clean up crew slowly fading

jayjerk

jayjerk

Premium member
i have a 72 bow and started to notice inactivity from clean up crew. I grew more worried when i noticed a few have faded. any ideas why this may have been caused. 2 peppermint shrimp i havent seen in a few days one cleaner shrimp 2 clows an a six line.

Thanks!
 
what cleanup crew is gone missing or dead? Low salinity can be a killer for inverts, also sometimes snails/hermits just die off and need replacing. Unless you have a pretty mature system and your snails have reproduced a lot, you will probably just need to keep picking up replacements.
 
Trochus and cerith snails are great because they will reproduce. However if you have a very low nutrient system they can starve to death. One thing I noticed was at first all my snails would be moving about during the day, but as time went on they seemed to become more nocturnal. Check your tank an hour after the lights normally go off and you will see how many you still really have.
 
I'm missing some scarlet hermits and both mass and cerith asteria snails. Picked up some dwarf ceriths and they all mia too. So I guess just replace them system been running in my home for 3 months but was at another for years. Granted when I bought it it was in bad shape. So need some more mature time. Salinity not issue 1.025 nitrate and phos a little high but on its way down. Thanks for responding!
 
Any copper ever used in the tank? Are you testing for ammonia? Any chance someone sprayed bug spray? Herms will kill each other if they are desperate for a new shell too. And they'll kill snails whenever they can (reds especially IMHO). Maybe if you get more try to get a wide variety of sizes to see if they last longer with more shells. I'd definitely try to do a copper test too.
 
No ammo n never put any copper in...guess they knocking each other off...lol...wish I can knock off some peeps with no recourse...lol once again thanks
 
I use those Omega sinking algae disks to keep my CUC fed if algae is getting sparse. About 1 or 2 a week. I like these because the Nassarius don't immediately devour them like normal fish food and the slower ceriths and astreas get to eat.
 
Theres no food in u tank for them to clean things tend to die when they dont eat. Crabs will kill the snails food food and shelter and eventually crabs will die too. Dont worry about if there was ever copper in tank thats not the issue. I know from experience with copper btw
 
They do not live as long as the fish etc., I am adding them every six months to a year. I just added to doesn't snails and a dozen hermit crabs yesterday, and I added them about December the last time.
 
well unless your tank parems are off and they are dying off that way, don't worry, it's natures way! Only the strong survive! Once the food supply is down, then competition takes over and bam, you'll notice some die off! I noticed some algae growth in the my tanks and went and supplemented my year and 1/2 old cuc. All good again! I believe a cuc is a yearly update to keep things going well! And since none of my tanks have hoods, i have had a few snails think that fresh air is better than salt water!
 
Agree with gomery, they don't have super long life cycles, hermits tend to slowly go as they sort out who's boss.... though I do have a couple snails that have been around a couple years now
 
FlyinBryan said:
They do not live as long as the fish etc., I am adding them every six months to a year. I just added to doesn't snails and a dozen hermit crabs yesterday, and I added them about December the last time.
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Ive had my turbos for least five years heck one is almost tenis ball size . They last as long as dont get eaten and have food. Algae etc i see people with spotless tanks and they buy huge cuc and wonder why they die and at
Start eating each other well they hungry . Snails and crabs can last while
 
I probably lost ten or so members of my clean up, the only reason thei living now is because im starting to do tank feedings.


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is it possible you have a predator in your tank? i noticed i was losing snails and then one day i found a gorilla crab in my tank with a bunch of empty snail shells where he was living at.
 
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