View Full Version : Astrea died! Killer Crab?
saltyc
11-04-2004, 9:18 AM
I bought several snails over the weekend, some ceriths, some astreas, and a couple of Mexican Turbos. Got them home, floated them for 15 minutes, added some water, waited another 15, added some more water, waited around 10 minutes, then poured out all the water & dumped the snails into the tank. The Ceriths and M. Turbos were lively almost right away-the ceriths immediately headed for the glass, and as soon as I rolled the turbos onto their feet they were fine. The astreas, however, didn't move much, & everytime I took a look at the tank for the first couple of days, they were on their backs. I figured my Trigger was messing with them, or something. After flipping them over onto their feet about 6 times, I finally set them on their sides up against the glass & pressed them down into the sand a bit to wedge them there, so they could have some peace & not be so stressed. Even that didn't work too well-I looked at them later & one of them was shoved away from the glass, and it looked like it had been nibbled on. I finally set them face down in the sand under a ledge of my live rock. This a.m., I found one of my blue leg hermits busily excavating one dead snail's body so it could have a new home.
Are astrea's all that sensitive, or do I just have killer crabs? I just figured if the other snails did this well, they would also.
Thanks for the help!
OrionGirl
11-04-2004, 9:36 AM
If they didn't move in many days, I'd suspect something was wrong with them. Crabs can kill snails, but the snails should have been moving around and eating within a few minutes of being added. I've never had a problem with Astrea's being more sensitive than cerith's. Sorry--no help, but I don't think the crabs are at fault here.
saltyc
11-04-2004, 9:44 AM
Thanks, OG. Yes, that was my thought too-I just didn't know if they were that sensitive, or what.
Well, I guess my crabs will have a couple new homes...
mogurnda
11-05-2004, 8:53 AM
The general concensus, if there is such a thing, is that snails need a longer acclimation than many other organisms. Have a look at this article (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rs/index.htm) by Ron Shimek, paying particular attention to the section "Acclimation Problems, Or Why Do They Die?" I don't always agree with Dr Ron, but he is a malacologist, so he knows his snails.
No idea why only the astreas died, but ceriths are really hard to kill.
saltyc
11-05-2004, 10:22 AM
That's a good article. I take your point about the acclimation process. I may have rushed it (although I did change the water out-may have been too much at a time). It also points out that some of the astreas sold are not tropical snails. Don't know whether that was the case or not.
On the other hand, all my hermits are suddenly changing houses! :p
I have a larger blue leg hermit crab and it wasn't to happy with his shell. I had two turbos come from mail order about 8-9 months ago and almost as soon as I added the snails the crab began harrassing one of them. This almost seemed nonstop for 2-3 days everytime the snail headed for the gravel. Finally one day I saw the crab feasting on that snail. :eek: His persistency paid off and must've caught the snail offguard when he didn't have time to shut his little trapdoor. Needless to say the crab took that shell over and he's been content ever since.