New snails purple patches

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Stacyvamp

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I just bought four snails ( not sure of the species, help me out). I introduced them to the saltwater tank an hour ago, and they havenā€™t moved at all. Now Iā€™m noticing purple patches on them (Iā€™m not sure if they were there before or not). Please help. They were moving while i was acclimating them in a separate container but as soon as i placed them in the tank they've been still. I attached photos.
 

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Sorry, I'm not completely sure, although I've never seen a freshwater snail like that? It looks like it may be a marine snail though I may be wrong. Is your tank freshwater?
 
They look like marine snails called turbo snails. Is your tank a marine tank or a freshwater tank? The plant decor in the middle photo suggests it is freshwater; if it is, that explains why they are not moving - they don't like the water.
 
They look like marine snails called turbo snails. Is your tank a marine tank or a freshwater tank? The plant decor in the middle photo suggests it is freshwater; if it is, that explains why they are not moving - they don't like the water.
My tank is saltwater
 
Good, we were worried that the middle photo looked a bit like freshwater decor ;) Since it is a marine tank, I've moved the thread to Saltwater Invertebrates & Corals.

Is your salinity at the same level as the tank they came from? I'm used to freshwater snails, and they can react to a change to a different type of water.
 
Thanks!
And yes, I use store bought water from the LFS they came from. Could it be that they're just stressed out due to environmental change? Like new fish, different substrate?
 
It could be. Hopefully someone who has a marine tank with these snails can shed more light on what's going on.
 
Give them time - don't poke at them or pick them up to check them. They may perk up when the lights go out. If it's acclimation stress, there's nothing you can do about that except leave them be and wait. You can test water parameters but if you find anything off, don't try to fix it super fast or you risk stressing them even more.

How did you acclimate the snails? Drip acclimation is safest. With other methods, the larger the percentage change in water each time the more risky it is with snails. Marine snails can be very sensitive to snap changes in water parameters. Yours look to be Astreas which are on the more sensitive side from my experience. You also have to be careful how you remove snails from the acclimation container to avoid injuring the columellar muscle (which is what gets strained as they try to pull against you); injured snails will often sit mostly closed and refuse to move.

Was the water you got from the LFS a jug they filled for you out of a tap on the spot (indicated its water they mixed themselves for their own tanks) or was it something that came to the LFS sealed in its own single use container? The pre-packaged, single-use container ones can sometimes have a weirdly high salinity and sometimes needs to be diluted before use.
 

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