Water frustrations... more apple snails, same problem!

[Chickadee]

So I posted before on the invert board that my 2 new apple snails were inactive and sliming during a cycling process. They unfortunately died and I felt terrible about it. The nitrites never went past .25 and I was changing water constantly, so I wondered if it was something else besides the cycling. (I have well water.) I called around to have my water tested, but they mostly test for what my API kit already tests for - ammonia, nitrite, etc. They will do special tests for metals but I'd have to know what metal to test for. They were clueless about aquariums, and Petsmart was even less help. I did buy an API copper test kit and that read 0.

After the poor snails died I let the tank continue to cycle. The ammonia was still registering at first and the nitrite went wild to 2.0 for nearly a week. Then the nitrite suddenly dropped to 0. Finally! Nitrate was 40.

So I went to Petsmart on the 16th and bought 2 more apple snails, an ivory and a blue. They were active and eating for a day, then last night they started going into their shells and acting the same way as the others. The ivory was on the bottom closed up and the blue was floating at the top. Both are sliming a little. So frustrating!

I put them in a small bowl with only a bit of the tank water and some freshly mixed water w/Prime. They have come alive again and are crawling all over the place. So far not eating the algae wafer I put in there though. It has to be something in my tank. But what?

Would it be a good or bad idea to do a nearly 100% water change? I also thought about getting water from work or my parents' house and see if that's the problem. I'm afraid any type of drastic water change will traumatize the snails worse or cause the cycle to go out of whack. Any thoughts on that?

Other stats: pH 8.2, temp is 76 F.

They currently seem pretty happy in the little bowl. I have a heating pad underneath and it's keeping the temp pretty steady.

 

[cradlefan]

I would do maybe a 75 percent water change. That's about the biggest I ever go. Don't want to shock any of the inhabitants.

 

[Chickadee]

Thank you! I did a 75% w/c. We'll see how they do.

 

[AquaticAustin]

Hello, was the tank they were in used or brand new when you got it? If it was used its possible someone treated for a fish disease in it and the chems are in the silocone sealant which could leech out and do harm

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[kcartwright856]

If you do regular (weekly or bi-weekly) water changes of at least 25%, your tank should never be shocked by a large water change. That's usually a worry with "Old Tank Syndrome", which is when a tank that almost never gets any water changes suddenly has an issue that requires a large water change.

In the case of the former, it's better to do small water changes daily.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

Do you have any fish in the tank, if so they're acting fine? Any sort of cleaning agent been used on anything in the tank?

 

[jackiomy]

Also, mystery snails float all the time. I am not sure why but they seem to like it. Don't think they are dead automatically when they float. You will know by the smell, so give them a sniff test before you throw them away.

 

[Chickadee]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the advice. AquaticAustin, you got me thinking. Over a year ago I had a betta and a snail in separate 5 gal tanks. The betta had a bout of illnesses with popeye and a fungus and I did medicate him a few times with Maracyn Plus and Jungle Labs Fungus Eliminator. When I got the recent snails I just grabbed a tank from the basement. I didn't pay attention to which tank it was. So after reading your reply I went to my parents' to get the other tank. I could tell by the remnants of gravel in the bottom that that was the snail tank before. So yes, my current snails are in the betta's old tank. Based on the sliming it does seem like they are reacting to an irritant of some kind, so this is a possibility.

So I just switched tanks, kept half the water and mixed up more, and kept the gravel (which I bought new for these snails.) So far still not much movement but I'm hoping for the best. So if this was the problem, what other materials would medication soak into? Shells? Rocks? What about the plastic siphon on the filter? I am using the same filter from the betta tank but the media was new. And no detergent was used to clean the tanks or any of the accessories. I at least knew not to do that, but I never even thought about the medications.

Also, is there anything I can do to neutralize the chemicals in the tank's sealant?

Will keep you posted. Fingers crossed!

 

[Chickadee]

More on the saga. I got this bright idea to add some charcoal to the filter to clear out any chemicals that may still be in the water. I rinsed it well, put it in a little fabric pouch, and soaked it all in Prime water before adding it to the filter. I did this on my lunch hour, came home from work and the snails were on the bottom sliming more than ever. I gently pulled some slime off one, and I could see tiny bits of the charcoal in the slime. Ugghh. I feel like everything I do just makes things worse. So tonight I took the charcoal back out, and almost right away the blue snail started crawling around a bit. The ivory one is still inactive and floating (not dead). I set it under a plant leaf so it wouldn't get knocked around in the current. I'm not seeing any additional slime from either of them, so that's a good thing.

 

[TL1000RSquid]

IIRC Maracyn's bad for invert's because it contains copper. Charcoal is the best way to filter out meds, did you have a hole in the bag or it wasn't closed all the way? I've never had problems with medicines attaching themselves to anything but I rarely use any, generally when its run its course and I want it out I do a couple big water changes a couple days in a row and run charcoal in the filter for a week or two.