Needing help with Golden Mystery snails

L

lynn31

AC Members
Dec 31, 2008
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Hi everyone :) Im new here so if I post this in the wrong place ...sorry . I have a few snails and their shells seem to be growing thinner. I was told this could be due to need of calcium or acid in my water . So Im wondering how to add calcium to my freshwater aquarium safely ( I have already put some cuddlebone in the tank , its been in it for 2 or 3 weeks now , and it doesnt seem to be helping ) . Also how do I find out if my water in my tank has acid in it and if it does how do I eleminate it safely ( Im wanting to try to do this before our snail eggs hatch , the oldest eggs have been there for almost 2 weeks and the other eggs a few days ) .

Also is dying plants a sign of poor water ? What do we feed our plant in the tank . This is our first tank ( yes its already been cycled :) ) .

Thanks
 
look in on rachals invert thread and read up on her feedings of snail jello. she adds calcium to the mix and the snails love it! very easy to make to. I will go look at the thread and post the link :) and welcome to AC :)
 
Test your pH with API test kit. The pH has to be 7.0 to minimize/avoid shell erosion. You'll need a high range pH test kit for 7.6 and above. Anything lower than 7.0 is acidic and tends to erode the shells faster. Organic matter such as wastes and dead plants can contribute to the acidity of the water so water changes are very important.

What plants do you have? What's your lighting capacity? I simply use low lighting plants and they are okay. Cryptocoryne becketii, C. wendtii, Nymphaea lotus, Java moss, Java ferns and anubias work well. They are undemanding.

I agree with granny. I add calcium in my snail jello recipe. Feeding calcium enriched veggies such as collards also help.
 
i agree^^^ what kind of plant is it???...(and if you dont know post a pic!!!)...and what is your PH???
 
another good way of giving your snailies calcium, is tums! Lup told me about them... the only downfall to tums, is your water gets cloudy for a few hours, but hey, it works..lol.. i also feed my snailies green beans and peas and algea wafers.... they love em!
 
welcome to AC! And this is invert central, so no worries there :)

The posters above have already given you great advice about calcium supplements for your snail, but I'm curious about your eggs. Are they from your Mystery Snails?

And I think what you mean is that your water may be acidic, not that there's an acid in it. If your water has low pH (acidic) then you can buffer it by adding crushed coral either to your filter or mixing it into your substrate.

As far as your plants go, planted tanks are tricky tricky business. There's a planted tank forum if you want some really informative help. Mostly I try to stick to the low-light, easy to maintain plants that Lupin mentioned above. Good luck and keep us posted!

One last thing: we love pics! (hint hint)
 
Mystery Snails

Hi all :) Thanks you all so much for the help . I added some cuttlebone to my tank , they didnt have any crushed coral when I went to get some , and they said that cuttlebone may help . I never knew snails could be so confusing to take care of :) Well as for the eggs they have hatched ( ALOT of them , there have been 2 egg masses that have hatched and one that was just recently layed , I havent been able to bring myself to remove them ...it makes me feel bad to think of doing that , I would be killing them ) . But yes they are all Golden Mystery snails and tons of them . I moved a pair to another tank because the other tank is now over populated with Golden Mystery snails . I have no idea what to do with them all !!! They are in with a Dinosaur eel :) Well well see how this goes with all the babies . As for the plant Im not sure what kind it is , but it seems to require ALOT of lighting . Ive thought about getting some of those bulbs that you drop in the tank , but it doesnt give much info on them . Thanks all :)
 
I have to be honest and say that I routinely crush or freeze multiple egg clutches a week. Its much more humane to kill the clutches than to have overstocked tanks which lead to calcium deficiency and other issues. Cuttlebone is a great first step! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
 
ALOT of Babies

Hi all :) thank you all for all your help . Well the egg clutch hatched and there are tons of baby Golden mystery snails now ( they hatches a couple weeks or so ago ) . They are getting their golden color to them . I didnt realize how many their were until they started getting bigger . Oh , I have started getting rid of the clutches . I just got rid of another one today . I hate doing it , but their are so many of them when they hatch . We just gave some away to one of our friends . We're thinking about trying to see if we take some in if we can get some in store credit . I have to say they are cute though :)

Oh , about the tums ... if we cant find unflavored Tums will the flavored be safe to use ?

I would post some pictures but my camera is giving me problems .
Thanks again :)
Lynn31
 
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