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Yes, all the trumpet-shaped snails have them. As to what they are... I did a bit of searching and couldn't come up with an anatomical term. How about "shell grippers"? :D

Haha, okay, just trying to help. :)

Assassins live in the substrate as well; they require another snail to reproduce and breed slowly when they do. They would be my 2nd choice after MTS for substrate stirring. I really like MTS - I think they're beautiful and I keep them in most of my tanks.

You're definitely not over-taxing the nitrification system - if you were you'd get an ammonia spike. But some sort of organic matter is being broken down into a decent amount of nitrates and that is producing the acids which are pulling your PH down. This is exactly what makes aquasoil...

3 dKH is pretty low, in my opinion and experience, and given that your nitrates are that high it sounds like your nitrogen cycle is pretty busy. Busy nitrogen cycles produce a lot of acid and that tends to pull the PH down. I have this problem in one of my tanks where I over-feed (to make sure...

Do you know what the GH and KH are in both of your tanks as well as out of your tap? Your PH is pretty high... that speaks to a fairly high KH which most likely comes along with a pretty high GH. If you have big differences in these between the tanks it could explain why you're having a tough...

Well, that's easy. If it's eating LIVE SNAIL BRAINS, you have a zombie snail on your hands. :crazy::eek3: Assassins are my favorite method of pest snail control in tanks where I don't have enough shrimp to compete with the snails. They're an attractive and highly effective way to keep...

Kaosu speaks the truth! :clap: Way too many people treat snails like the zombie apocalypse or something... :22_yikes:

I keep CPDs and H. Formosa (Least Kilifish) and both the CPDs and mature female H. Formosa will eat baby shrimp. Corys (just about any type) are a great pick; they're the only fish I'll keep with shrimp I'm trying to breed.

They're tougher to breed than RCS are because of the larval stage; I've heard green water helps.

Hmmm, it seems to me the 2nd one will work to increase KH. The 1st one says it can lower the PH of the water, which is not desirable. That said, if folks are using these in aquariums with good results, they may be a good alternative. I'd have to do some research before I could say one way or...

My RCS are doing well with 11 dGH and 9dKH so far - I haven't noticed any attrits yet. They can tolerate higher, but I would caution you to increase GH and KH gradually or you may stress them. My blue velvets in one tank didn't react well to increasing GH too quickly. I use Seachem...

That's 3 dGH - even lower than mine (4) and arguably too low for healthy snail shells in the long term. GH is calcium (absolutely critical for snail shells), magnesium, and other ions; KH is the buffering capacity of the water - this keeps the PH stable and above 7 which is important for snail...

What is your GH at right now?

Yes, everyone says this, but in my experience, diet (Ken's veggie sticks and home-made snail-o with calcium carbonate powder in it) and cuttlebone and crushed coral just weren't enough to make up for my soft water. I have graveyards of snail shells to prove this fact (ramshorn and mystery); the...

I've done some research on this topic recently and opinions seem to vary. I'm currently increasing my GH/KH from 4/5 to 11/9 in an attempt to successfully keep mystery snails again. I think a dGH of 10 should be fine for any snails; I added one degree just to be safe. Neocaridina (RCS) can...

It might be they're shocked by a difference in GH and/or KH when they're added to your tanks. I would measure the hardness (GH and KH) of the water they came from and compare it to yours. It might be helpful to gradually acclimate them to your hardness over a week or so using a tank diluted...

"pest" snails will munch on plants that are suffering from nutrient deficiencies, but they don't bother healthy plants. They'll eat biofilm off the surface of plants, but they shouldn't eat the plants themselves.

You have to pick your battles in this hobby. Personally, I find snails to be a valuable part of the ecology in each of my tanks. They're a fantastic indicator of over-feeding and provide valuable waste-processing services. I use assassins for control if I'm intentionally over-feeding a tank.

Malawa shrimp are more prolific than red cherries and aren't very expensive. They're nearly indestructible too...