Quarantining Snails: What to feed them? General advice

[Pepper Reefer]

Hello!
I am starting a new tank, and want to quarantine my clean up crew snails for the OCD 76 days
However, I am worried that the snails will not get enough to eat in a 'sterile' quarantine tank.

I planned on getting these snails to start, for my 75 gallon tank + 30 gallon sump:
5 trochus snails
5 nassarius snails
5 cerith snails
5 nerite snails
5 astraea snails
3 mexican turbo snails
Is this number of snails excessive for a new tank?

I would be quarantining these 28 snails in a 20 gallon tank
I have some ATI nutrition nitrates / phosphates / carbon that I planned to add to the tank, along with many many water changes

I have read other threads on reef2reef talking about giving nori sheets - and to place the snails you want to feed directly on the nori sheets
Are nori sheets alone enough to keep alive & thrive 28 snails for 76 days?
What else do you like to feed your snails when quarantining, to add food variety?

Are these any good / are products like this good?
"Micro Mix - Sinking Blended Diet for Snails, Shrimp & Bottom Feeding Fish (3 oz (85g))"
(sinking algae discs for inverts)

Any advice / things to avoid when quarantining snails would be very appreciated!

 

[Rijodan]

others will have different opinions but thats ALOTTA snails.

i have a 110g with like 3 astreas. and like minimal algae, nearly none other than coraline. Do have tangs and clowns that eat algae and serpentine stars, each tank is different,

My normal advice in-club is buy a handful and add a few as needed as your feeding increases, if your feeding extra for the CUC then you have too many and aren't as effective. WIth you QTing (applause as many wouldnt) thats gonna be hard to plan for. Brand new tank id go for like a few astreas and then as you have more fish add a turbo maybe. I dont think the sand snails do as well as a job as a diamond goby so for sand cleaning thats the way i went and would recommend, but limits you on other gobies youd want.


If you take nothing else from my post, for a brand new tank adding that many snails will do nothing but cause a wave of death and starvation or feeding the CUC.

 

[Pepper Reefer]

others will have different opinions but thats ALOTTA snails.

i have a 110g with like 3 astreas. and like minimal algae, nearly none other than coraline. Do have tangs and clowns that eat algae and serpentine stars, each tank is different,

My normal advice in-club is buy a handful and add a few as needed as your feeding increases, if your feeding extra for the CUC then you have too many and aren't as effective. WIth you QTing (applause as many wouldnt) thats gonna be hard to plan for. Brand new tank id go for like a few astreas and then as you have more fish add a turbo maybe. I dont think the sand snails do as well as a job as a diamond goby so for sand cleaning thats the way i went and would recommend, but limits you on other gobies youd want.


If you take nothing else from my post, for a brand new tank adding that many snails will do nothing but cause a wave of death and starvation or feeding the CUC.

Thank you for your advice!
I do plan on getting a tomini tang + lawnmower blenny to help with algae months down the line, and also a sand sifting goby, too!

I am worried that if I get too few snails I'll get into a situation where
A) Not all of the snails survive through the 76 day quarantine process and I have too few
B) I get a very bad ugly phase from not enough snails, and have to begin another 76 day quarantine process to add more
C) after getting fish not having enough clean up crew, and having to quarantine more snails again very soon

I think I would rather go out of my way to spot feed the snails for however many months it took and export more with chaeto before I am able to 'catch up' with the fish livestock for equilibrium for the snails
in other words, I would rather have too many, and have to feed them + export with chaeto than have too little and have to quarantine more for another 76 days.. is this a bad way of thinking?

 

[Rijodan]

Thank you for your advice!
I do plan on getting a tomini tang + lawnmower blenny to help with algae months down the line, and also a sand sifting goby, too!

I am worried that if I get too few snails I'll get into a situation where
A) Not all of the snails survive through the 76 day quarantine process and I have too few
B) I get a very bad ugly phase from not enough snails, and have to begin another 76 day quarantine process to add more
C) after getting fish not having enough clean up crew, and having to quarantine more snails again very soon

I think I would rather go out of my way to spot feed the snails for however many months it took and export more with chaeto before I am able to 'catch up' with the fish livestock for equilibrium for the snails
in other words, I would rather have too many, and have to feed them + export with chaeto than have too little and have to quarantine more for another 76 days.. is this a bad way of thinking?

just for a better color/attitude and originality id recommend a starry blenny if you can get one instead of that lawnmower. Lawnmowers ime are aggressive and boring to look at imo.

