Are Briggs ok with Potassium?

Reframer

Reframer

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Feb 22, 2009
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Minnesota
Well, all my brigs have been freaking out and crawled to the top of the tank to get out of the water. Parameters are 0,0,10 so I don't know what the heck it could be except that I have changedt he water softener over from Na to Kcl. I keep doing water changes and they still aren't happy.
I did do the change slowly over several weeks so that there wouldn't be any shock.
The only other thing I can think of is if the city is doing something with the water.
 
I found a little bit online about them perhaps being more sensitive to it than salt. Just that I don't know what the exact amount of potassium chloride curently is in the water.
 
Reframer, potassium is toxic to snails! In many places it is being tested as a method of killing invasives in local waterways, such as for New Zealand Mudsnail removal. Why are you using softened water for your water changes anyway? Brigs need HARD water, definitely not soft water. They should not ever be exposed to water run through a household softener. Your best bet is to do a very large water change (75% plus) of water from an outside spigot, one not connected to the softener.
Best of luck to you and your snails.
 
Ok, I had a feeling something was wrong. Good thing there is not very much in there. I was changing it because I wanted to grow more plants and the levels of sodium are too high to do that. I heard from others that fish are good with it, and I didn't even think about the snails being any different I guess.
There aren't any methods of bypassing the softener at the moment (the only outside tap faucet is broken). My water here is liquid rock. Even with the softener going, the Kh is still over 300 and the ph is 8.4! It only affects the gh and brings that down from off the scale to mid range.
I isolated them in some spring water and will clean out the softener and do a big wc!
 
if the filtered water is only running through your kitchen faucet use water from your tub or shower to do water changes with. that would be easier than trying to undo what the filter is doing.
 
There isn't any water not hooked up to the water softener and I don't think that the kitchen filter will take out the potassium.

I think I have the situation under control though. I put them in spring water and they are all crawling and eating well. I completely cleaned and rinsed out the softener, filled it back up with regular salt, regenerated the brine tank, washed laundry to get it flowing, and am now ready to do a water change. I will wait until several water changes until I put the snails back in.
Thanks for answering my question quickly, otherwise I could've lossed them. Just another lesson in the fact that what is safe for fish/plants is not always safe for snails or inverts.
 
Hey Reframer,
It sounds like you have definitely figured out the problem then. Your regular, unsoftened pH would be awesome for snails! You would have the healthiest shells around, I'm sure. It's too bad that you can't get some of that regular unsoftened water in the tank. That high of a pH would really do wonders for them.
Unfortunately, if the whole house is hooked up to the softener, spring water is your best bet for water changes. You said you've changed the softener back to regular salt? I'm not sure that even that will make the water safe for snails. Do you know what your salinity and pH are of the water after it has been softened? Be sure to check that. You don't want to be softening the water to a pH below 7, or your snails' shells will suffer.
Best of luck to you! Keep us updated. :)
 
ive got plenty more hard water if you want some! ;)
 
What I mean to say is that AFTER the water is softened it reads 8.4ph, 300kh ppm, and mid range GH. I don't know what it is without it softened, but a friend nearby says his is at 9.5ph and 400ppm without a softener! Something that high could actually hurt the snail's shell and I would have to replace all of the plumbing and the water heater every few years without it.
They have been in the regular sodium softened water for 6 months and do really well except for the fact that they never mate or lay eggs.
Our water comes from deep under ground in limestone.
What would be the cheapest way of figuring out what my salinity is?
 
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