View Full Version : Rotting snail shells.
bettalover
08-24-2008, 9:19 PM
been noticing a couple of my MTS and ramshorns have white shells. like the end are rotting away and are turning the shell white. the snails are doing fine but i guess eventually those whole shell will rot away and kill the snail. can anyone tell me whats wrong with them? thanks.
wataugachicken
08-24-2008, 9:25 PM
there's not enough calcium/minerals in the water, and so the calcium that the shell is made of is dissolving into the water. you need to increase hardness (i think) and provide calcium supplements for the snails to eat, either through cuttlebone or a calcium-fortified food.
chazsgirl
08-24-2008, 9:27 PM
it's time for some snail jello!
bettalover
08-25-2008, 1:25 AM
if i increase the hardness... would that effect any of my endlers or cherry shrimps?
thebullit
08-25-2008, 2:34 AM
no mate it wont harm them. try and feed more calcium rich veggies and jello.
stezatois
08-25-2008, 4:46 AM
Look at the sticky in the freshwater inverts section, Theres a wonderful and simple recipe there by msjinkzd for snail jellos. My snails and fish alike love them :)
msjinkzd
08-25-2008, 7:33 AM
That sounds like erosion. What is your water's ph? Another easy thing to do to buffer your water is add crushed coral. Another alternative is to add wondershells or vacation feeders. Are these common ramshorns? Any chance of a pic? A small degree of erosion is nothing to be concerned with. Are you noticing holes in the shells or just etching? Feeding calcium rich foods is great, but it helps more with establishing new shell growth and overall health than preventing erosion.
Spewn
08-25-2008, 10:00 AM
I'm not so sure about erosion due to pH or hardness. I've got a bunch of MTS in pH ~8.2, aragonite substrate with a bag of aragonite in the sump as well. They get snail jello, liquid calcium goes in the tank.
The very very very tippy tip end of the shell is disappearing on each and every one of my MTS. I don't know what it could be, but pH seems unlikely. At least in my case
msjinkzd
08-25-2008, 12:17 PM
That is just the "oldest" part of hte shell and its not atypical to see some etching.
It sounds to me that's what he's describing. He said "like the end are rotting away and are turning the shell white."
When I first saw that(edit: on my own MTS), I thought "I hope that doesn't continue up the snail, otherwise he'll have no shell left and die."