we all reef in our own ways, if thats what you want to do go for it! most dont have the patience to QT EVERYTHING, corals, snails etc so if youre adamant about it go for it bub

 

[Pepper Reefer]

just for a better color/attitude and originality id recommend a starry blenny if you can get one instead of that lawnmower. Lawnmowers ime are aggressive and boring to look at imo.

we all reef in our own ways, if thats what you want to do go for it! most dont have the patience to QT EVERYTHING, corals, snails etc so if youre adamant about it go for it bub

Thank you for the warning on the lawnmower blenny! I feel like I have also read a lot of posts talking about how someone's tang doesn't get along with their lawnmower blenny, and only their lawnmower blenny. Thank you for the starry blenny recommendation!

 

[Pepper Reefer]

In case there's anyone in the future trying to figure out what to feed their snails, this website was very helpful!
"https://www.aquariumcreationsonline.net/snails.html"
>Nassarius Snails can typically find enough food in most saltwater reef aquariums with a well established sandbed. If you feel there may not be enough food simply supplement their diet with frozen meaty foods, such as brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, or pieces of fish or scallops.
>Bumble Bee Snails eat meaty foods such as bits of Brine Shrimp, Mysis Shrimp, fish and Scallop and Scavenge on detritus and fish waste. If there is not ample food supply in your marine aquarium, you may supplement their diet with the meaty bits of fish and sea food along with algae pellets or algae wafers.
>Trochus snails dried seaweed and algae based pellet food or wafers.
>Astraea / Nerite / Turbo snails supplement their diet with dried seaweed. To feed, use an algae clip or wrap the seaweed around a rock or empty shell and place into your aquarium, next to the glass. To promote shell growth, supplement calcium levels in your aquarium.
>Cerith snails can be fed pellet foods if the reef tank is very new and you are concerned they may not find enough natural food.

So I think I will get frozen mysis, algae pellets, algae wafers, and nori to cover all bases

 

[kevgib67]

I’ve never heard of quarantining snails. In over 17 years of reefing I have not and your the first I’ve ever heard of. Snails don’t carry pathogens that would affect fish or coral to my knowledge. I temp and drip acclimate and drop them in. I’m in the boat that starts with about a fourth of what is recommended and add as the need increases. I don’t think there is anything wrong with your plan I just don’t feel it is necessary. Good luck.

 

[Pepper Reefer]

I’ve never heard of quarantining snails. In over 17 years of reefing I have not and your the first I’ve ever heard of. Snails don’t carry pathogens that would affect fish or coral to my knowledge. I temp and drip acclimate and drop them in. I’m in the boat that starts with about a fourth of what is recommended and add as the need increases. I don’t think there is anything wrong with your plan I just don’t feel it is necessary. Good luck.

from what I understand, their shells can carry tomonts that can take up to 76 days to be sure that all tomites have released from the cysts - if the snails were in a tank that had ich, the cysts can be on their shells
(and from what I understand, it's not very common, but sometimes people get unlucky!)

 

[Pepper Reefer]

Helpful cross thread for anyone interested in reading more - where I got this from!

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames

Coral/Invert Quarantine Time Frames Preface: The purpose of this article is to outline time periods required to properly quarantine (QT) marine corals & invertebrates. While unable to host ectoparasites the way fish do, corals/inverts are still able to “carry” fish diseases in one of two ways...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[fmp47]

others will have different opinions but thats ALOTTA snails.

i have a 110g with like 3 astreas. and like minimal algae, nearly none other than coraline. Do have tangs and clowns that eat algae and serpentine stars, each tank is different,

My normal advice in-club is buy a handful and add a few as needed as your feeding increases, if your feeding extra for the CUC then you have too many and aren't as effective. WIth you QTing (applause as many wouldnt) thats gonna be hard to plan for. Brand new tank id go for like a few astreas and then as you have more fish add a turbo maybe. I dont think the sand snails do as well as a job as a diamond goby so for sand cleaning thats the way i went and would recommend, but limits you on other gobies youd want.


If you take nothing else from my post, for a brand new tank adding that many snails will do nothing but cause a wave of death and starvation or feeding the CUC.

Agree

 

[MarsReefer]

if its only snails in there Crank up your heater to 84 and only do it for the 45 days. Save yourself the hassle. By the end of the 45 days I had enough algae in my main tank that I was chomping at the bit for QT to finish.

I fed a nori sheet rubber banded to a rock and a chunk of frozen food blend every once in a while. Pretty much all my snails made it through QT, though a lot of them were eventually killed off by my hermits.