Snail behavior....

Question
I've had my 29 gallon mini reef set up for about 9 months now and have recently noticed a problem with new snails.  When I add margarita snails or smaller turbo snails they don't seem to be very active and when they attach themselves to the glass they just sit.  And most of the time they end up falling off onto their back into the sand.  They don't make any effort to get up but when I turn them over they start the cycle all over again.  There isn't a lot of algae on the glass so that's not the problem concerning their lack of movement.  Please help.

Answer
Dewayne,
The snails are doing what they would normally do inside your aquarium.  Sure, some fish might be bumping them and causing them to fall, but what is most likely occuring is that they aren't finding enough algae on the glass, losing their grip and falling.  It happens.

Some species of snails are not built to turn themselves over.  In the wild, there is enough current to flip them back over.  In captivity this is rarely the case.

You will find that different varieties of snails will perfer to eat different varieties of algae.   Most smaller species do more with the brown diatom based algaes versus hair or other filiment varieties.

Best of luck with your tank!

Regards,
Scott Johnson
Aquarium Crazy Fish
www.aquariumcrazyfish.com