites aren’t that great at rolling over if they are on their back, so try to place them with their opening down when they go into the tank. 
@onlywei

The moist paper towel was in a ziplock. I could have done what you said for acclimation, but its too late now 😞

I did put effort into positioning the snails so that they didn’t have to roll over. They all started moving immediately. They just stopped after an hour or two. One of them even managed to climb around 3 inches up the glass before falling down, and never got back up.

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On 11/19/2022 at 2:35 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

What's the substrate and how old is it?

This current tank has a layer of baked clay  cat litter, then a layer of Seachem Flourite, and finally a lot of Fluval Stratum on top.

Another tank has CaribSea Eco-Complete with Black Diamond blasting sand.

Another tank has no substrate at all.

Nerites died in all three tanks.

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On 11/19/2022 at 2:48 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Are the tanks new?

The bare bottom tank was around 4 months old when I added nerites.

The other two were 1 month old cycled using filter media from other tanks.

All had algae growing as well as fish and plants thriving.

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On 11/19/2022 at 2:30 PM, onlywei said:

The bare bottom tank was around 4 months old when I added nerites.

The other two were 1 month old cycled using filter media from other tanks.

All had algae growing as well as fish and plants thriving.

Okay, I'm going with the others. Need to raise GH. I'm surprised the fish aren't dead at 0dGH. 

I would imagine the Snails are kept, at the store, with much more GH. You plop them in and they can't handle the degree change in GH. Wonder Shell isn't going to cut it. GH is both Calcium and magnesium, not just calcium. When you raise GH, don't lift it more than 1.5 degrees in 24 hours. I would shoot for 5 degrees.

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On 11/19/2022 at 2:40 PM, onlywei said:

Don’t wonder shells contain both calcium and magnesium?

Don't know, they don't list the ingredients. And think of it as a vitamin supplement. The water needs GH

On 11/19/2022 at 2:41 PM, onlywei said:

Yes I do. Otherwise my water would be 14dGH

And there's your salt source. Pretty sure that's swapping Ca and Mg with Na.

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