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Malaysian Murder Mystery!

3K views 15 replies 8 participants last post by  l8nite 
#1 · (Edited)
The Story
The flora and fauna in my 29G tank were happy and thriving. A healthy population of hundreds (or more!) of Malaysian Trumpet Snails were established. A Christmas miracle delivered a new 110G tank to my door, and so the community prepared for their move to larger pastures. I took all the necessary precautions (or so I thought!) - ran the new filters on the old tank for weeks, moved everything in a single day, etc. to minimize the shock of the move. However, disaster has struck!

In the two weeks since the move, all the Malaysian trumpet snails have mysteriously died! Their white shells lay barren, dotting the onyx desert of the tank like stars in a nighttime sky. Their brethren, a few ramshorns, a striped nerite, the occasional pond snail, and a huge apple snail are survivors of the apocalypse, but will they last? I've come to you, fellow forum members, for guidance in this matter.






The Suspects
The suspects list are the things that have changed as part of the move into the new tank...

The water parameters (temperature, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are all nominal. I have been checking them regularly.

I added new fish shortly after it was set up, so they are my primary suspects. Is someone eating the snails?

Koi Angelfish (2)


Golden Gourami (1)


Black Skirt Tetra (school of 7)


Red Tailed Shark (1)


Apple Snail (1)


New Substrate
3-5" deep - CaribSea Super Naturals Tahitian Moon. 80lbs mixed w/ 5lbs of AMACO Mexican Red Pottery Clay, bordered/capped. Also contains rootmedic tablets sporadically placed within.
 
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#2 ·
Also, I was overfeeding the tank (incl. dropping algae wafers) because of the new substrate and wanting to give the snail population a fighting chance, so I can't imagine any of my fish being particularly hungry.

It seems very strange that _all_ of the MTS would die but nothing else in the tank would appear unhealthy or affected.
 
#3 ·
I would hazard to bet all didn't die.. The change most likely threw them off. See MTS love mulm. That's why they're always under the substrate. I'd bet a few survived and the population will revive.

With the new substrate, most didn't have their normal food to snack on between feelings.

Hope this helped man. Grats on the 110G tank :) you know we want a journal and pictures of it right?!

Hehe hope you're well,
Mark
 
#8 ·
I would hazard to bet all didn't die.. The change most likely threw them off. See MTS love mulm. That's why they're always under the substrate. I'd bet a few survived and the population will revive.
I have found that a lot of the older MTS in my tanks will die when I move them/ redo everything. ... The larger MTS were probably starved out, but eventually their food sources will come back and also the population. ... It is 5 months since I started that tank and there is finally signs of tons of little MTS showing up.
Thanks, this sounds like the general consensus! I'm looking forward to seeing them bounce back :)

Hope this helped man. Grats on the 110G tank :) you know we want a journal and pictures of it right?!
Tank journal is in my sig!

Did an assassin sneak in? The floor of my 72 is littered with mts shells.
I don't think so - we watch the tank pretty regularly, and I even went last night and flashlight-hunted for a little while to see if I could detect anything "fishy" going on (*rimshot*). Thanks for the suggestion though!

As a side note, absolutely hysterical and well written post:)
Haha, thanks ;)
 
#6 ·
All I could think too was possible assassin snails. I redid a tank 3-4 weeks ago with new substrate and the whole shebang and they are still doing ok in my tank even though there was no mulm in there, though it's completely feasible they starved out if the other snails or fish were out competing them on the algae wafers.

As a side note, absolutely hysterical and well written post:)
 
#7 ·
I have found that a lot of the older MTS in my tanks will die when I move them/ redo everything. But usually, they bounce back as they don't all die. If there are other snails in the tank at all, they will outcompete the MTS because ramhorns and pond snails reproduce by laying egg sacks and MTS lay one egg at a time. Although they are all prolific breeders, the other snails are much more so. Also, I've found that Apple Snails are excellent scavengers, akin in their constant search for food to Goldfish. If there is food in the tank they will eat it until it is gone. The larger MTS were probably starved out, but eventually their food sources will come back and also the population. I had a similar problem in a 2.5 tank where I tried to seed it with MTS from my 30 gallon. I guess I missed some hiding ram horns because their population exploded which was what I was trying to avoid. I had hoped that by only adding MTS it would at least keep the population to something I like. It has worked somewhat before. It is 5 months since I started that tank and there is finally signs of tons of little MTS showing up. I think you experienced a similar situation.
 
#11 ·
Good news! After being worried all week and finally posting this thread, turns out that today after a 50% water change I saw some movement in a couple of snails! Two of the largest ones were climbing the glass, and a couple of smaller ones I saw digging around in the substrate, so all is not lost :D
 
#14 ·
Gave up on them today - picked out all of the shells and put them in a shallow tupperware with some cold tap water...

Lo and behold, the two or three really big ones (like 1" long) started moving. They moved into my 10G Molly Fry Containment Unit for the moment, where they seem happy.

So now I'm wondering, why don't these snails like my 110 tank? Nitrates are high-ish because of EI dosing, could that be it?
 
#16 ·
Yea, I considered that. I went out there with a flashlight around 2-3am several times and never saw a thing.

Based on what I've read, I'm going to say it's the Nitrate levels that caused them to die off, because I'm not sure what else it might be.

So far, Nerites & MTS have done very poorly in this tank.
Apple Snail, Ramshorns and pond snails have had no trouble.
 
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