Nassarius Snails

[shieldsy_]

Hi All, I am new to the hobbie and have just purchased an Aquaone mini reef 120 litre. I have started the cycle with a bunch of dry rock and some live sand. The live sand came with 5 Nassarius Snails already in it. I am cycling my tank with bacteria in a bottle, the live sand and a bit of ghost feeding. I am just wondering if this is enough for the Nassarius snails to survive for the entire cycle? Calcium is currently at 480-500.

Thank you!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[Cliving1]

The snails will not survive the cycling process. Try to rehome them for the time being.

[mcgyvr]

Its possible that they "may" survive.. I would just leave them in and see how it goes..

[scooter31707]

If you have no option of rehoming them, I would dose Prime/Amquel during the cycle.

[JDWells]

In my experience snails and hermits are the first to go when parameters get out of control. Seems like they probably will die and if you can't find all the bodies you're going to end up putting unnecessary nutrients in the water. On top of being kind of messed up putting them in a situation that's probably bad for them.
Take them to a LFS and get more later. They're cheap and the LFS will probably, at the least, hook you up for more later.

[shieldsy_]

Ok thanks everyone!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[mcgyvr]

So its been a week... are they still alive..?

[shieldsy_]

Yep, all alive and happy. I havent had an ammonia spike yet though. Was thinking about taking them back to the LFS this week.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[Sk8r]

Many things will survive a cycle: snails, crabs, aiptasia, asterinas, and corals. Ammonia is more critically dangerous to fish than to many inverts. They'll probably be fine, and they're a nice asset to a tank.

[GimpyFin]

Another thing to keep in mind is if you used sand that was in fact live and bottled bacteria (Biospira, etc.) there's a very good chance won't even see an ammonia spike from your feeding. Having bacteria already in the tank to break down ammonia from the get-go essentially shortcuts that part of the cycle. I also agree with keeping the snails. They are good to have for your sandbed.

[shieldsy_]

Originally Posted by GimpyFin

Another thing to keep in mind is if you used sand that was in fact live and bottled bacteria (Biospira, etc.) there's a very good chance won't even see an ammonia spike from your feeding. Having bacteria already in the tank to break down ammonia from the get-go essentially shortcuts that part of the cycle. I also agree with keeping the snails. They are good to have for your sandbed.

Interesting, I was worried that my cycle just wasnt starting. I have just tested ammonia again and its between 0 and 0.25ppm. It has been a week and a half now since we set the tank up. The sand was definately live. We have also added bacteria balls to the sump now, the LFS gave us a combination of live and dry balls. Ive decided I will keep the snails, I have spoken with a couple of different LFS's and they also said the snails should be fine so I will just wait it out.

If you think I may not see an ammonia spike, should i see any nitrites and nitrates?

Thanks for your help!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[shieldsy_]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Many things will survive a cycle: snails, crabs, aiptasia, asterinas, and corals. Ammonia is more critically dangerous to fish than to many inverts. They'll probably be fine, and they're a nice asset to a tank.

Thank you. Im going to keep them, the guys at the LFS said they should be fine as well.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[shieldsy_]

Update! We now have 6 snails!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[GimpyFin]

Originally Posted by shieldsy_

Interesting, I was worried that my cycle just wasnt starting. I have just tested ammonia again and its between 0 and 0.25ppm. It has been a week and a half now since we set the tank up. The sand was definately live. We have also added bacteria balls to the sump now, the LFS gave us a combination of live and dry balls. Ive decided I will keep the snails, I have spoken with a couple of different LFS's and they also said the snails should be fine so I will just wait it out.

If you think I may not see an ammonia spike, should i see any nitrites and nitrates?

Thanks for your help!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

Yes, you should start to see nitrate climb. Starting the tank with existing bacteria (Live rock, live sand, and/or even bottled bacteria) shortcuts the cycle giving you a small bio filter to start with. Ammonia typically won't spike and then drop off like it would waiting for bacteria to establish through a normal cycle. It's a fairly common area for confusion in that people will add an ammonia source like food/shrimp but at the same time, seed the tank with bacteria and then wait for a cycle to happen. When they don't get an ammonia spike they assume something is wrong, but in reality that part of the cycle was just suppressed. All your snails should be just fine, IMO, but just take it slow adding new livestock.

[shieldsy_]

Originally Posted by GimpyFin

Yes, you should start to see nitrate climb. Starting the tank with existing bacteria (Live rock, live sand, and/or even bottled bacteria) shortcuts the cycle giving you a small bio filter to start with. Ammonia typically won't spike and then drop off like it would waiting for bacteria to establish through a normal cycle. It's a fairly common area for confusion in that people will add an ammonia source like food/shrimp but at the same time, seed the tank with bacteria and then wait for a cycle to happen. When they don't get an ammonia spike they assume something is wrong, but in reality that part of the cycle was just suppressed. All your snails should be just fine, IMO, but just take it slow adding new livestock.

Will do! Thanks for your help. Makes alot of sense to me!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk