all my astrea's died in two months!!!

[kinerson]

I ordered around 200 astrea's for my 150gal mixed reef about 3 months ago. About 30 of them went in a friends tank and the rest went into mine. After about 3-4 weeks they started dying. I would notice a dozen or so laying on the bottom of the tank partially opened up. After a couple weeks the number of empty shells began to grow and the number of living snails continued to drop. Now I have only a dozen or so. The interesting thing is the same thing happened in my friends tank. I called the retailer where I bought the snails to see if they had a "snail disease" or something but they said that they have had no reports of problems other then me.

Both my tank and my friends is similar as far as parameters. Everything is normal except the ph which is low in both tanks due to above normal Co2 levels in our homes (we live in a cold climate). The level runs from around 7.85 to 8.15. Calcium around 350ppm, Alk around 3meq/l, nitrates around 10ppm,specific gravity 1.025.

Any ideas what happened? I need some more snails as a result but I'm reluctant to buy more until I know what happened.

Thanks,
Greg

[plateboy3293]

Astrea have a hard time getting up if they fall on their back. The three Astrea that I had fell on their backs and were eaten by hermits.Do you have any hermits? You should also make sure none of the chemicals have copper in them.

[kinerson]

I do have a few hermits however I have allways had a few and never had any problems, also my friend has no hermits but experienced the same problem.

Greg

[graveyardworm]

Could've been a problem with shipping especially if they were shipped in the winter. Heat packs just dont work well enough.

Were they shipped in water or dry?
How were they acclimated to your tank?
If they were shipped in water did you test the water temp when they arrived?

In the case of your tank it could also be starvation from overstocking, that's alot of snails. Especially if food is in short supply.

Like plateboy pointed out astraea snails cant right themselves when they fall over in the sand, this also makes them easy pickins for hermits.

[racrumrine]

Next time, buy Trochus snails.

Astraeas can't turn themselves over, and they don't seem to tolerate a warm tank (say above 82) very well. Supposedly where they come from, the bottom is rocky and there are no flat surfaces to land on if they fall; so, its easy for them to recover.

When I had them, I used to check the tank every morning and night in order to flip them back over. Even then, after about a year, they all eventually died.

Trochus can turn themselves over and they tolerate warmer water. They cost about 3 times more; but, its worth it. I still have most of the batch I bought a few years ago.

Best of luck,

Roy

[MarineGirl411]

Astreas drown themselves. =/ Personally I don't like them. I didn't want them, but got one on accident, I guess. I asked for no astrea snails, but the person gave them to me anyway. Well, mine died. I flipped mine over a lot. There was only one, but I don't like them. He fell off the rocks constantly and I had to baby sit him. I have banded trochus and those are beautiful and good cleaners.

[kinerson]

I've owned astrea's for years. I agree, they don't seem to live real long, maybe a year or so. I have always heard that they are the best algea eaters, better then the other snails. That is why I get them.

The snails were shiped in a damp bag, with a sheet of papertowel I think. Not sure what the temp was but the inside box temp felt pretty typical.

As far as dieing off due to starvation, I guess I would think that the population would balace out with the amount of food.

So I really don't know what to think at this point. I will check out these trochus snails however.

Thanks,
Greg

[racrumrine]

Once you've gone Trochus, you won't go back.

There are 3 other good little algae eaters that breed in our tanks. It would be great if we didn't have to yank snails out of the ocean.

IPSF Strombus Grazers - Look like nassarius; but, hang out on the glass and eat algae.

Collonistas - Look like mini turbo snails, breed like rabbits.

Asterina Starfish - I've even see them clean tracks through cyano.

Best of luck,

Roy

[graveyardworm]

IPSF Strombus Grazers - Look like nassarius; but, hang out on the glass and eat algae.
Called columbellids, and yes they are awesome.

Collonistas - Look like mini turbo snails, breed like rabbits.

These guys are tiny, it would take a huge fleet to keep up with algae growth in most tanks, they do have their purpose though.

Asterina Starfish - I've even see them clean tracks through cyano.
I have alot and none of them eat cyano, I wish I had some of those.

Its best to have a diverse population of grazers.

[tpdpercula]

I to have had astrea snails die off over time. For that matter I have also had trochus die. Im in the same boat as you and can't really figure out why. I think its my luck to just have them for a few months before they die.