Invertabrates keep dying!

[newsome1082]

I've had my marine tank set up for approx 4 mos. The fish are doing excellent, but any invertabrate that I put in the tank also dies. I've had a horseshoe crab, 3 snails, hermit crabs, and an anemone. I purchased special lights and that doesn't seem to matter. Do I need to put additional nutrients in the tank? Any suggestions?

[Zookeeper]

4 months eh?

Can you post your tank specs?

[Toutouche]

Newsome,
[welcome2]
My opinion is that an Anemone and the Horseshoe crab ( the latter not even really suited for a tank) should not be added before 1 year of the tank being up and running. For these 2 to have died is no mystery or surprise. Do you by any chance freshwater dip them before adding? What are your water parameters? Inverts ( and yes, even a lowly snail) are nore sensitive to water conditions and fluctuations than fish are.

[MomRules]

Was this a new or used tank? Any chance It had been used for a copper treatment? copper residues can not be washed off and will knock off snails within days. I have a beautiful 60 gal Oceanic that I used for FW . The water came from my well and was very acidic. It leached the copper from my pipes and snails died within minutes of being introduced. Years later, new water source with very hard water, and I still can't keep snails in that tank. Just a thought.

[newsome1082]

My tank size is 55 gal. PH tests right at 8.3 I've had the ammonia and nitrites tested at fish stores and they always come up excellent. I bought the tank used, I believe it was a freshwater tank before. I never rinsed the crab or the anemone in freshwater, are you supposed to? I did treat one of my fish with 'coppersafe' for itch, but I did it separate and was sure not to add any of the treated water into my tank. Should I have rinsed the treated off before putting him back into the tank?

[Pluff]

I would say that the tank is just not MATURE enough yet.4 months is not that long.

[MomRules]

Still- the hermit crabs are tough, and the snails should be jsut fine in a young tank. If this tank was used for FW fish, it could have copper contamination. How long did the snails last?

[newsome1082]

The snails lasted approximately a week maybe less.

[mouse6196]

Is there a food source for the snails? If not, pinch some nori or seaweed in your rocks and let them feast. I added snails right at teh start and had to do the same. Once my first algae bloom was over, there was very little food for them? Also, have you changed teh salinity too fast of your water in the past week? Snails do not like that.

[Zookeeper]

It is plausible that the snails starved, but I'm leaning towards the advise that MomRules gave. I think there may be a copper problem here.