Snails' shells deteriorating

mathchris

mathchris

AC Members
Aug 18, 2005
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Brooklyn NY
www.chrisramey.com
I added two snails to my tank about two weeks ago. It seems their shells are slowly deteriorating. One of the snails had a shell in not so great shape when I got him home (always remember to look at the fish they put it in your bag). But it seems the shells, starting at the trap door, is slowly losing a layer and it's creeping away a little everyday. leaving what looks like a very thin shell. Is this a sign they are not getting enough food or do I need to add a calcium supplement? They don't molt like inverts with exoskeletons, correct?
 
You probably have soft water. What I've read helps is getting one of those weekend feeders and letting it dissolve into the tank. Supposedly the white material is calcium carbonate.
 
Adding calcium via Calcium carbonate will help as mentioned, but remember that carbonate additions will increase Ph. Not a bad thing, just something to be aware of. You can also add calcium via CaCl (Driveway heet ice melter by prestone) and not effect Ph. Other ideas are to suplement food with crab and lobster food (Hikari makes one, I do not know who else) as these food are very high calcium. You can also get some cuttlebone (bird section at the pet store) tie it to a rock and put it in your tank. the snails will graze the calcium form the cuttlebone. Shell erosion is a definate sign of either very low Ph or very low calcium. Usually the two go hand in hand.
Dave
 
An old snail shell looks nicer (part decoration/part nutritional supplement). I have a few small whelk shells and some moon snail shells that I boiled lightly and put in my tank. They do raise the Ph slightly. I have alot of inverts (crab, cray, snails, etc.) and they all eat away at the shells to gain calcium.
 
An old snail shell looks nicer (part decoration/part nutritional supplement). I have a few small whelk shells and some moon snail shells that I boiled lightly and put in my tank. They do raise the Ph slightly. I have alot of inverts (crab, cray, snails, etc.) and they all eat away at the shells to gain calcium.
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This is a good idea as well. It's another form of calcium carbonate, and I would agree that cuttlebone does not make for good decor.
Dave
 
Gold Inca Snail

Today I found out these are Gold Inca Snails. Since my last post, I now have an overpopulation. I thought my fish would eat the babies & keep them in check but he now has no interest in eating snail.

The babies are getting around the 3/4 inch size. their shells are slightly transparent. At 3/4 inch, is it normal at this age or do all my baby snails have calcium deficiency too. There's a cuttlebone in there, I see a snail on it on occasion.

On another note my water is now too soft & the pH has dropped. Could this be from the snail overpopulation?
 
I do believe the shells of younger snails are typically semi-transparent. I've read that you can sometimes actually see their hearts beating through the shells if you look in the right spots! I wouldn't be overly concerned about it.
 
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