Snails keep dying. Dinos? Params? Something else?

[sugarsean]

I’ve had trouble keeping some snails alive for very long. Cerith and Nassarius seem to survive long term, however Astrea, Trochus, and Turbos seem to not do well. There is PLENTY of algae to eat. I suspect ingesting Dino toxins may be the cause, but I’d value a second opinion before I buy a microscope to diagnose and treat the issue.

Most recently I purchased a chestnut turbo from seahorsesavvy and it is struggling after <2 weeks. Acclimated per instructions (temp only), though I have drip acclimated other snails from LFS and they have not been more successful.

Corals(soft, lps, sps), fish, and other inverts are thriving, some zoas seem to thrive and then melt at some point and have a green film on them.

Parameters as follows:
Salinity: 35ppt (Milwaukee refractometer and ATC manual refractometer)
Temp: 77.5-78
PH: 8.3
Alk: 7.6 ( TM All-for-reef ~11mL/day spread throughout the day dosed every two hours)
PO4: .13
NO3: 0 (I have dosed in the past, but am having issues with hair algae)
Ca: 481
Mg: ? I don’t have a test kit for this

I’ve done triton ICP tests in the past and all params are within range, but Iodine was a little low and Fe was a little elevated. I could not find the source of the Iron and have read this is likely not harmful and often misrepresented by ICP tests. I tested Iodine with the Red Sea iodine pro kit and it appears normal.

More about my setup:
- 1.2 years old
- 41gal water volume
- RODI auto-topoff, sal is stable
- refugium with chaeto, Pom Pom, seachem matrix
- Skimmer on 24/7
- dosing: TM All-for-reef ~11mL/day spread throughout the day dosed every two hours
- Tropic Marin pro salt
- 12% water change every 2 weeks or so
- Radion G5 pro
- dose 15mL phytoplankton most days
- feed frozen mixed food from lfs
- sometimes reef roids, but sparingly
- sometimes microbacter7
- reactor with rox carbon

Inhabitants:
- two oscillaris clowns
- royal gramma
- court jester goby
- yellow clown goby
- sailfish blenny
- black belly eviota goby
- scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
- pistol shrimp
- two small urchins
- sand sifting starfish
- banded serpent starfish
- blue leg hermits
- cerith, nassarius, astrea, trochus, turbo snails
- sand sifting conch

Corals: acans, blastos, zoas (some struggling), mushrooms, ricordias, Xenia, astreopora, montipora, cyphastrea, candy cane, toadstool leather, Acropora, stylophora, pocilopora, frogspawn, GSP. Almost all growing like wildfire.

Dealing with quite a bit of hair algae and some algae on the sand that I am concerned may be Dinos. The green stuff on the sand seems to disappear when lights are off, but I’ve tried UV and it does not diminish visibly during the day. Algae really became a problem after I overused GFO once several months ago (followed the directions, but they way over prescribed). I have since stopped using it.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you! Attached are two pictures of the latest snail, clearly struggling, and multiple of the algae problems. I would so very much appreciate any insight into my snail (and algae) problems!

 

[Big G]

Have you noticed any predation by the hermit crabs? I used to catch them riding on Astreas. They'ed turn them over and kill them. Nasty little buggers.

 

[sugarsean]

Have you noticed any predation by the hermit crabs? I used to catch them riding on Astreas. They'ed turn them over and kill them. Nasty little buggers.

I haven’t. They seem to struggle and be left alone by the hermits until they are completely dead.

 

[Spare time]

It might be helpful to check magnesium. I think it can cause issues when very high. I doubt its that high but its something to think about.

 

[kdsmithey]

Hoping others have some thoughts on this. My situation is nearly identical, and I am at a loss. My snails are fine for several months, but eventually die (turbo and bumblebee). Definitely not due to hermit crabs. I also have concern of dinos that look very similar to the pics you posted.

 

[Big G]

Hoping others have some thoughts on this. My situation is nearly identical, and I am at a loss. My snails are fine for several months, but eventually die (turbo and bumblebee). Definitely not due to hermit crabs. I also have concern of dinos that look very similar to the pics you posted.

An awful lot of Turbos sold here are from the pacific coast of Mexico from much colder waters. They can't tolerate our reef tank temperatures.

 

[kdsmithey]

An awful lot of Turbos sold here are from the pacific coast of Mexico from much colder waters. They can't tolerate our reef tank temperatures.

May be a dumb question, but can ingesting dinos be killing them? It’s wild that I have no issues keeping fish, anemones, and simple corals, yet can’t keep snails alive lol

 

[Big G]

May be a dumb question, but can ingesting dinos be killing them? It’s wild that I have no issues keeping fish, anemones, and simple corals, yet can’t keep snails alive lol

No such thing as a dumb question. Yep in the proper concentrations the toxins can overwhelm snails. Siphoning out the really nasty areas of sand with the Dinos is a pretty common tactic that avoids chemicals.