So I got my order already The order was shipped Tuesday and I got it at noon today from USPS priority mail. I was surprised at how lite the box was so I immediately opened it up to see if something was missing.
The quantities are dead on no extras except maybe on the dwarf ceriths I think I got more did not bother counting I put so many to the side and could see right away I had more.
Only issue I could say with this was each bag had very little to no water and some rolled up soaked paper towels. But no heat pack of any sort and it is pretty cold here today. Box was not insulated. I was going to drip them to adjust but after going on there site to double check their technique in acclimating I see they want you to only temp adjust them to your tank. Good thing I checked since I did start to drip. I put my macro’s in my other tank since my fuge is to full to add anything atm. Lets hope everything makes the trip into my tank well.
Here is what I got.
quick crew (75g)- 74 dwarf cerith,25 nassarius,27 florida cerith,12 large & 9 small nerites
Ulva sea lettuce- small portion
Penny Macro Algae Just a random algae they give you for a penny- very small on branching piece of unknown to me with 2 branches.
Red Gracilaria- very small portion
That’s it John. I just got an order of a quick crew from them about a week ago. They sent me an email saying to float the bags of snails for 15 minutes then dump them all in the tank. Odd instructions, but they are all still alive and eating so it worked for me.
The florida Cerith snails have not all moved but they say sometimes they can go dormant for a few days. all of the dwarf certiths were covering my tank walls last night and now a bunch moved to my overflow they should be able to live in there for a long time lol. All the other snails are moving and doing their jobs
Here is the acclimation info from their site. Interesting to say the least.
All Animals at this Time:
Float the bag in your tank to get the snail used to the temperature in your aquarium.
Wait 15 minutes.
Add animals to the tank, discard shipping water and any towels used in the packaging.
Important: Snails may go through shock during shipping, and be closed when they arrive. You should give them plenty of time to come out of their shells and move around before deciding they didn’t make the trip. Ceriths may go dormant for up to 3 days.
You may find this to be different than the acclimation procedure you are used to carrying out. The reason we now ask our customers to use this procedure is because our snails and crabs live intertidally, and can handle swings in ph/salinity without a problem. However, what they can’t handle is toxic levels of ammonia. During the shipping process, ammonia levels in the shipping bags build, while the ph level goes down. As the ph goes down the toxicity of ammonia also goes down. However, when your tank water with normal ph is introduced to the shipping bags, and the ph rises, so does the toxicity of the ammonia, and you will be poisoning the livestock. Please don’t do this and certainly never let livestock sit out in buckets with shipping water exposed to fresh air for a long period of time, we know of no surer way to kill your new arrivals. Any other method of acclimation voids the Alive Arrival Guarantee. It is an easy method of acclimation and it works fine, please follow it.
First I’ve ever heard of just floating and adding snails. I used to do that and it killed ever single snail. Now I drip acclimate them and haven’t lost one since. Weird? ::
[quote=“DamnPepShrimp, post:8, topic:4861”]
First I’ve ever heard of just floating and adding snails. I used to do that and it killed ever single snail. Now I drip acclimate them and haven’t lost one since. Weird? ::[/quote]
When you get them from the store dripping is the best method but as they explain in their method for the way they ship them. They have hardly any water so after 2 days in a small bag with just as little as they have you know if you add water it would more less just soak them in ammonia and trates and trites and the ph level would change, it would take hours to get them dripped to the way your tanks chemistry is. I only lost a few Florida ceriths everything else is still alive and very active.
If you drip acclimate (mine is more of a small stream from an air line tube, not dripped)) the snails for say 30 minutes, all the water your adding is lowering the ammonia levels the snails are in currently due to dilution. So this gives the snail more time to adjust to your water chemistry while lowering the toxic ammonia levels at the same time.
Live Aquaria which is probably the best online supplier for this hobby has two methods of acclimation. The drip method which we all know and the floating method. Yet the floating method you still add water to the bag by a half cup every 5 minutes until the bag is full. They state the drip method is more advanced and prefered way for more sensitive animals.
I have always done the drip method after floated snails and losing every single one. I was new to the hobby and didn’t know about the drip method until a more experienced hobbyist told me. Many years later I have never lost a snail due to acclimation. Just my $0.02 and experience.
The order was shipped Tuesday and I got it at noon today from USPS priority mail. I was surprised at how lite the box was so I immediately opened it up to see if something was missing.
: glad to hear a good survival rate. their shipping method must be for good reason, maybe they ship better with less water volume :
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