Snail graveyard.

So 93 gallon marine cube, LED 2x120 watts
Water params look great except calcium is low, just did 40 gallon water change, as I have been away a week and a bit.

My snails appear to be dying in their dozens ? My sand looks like snails graveyard

Fish
Regal tang
Yellow tang
Chocolate tang
Emporer angel (under an inch)
2 clowns
Little old dotty back
Yellow talked blue devil

120lbs live rock
50lbs live sand

Never seen this before, however my hammer corals also appear deflated, they not happy bunnies, all I can see wrong is the low calcium, which I am adding half a cap every 3 days (half the prescribed amount) and doing the calcium test daily.


If this is due to low calcium, should I leave the snail shells in ? Or remove them ? I also appear to have dozens of little spindly 6 legged star wish which I beleive came with my brain coral, however I though they would need a bigger star fish to breed from ? And I haven't seen that at all.

 

Please post water params and test kits used and what are you using to check your SG? Lastly if you have a refractometer how often do you calibrate it?

 

Do you have brown "snot" algae anywhere thats holding bubbles?I'm thinking copper or possibly the onset of dinoflagellates.My snails was the first to start dying off when I had dino's.

 

salinity 1.026
Temp 79.8 F
PH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrate o
Nitrate 0
Calcium 320
KH 125.3
Phospate 0

I am using the API test kit, I just bought new sets as my last ones were almost 6 months old, \i heard they get stale, I conducted the test with both sets and got the same reults

Reefmaster and saltmaster

I dont have a reactor

I am running a new skimmer seaclone 150 (3 days now) my last one boyu 2516 took a chunk out of the needlewheel and failed..............

this is not a great skimmer, however its all my local store had with a pump to fit, the cost of this crap was $475.00 ? for a 99$ skimmer ? i might add it is making more skimmate than the last skimmer ever did

i am using a Sybon Refractor i calibrate bi weekly

 

+1. With dead snails, my first check would be my salinity.

I'm assuming you don't see any damage to the shells.

 

No snot or brown stuff, everything looks normal, except for the snails and the reduction in my corals ? My brain. Coral is huge so I don't know ? Usually when I have a water issue, my brain shrinks (I know that sounds like a "please kick me" opportunity ! LoL)

 

No they are all whole, no holes in them, but they are all empty, my hermits seem ok though ?

 

Are your hermits sporting new homes?

 

no they are all still in the tube shells, the snail shells little the sand like a battle field

 

Your cal would be the issue with the LPS corals. You need to get that up a bit. As for the snails, how much algae do you have in the DT? Without a good food supply, snails starve like anything else.