snail shell erosion

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Kuhlifan

AC Members
Mar 28, 2007
904
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16
Ohio
Ok, I have a tank with a large piece of driftwood in it. My snail population seems to be struggling. For snails like my ramshorns that are always visible, I don't think I have a single adult ramshorn whose shell isn't entirely white and pitted. I've tried putting coral into my filter and tank but that doesn't seem to help much. Is there any additive I can use or special food I can put in that will give them a calcium boost? Can I simply buy calcium tablets at the drug store and plop one in?
 

fishycat

needs more wiggle.
Dec 9, 2009
2,926
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0
Hawaii
I have driftwood in my tanks with healthy baby briggs... I feed veggies (canned green beans, frozen/thawed fresh zucchini, deshelled peas) twice a week. My old ramshorn & mts have shown huge improvement in shell growth! The snello recipe in the invert sticky has added calcium powder & is popular in my tanks (fish & snails alike).

Water hardness I think doesn't build shell, ingested calcium does. Tho it is true that if water is too soft/acidic there will be shell erosion... What is your ph/gh?

Not sure what mine is, but I had pretty poor ramshorn shell growth until I started adding veggies for the briggs!


Edit: yes you can add calcium pills from the drugstore, but the dissolving pill throws up some debris/can be messy and people have said it also clouded their water. I use pills in my snello & didn't have a clouding issue, but pills straight into the tank was messier.
 

soobie

AC Members
Apr 29, 2007
832
1
0
53
eastern oregon, USA
Real Name
Sue
My water is extremely soft and on the acid side, and all my snails show erosion, too. Feeding calcium-rich snello helps a lot. I can actually see a demarcation of improved shell quality on my apple snail's shell, that started when I began feeding the snello.
 
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