Turbo snail - issues

[californian]

Bought 3 Turbo snails 3 days back. All 3 of them are active. But the issue is one of the snail fell down from tank wall today. He was in the same position for more than 6 hours or so. Then I put him on a base liverock. Now he remains in the same position for more than 4 hours. But if i lift, it is showing some signs of life.

Question
1. Do I need to turn these snails whenever they fall? Have seen freshwater snails getting up on their own. But what about marine Turbo snail?

2. Do these snails ever get on to live rock? Or will these guys always have to be in the flat tank walls?

3. What about aragonite sand? Do these snails move around in the aragonite sand?

Thanks.

[Mhay]

I have never had luck with turbo snails. I have no idea why. My other snails have done just fine and are great. When I got turbos they did the same thing, stuck to the glass, would fall, and then I would right them and then I would find that they were dead...

[petere1989]

I have about 10 in my tank. Yes you need to flip them over when they fall. They are not able to do it themselves. I look 3 times a day at mine to make sure none are upside down. Mine crawl on my live rock but mainly on the glass walls and bottom of the tank (mine is bare bottom).

[californian]

what a pain. :)

[PirateToast]

I haaaaate turbo snails. All they do is knock my rocks and coral frags around.

[Johnnycat]

They are a pain and they don't tend to last a long time in my tank (I've heard that they prefer colder water than what's usually in our tanks) but they are doing a great job at helping me beat algae.

[julie180]

I have the most graceful turbo. 6 years old and bigger than a golf ball. I can't believe he doesn't bull doze the tank.

[SeargentSlice]

No luck with turbos for me I havent had good luck with them. By far the best reef snail IMO are the http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=497+526+564&pcatid=564 They can turn themselves over on there own eat as well if not better than mex turbo and look really kool like a pepermint candy. Mine are well over a year old and thriving I would stay away from margarhita snails as well Astrea are a better choice just my personal experiance with the diff snails. One other thing ill mention is i moved all my blue leg crabs to the sump they will kill snails also they ate all the coraline algea of the tops of my rocks and they sux as algea eaters snails way better

[faithenfire]

i love my trochi, they turn themselves over and don't necessarily knock everything over. they also like cyano too
they have last by far the longest out of all my snails

[Mael]

A good mix will help, I have to be careful with frag placement cause the turbos(i have 2) knock em over but other than that they are some of the best cleaners in my tank. Mine spend just as much time on the rock as the glass and they even cruise across the sand when needed, although rarely. The big one even somehow gets on the pumps and cleans them too.

I have nassarius for sand mixing/cleaning(they also can self flip), cerith for sand and general algae cleaning and a bunch of nerites which just make cool patterns in the algae =)

1 astrea that came on a frag, he is cool since his shell is completely purple with coraline and stays primarily on 1 big piece of live rock I have. If only the turbos didnt knock stuff over they would be fine.

Now if only my emerald would do a better job on diatoms...
and to actually answer the OP...
1. Yes
2. Yes, No
3. Yes but really only to get from point A to B

[PirateToast]

+1 on the trochus snails. They are slower than turbo snails, but have the same diet, dont knock stuff over, and dont die easily. Plus they're more aesthetically pleasing!

[Spyderturbo007]

I have one turbo and I don't think I'll buy another. The one I have now is the size of a Volkswagon and knocks everything over that isn't attached with 9lbs of Super Glue.

He does a good job, but is just a pain in the neck.