Carbon dosing resulting in snail death?

[spazthecat]

Hi,

A few months ago (maybe 6) I started dosing vinegar in an effort to reduce the hair algae I have. I'm not dosing very aggressively as I do not want to total eliminate it, just keep it in check. If I get to aggressive with dosing, my soft corals suffer.

Currently I'm dosing 30 ml in a 75 gallon (approximate total volume including sump) per day. All of my water parameters have been within normal limits for months and things really look good. I have no trouble keeping other inverts. My cucumber is about 8 years old, I have a serpent start that is about 5 years old and misc hermits that are all about 2 years old. However, I have absolutely no luck at all with snails. I put them in and within 10 days they are all dead. Last weekend I added 10 ceriths and 10 trochus and all but 4 are dead.

I just can't figure out what is going on. I've tried all manner of acclimation and the result is the same. I've also run various heavy metal removing resins and tested for copper.

Anything else I should consider? The only thing I'm doing different is the vinegar.

Thanks,

Andy

[bertoni]

I can't think of any reason that vinegar dosing should kill snails that rapidly unless there's some sort of toxic microbe that it's feeding. I'd try running a PolyFilter. It'll turn blue in the presence of copper, and is far more sensitive than any copper test kit for hobbyists. Have the animals been consumed by the time you find them? Maybe there's a predator?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I doubt it is the vinegar and I agree the copper is more likely somehow, hence the polyfilter. :)

[bmwaaron]

Also check your Magnisum level..

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Did you buy them all from the same LFS? Maybe they were not acclimated well there, or from there to your tank. Some snails seem fairly sensitive to salinity changes.