Reef nutrition

My slacker turbos

Mozby

Mozby

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So I heard that turbo snails are great at eating nuisance algae. The first one I got seemed to do well in the beginning, so I got a second one. But lately they’ve been total slackers! Not moving for 2 days sometimes. I thought they might’ve been dead but when I move them someplace, they will move off to a different spot. Problem is, they don’t even get very far and become motionless again. Is that how turbos are or are mine not doing well healthwise?

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Could be wild ph swings from collected to your tank (might take them time to recover or they are dying?). I have heard that high Mg in the tank will slow snails down big time. My dumb Aquaforest Reef Salt is super high in mg (1700+) and my snails are super slow.

But yeah, my turbo snails will go to town for a couple days, then not move at all, then start going again. I think it's either food coma or mg...
 
Same thing here.
You buy them, and they eat like crazy for a few days, then stop for days, then slowly eat as normal.
I think they are starving when you get them, over eat, and rest.
But after a month, mine seem to settle down and just slowly eat.
 
Do they choose to be on the sand like that? Mine never go on the sand. Also, mine don’t like over grown algae. By that I mean, if it’s long enough for me to manually remove it then they won’t eat it. They like the newly growing stuff.
 
Flagg37 said:
Do they choose to be on the sand like that? Mine never go on the sand. Also, mine don’t like over grown algae. By that I mean, if it’s long enough for me to manually remove it then they won’t eat it. They like the newly growing stuff.
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No, one of them was halfway up the glass and just went comatose. The other was halfway up a rock and then comatose. I initially left them there but then they eventually fell backwards. So I moved them to the sand to see if they would move. Since this post they've actually moved half an inch but stopped again. Its frustrating and I have a feeling they are dying somehow. Will do a test for mg today.
 
Check PH also.
I remember a while back that mine did not do well with low PH.

Mine do not really like the sand either. They clearly prefer to be on rocks or sides.
 
kinetic said:
Could be wild ph swings from collected to your tank (might take them time to recover or they are dying?). I have heard that high Mg in the tank will slow snails down big time. My dumb Aquaforest Reef Salt is super high in mg (1700+) and my snails are super slow.

But yeah, my turbo snails will go to town for a couple days, then not move at all, then start going again. I think it's either food coma or mg...
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Mg reads 1600! Don't even know why its so high...
 
kinetic said:
Yeah, mine is 1650 - 1700 all the time. My reef salt is always way over for some reason. A lot of people say that high Mg will cause sluggishness in inverts, especially snails.
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Weird thing is my astreas move slow too (though not comatose like the turbos) but the trochuses keep trucking on! So in my tank, the trochus are champs.
 
Update: Well my turbos are definitely dead.... caught my nasarrius feeding on a nice piece of slug meat and when I picked up the turbo’s shell, it was empty. Nasarrius are like the vultures of the sea lol. RIP turbo. Should I leave the other one in there for the nasarrius to eat as well or take it out since it will contribute to excess nutrients?
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I would pull it, turbos have a large amount of mass. It’s not like the nassarius are starving lol
Edit: that’s if the snail is dead, of course
 
Oh yeah, I already pulled it out. Figured if both have been motionless for this long and one is being eaten... the other must be dead as well. Thanks guys!


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So anyway, thought I'd post a more complete conclusion to this thread. The turbos are dead and I'm hesitant to buy anymore turbos. Even though my ph was low (was 7.6 but now raised to 8) and magnesium was on the higher side (not sure what to do about that), everything else in the tank seemed to be thriving. I did a quick check and all other inverts are alive and well. I have 4 nassarius, 3 trochus, 2 astreas, 1 cleaner shrimp and 1 emerald crab..... no issues. I'll probably stay away from turbos from now, especially since my gha issue has been eradicated (most of the credit goes to the emerald crab and my hard work of brushing the rocks lol). Thanks everyone for the helpful info!
 
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