Algae Eater Questions

hi guys! So i have 3 tanks and all my params are the same. ph is 7.6 0 amm 0 nitrites and nitrate has never been above 5ppm. For some reason snails always die in my big tank. Nerite snails and mystery snails so far. I had 1 doing great for nearly a year with my betta and it dies within 2 weeks of me moving it to the bigger tank and ive had 3 newbies from the store die in there too. Any idea what could be causing this? If this tank is just a snail murdering mystery then any suggestions on something to control algae in a 45g community tank? Id prefer not to add another school because i already have rummynose tetras, panda corys and cherry barbs in there. I also have a group of honey gouramis and a pair of bolivian rams. Thanks so much!!

 

Siamese Algae Eaters, either 1 or you could get a small shoal, they do grow about 5 inches but the are great algae eaters.

Avoid Chinese Algae Eaters/True Flying foxes. They grow big and only really eat algae when they are young.

 

If copper products were used in the tank it could be that. Copper is toxic to invertebrates, can soak into decorations/driftwood/silicone, then leach back out. Any copper you can think of, perhaps a medicine with copper sulfate?

 

ive never medicated the tank or used anything other than prime in it other than an api water clarifier when i first switched to sand but that was after the first 3 snails died. The 1 who had survived has since died as well i found him upside down behind some rocks yesterday. Not sure how long hes been dead because i hadnt seen him in weeks

 

A mystery... The tanks have the same source water, chemical treatments, basic maintenance routines?

 

yes everything is identical i fill them from the same tap and use the same water conditioner. I even cycled them all with media from the original tank. Ive had 3 snails all be just fine in the 2 betta tanks though. And the 1 i moved from the betta tank was fine until i moved jt. Maybe its just bad luck and coincidences? All the fish are thriving its just the snails

 

If not copper or water parameters then maybe a difference in food availability or one of the fish in the big tank is a snail murderer? Some of them are...

 

it wont be food because there’s definitely algae available thats the problem lol and i also drop algae wafers. I cooouuuld have a serial killer fish in there but everything i stock is peaceful and 2 of the snails never came out of their shells at all. If i saw 3 days no movement id check and if they werent smelly put them back. Every time they eventually were pulled out smelly and dead. The mystery snail was floating and hanging out of his shell all gross so youd think a killer wouldve eaten him but maybe not. The recent nerite death confuses me because he was fine for a couple weeks then disappeared which they do sometimes. Then yesterday i found him upside down and checked and he isnt even in the shell. So either someone nommed him or he disintegrated (i like that word choice better than rotted....) i never had an ammonia spike though which i watched for when he disappeared for over a week

 

Pitbull pleco

 

I both love and hate mysteries like this.

I hope someone else will brainstorm some ideas. I feel like we've covered the obvious possibilities. Outside of a murderous fish I'm not sure. The lethal fish may not eat the snails - they can just harass them to death.

 

i feel like this post doesnt belong in aquarium stocking since a lot of it is snail death explanation speculation but alright lol

and yes thats where im at too. Unless honey gourami or my panda cories are being bullies? Who knows lol

 

i forgot to reply to you because i was at work but thank you so much for this suggestion! I only did a brief search but im gunna research them more now

 

Did you figure out the answer to this mystery? How are your tanks?