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ddhuyn
05/14/2006, 09:23 AM
Hi,
I have new setup 100G tank for about 4 weeks and I have tested water yesterday (Ca+ is 150 very low, Nitrate, Nitrite and Phosphate are zero). I bought 20 snails for clearning purposes, but all them did not move since I put them into the tank. Some of the snails are up-side-down. My fihes dont show any probkems. Please advise.
Thanks

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/14/2006, 12:15 PM
Are you using tap water? Maybe there is excessive copper in it.

It sounds like the water chemistry is really odd, but perhaps it is just a testing problem. How could it have 150 ppm calcium? What salt mix? What calcium test? How are you measuring salinity?

My fihes dont show any probkems.

???

ddhuyn
05/14/2006, 12:25 PM
I brought my water to the famous fish store around here and they tested it for me. I did not test Copper. My fish don't have any problem with tank water. How do I de-copper? This is brand new tanks. I used Salt from Kent Marine.

Thanks

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/14/2006, 12:51 PM
Did you use tap water?

ddhuyn
05/14/2006, 04:42 PM
no. I used RO/DI water. I just test my Copper and it showed no sign of Cu.
Thanks

burning2nd
05/14/2006, 07:44 PM
tanks, not cycled? is there food for the snails? whats the levels, and whats in it. details


just for thought, how much are you geting charged for r/o water?

boxfishpooalot
05/15/2006, 04:20 AM
what is your salinity? Snails are very sensitive to rapid changes in salinity. If you did not acclimate them properly or just dumped them in the tank they are in shock.

I recommend snail acclimation of 2 hours for ever .001 of specific gravity diffence.

Whats the salinity of your lfs and your salinity?

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/15/2006, 06:12 AM
Testing for copper is not often useful. Snails and such can be killed at levels lower than test kits go to, since they are made for treating fish in hospital tanks, not for determining if the water is suitable. That said, if you are using a properly working RO/DI and do not have any metal parts in contact with the water, then copper poisoning is much less likely.

In addition to the above questions, have you checked for ammonia? How old is the tank?

HowardW
05/15/2006, 09:37 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7368597#post7368597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boxfishpooalot
what is your salinity? Snails are very sensitive to rapid changes in salinity. If you did not acclimate them properly or just dumped them in the tank they are in shock.

I recommend snail acclimation of 2 hours for ever .001 of specific gravity diffence.

Whats the salinity of your lfs and your salinity?



I agree 100%.......snails have to be acclimated to your water parameters very slowly, especially the Astraea snails. They are also very intolerant of high nitrates or copper and usually do better at higher SG levels of 1.026 or so in my experiences.

If they were healthy specimens and properly acclimated, they should be active and grazing for food within an hour or less of introducing them to your tank.

ddhuyn
05/15/2006, 09:59 AM
Hi all thanks for your information and your helps. This is a new tanks about 4 weeks old. My water chemistry is Ca: 280, Nitrate: 0, Nitrite: 0, PO4: 0, Cu: 0, Alk: 12.8, pH: 8.0, salinity: 1.024. I want my pH higher, put 5 tea spoons of pH buffer every other day, but never get pH over 8.0. As Dr. Randy mentioned, snail can be killed with a low level of Cu (even Cu is not detectable by using test kits). Is there any method that Cu can be removed).

The snails were in my tank over 36 hours already, they did not even move at all not even a inche.

I plan to use Active Carbon to run my 100G tank through, hope it will take down some more metal parts.

Thanks again.

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/15/2006, 12:46 PM
I'd stop adding buffer. It is pushing up the alkalinity and likely causing the depletion of the calcium. This article describes ways to better raise pH:

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

What is the salinity?

HowardW
05/15/2006, 12:51 PM
If they haven't moved at all in 36 hrs. and some are still laying upside down, I would just remove them from the tank as that's not a good sign at all in my opinion. If a bunch of them are dead they will begin fouling the water.

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/15/2006, 01:10 PM
I agree they may be dead. If they smell bad, toss them.

ddhuyn
05/15/2006, 01:26 PM
I transfer all snails to a new tank with water I bought from the store, most of them start moving. I will change 40% of water tonight with Catilina Ocean water. Hope will get better when introduce snails back in.

Thanks to all of you.

I would recommend to follow Dr. Randy's recommendations.

Randy Holmes-Farley
05/15/2006, 01:47 PM
That's a good sign that they recovered. Try comparing the salinity of the two water sources.