White etchings on yellow snail question

BlueSkies

BlueSkies

AC Members
Jul 27, 2006
30
0
0
Dayton, Ohio
Hello,
I've been reading all over the net (Applesnail.net, google, aquaria, etc) and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Here is a picture of the snail, Gary Lee. It appears that she has some white etchings in her shell. The water here is moderately to very hard (around 300ish) and the pH is at 7.8. I feed her mostly cucumbers and green leaf lettuce. am experiementing with other foods (like potatoes, squash, carrots- just trying to vary the diet more)
Is a lack of calcium causing these etching marks?
Is this cuttlebone the same that birds use to sharpen their beaks?
And is cuttlebone necessary in hard water? Really appreciate anyone elses similar experiences.
Attached Images
 
Yes, lack of calcium will cause etching in the shells. Adding a cuttle bone (yes, the ones birds use) after boiling it (to stink it) and cooling it off will help a little. You many want to feed high calcium foods as well as adding liquid calcium to the water if you want good shell condition. Other than that, your water if fine.
 
Sorry about that.
Let me try this now.
:pc:
 
LOL still no pictures :P I'm pretty sure I know what you are talking about though as I own and breed canas snails and mystery snails. Both apple. When I got mine they had a lot of etching and soft shells. With a good diet, added liquid calcium, and cuttle bones to graze on, their shells have improved greatly and they are growing at a faster rate. My largest (Florida Apple) is already golf ball sized and my canas snails aren't far behind. The most growth I've seen though is in my mystery snails. The etching won't go away but new shell will come out healthy.

LOL BTW, my large male golden canas snail is named Gary :P Of course he is named after spongebob's Gary LOL Dork, yes.
 
That's funny! I saw another snail on the snail website forum, they named their's Gary as well. I thought we were so orginally copying off Sponge Bob as well. ;)
I do have one more snail question, sounds like you might know a thing or to about them. I purchased some new plants today, but before hand noticed some snails. I scrapped them off into a container before treating the plants in a dip. The snail appears to be a regularly pond snail. It's shell is much more pointed and it's darker than the apple snail I have, it's skin is more of a purplish. Are these snails also kept in aquariums? I'd take a picture, but it would take my 5 hours to post it.
Thanks.
 
Well it could be black mystery snails (they come in all sorts of colors such as purple, golden which is what you have, black, blue, and the list goes on) or pond snail. Some people will put pond snails in their tank but I personally wouldn't. They breed like wild fire and before you know it, you may be looking through a snail cover glass wall trying to see your fish. They are also super hard to get rid of. I bought a used 55G that had pond snails in them. I went home, removed all the snails I could see, took out and threw away the substrate, bleached the tank, scalded the tank with water over 120F then finally refilled. That was nearly 3 months ago. I still will see these guys popping up on occasion!!! The only snails I'm a big fan of are mystery snails (good for planted tanks), Florida Apple Snail which gets to be a little smaller than a softball and has beautiful black stripes, and Canas snails that get softball sized. All of them can be trained as well to take food from your hand and beg. They each have their own personalities which are fun to learn. They also LOVE bubble rides and I sure get a kick out of see it LOL.
Anyways, back on topic, if you are wanting to keep the pond snails (if they turn out being pond snails) I would suggest having a tank just for them or buy a few fish that would love to snack on baby snails.

Forgot to add:
That is etching and would be caused from lack of calcium though its not a bad case (I currently have some that were in terrible shape) and by adding calcium you shouldn't see anymore of that.
 
Thanks for the advice. I had no idea pond snails were so hardy! I'm currently keeping them in a medium sized Smart-Spin container with holes poked in the lid with some lettuce until I can properly identify them.
I've been wanting to get another snail, but I wasn't sure if there was enough room for two big fat snails in my tank (55 gallon). But I'm thinking maybe Gary Lee needs a companion that is more her "speed". I love the purple looking mystery snails.
But first I have to learn how to take care of the one I've got. Thanks again for the advice.
One more question though- do you feed your snails dill weed? I have read that it's high in calcium.
 
Last edited:
Yes, the purples are beautiful :) I have several of those and a freshly hatched clutch of them. Adding another mystery snail to your 55G won't bother it at all. My 55G holds 8 of my 10 snails (3 Canas, 1 Florida, and 4 mystery snails) in the day time along with my many fish with no problem. I don't however, feed them in the 55G At night time all snails go into my 10G feeder/clutch laying tank to be given the food for the night and a chance to lay some clutches. I will soon need to update to a larger tank for feeding since these guys can produce a lot of slime for a 10G.
The container you have the snails in now is fine. I raise all my baby snails and clutches in Tupperware containers with no problem.
As for dill weed, I wish. I can't seem to find the stuff anywhere! I have to settle to veggies with less calcium until I can find dill weed but its a great food choice but remember to give a verity of foods.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom