FW snails and calcium

[QTOFFER]

I just purchased a dozen golden apple snails at my fish club auction. In the past, I've had poor luck with ramshorn snails because my water is extremely soft (GH and KH of 3). Over time, the snails would develop shell deformities and die.

What would you recommend as a good source of calcium to boost my KH a bit for the snails' benefit. I was thinking a small piece of clamshell or a piece of cuttlebone.

The pH of my standing tapwater is 7.0, but it drops to 6.8 after a few days in the tank. I have lots of live plants and driftwood. All of my fish are SA and Indonesian species that prefer slightly acidic water, but are supposed to do just fine with a pH of 7.5 so long as it's stable.

[SparKy697]

I have used the KENT calcium that is made for sw. As for how to dose, good luck. I have found everything from 1/2 the recommended amount on the bottle up to crazy levels suggested on the net. For me I went with the 1/2 recommended method and never had shell issues in my snail tank.

HTH

[Bubble_B0y]

coral sand

[plecoperson]

Crushed coral in a media bag in the filter (if you have a hang-on-back) works well, too. Keep driftwood and plants out of the tank (or be fanatical about cleaning up dead leaves.)

[fish 'n' fries]

I used crushed coral and still had shell issues, so also started using the Ca for SW tanks. I only add it during water changes (my logic was that if I didn't have such soft water it would only be added during water changes...). I actually found a ppm recommendation of Ca at one point and that was how I figured my dosing. (of course I don't remember what that was now--but I do 8 ml of the Kent's weekly in a 40 gallon tank). It is more than the daily dose recommended on the bottle but only once a week. I've had no problems with the fish or the snails since I started (about a year now).

[JeffreyL]

QTOFFER, I had a similar problem with my tapwater. It is even softer than yours with a gH and kH of less than 2. While researching EI dosing on Tom Barr's site I found a reference to using a gH booster. A homemade one can be simply a 5 to 1 mix of CaCL and MGSO4. I make a concentrated solution of this and add to my tap when doing a PWC, same as the declorinator.

I wind up with a consistant, stable gH of 6. And a ton of trumpet and ramshorn snails. lol Plus, I can now keep livebearers, a problem before. I am still working on the low kH. I kinda hate to lose the 7.0 pH.

I am not sure if there is any significance to the ratio of Ca and Mg in the mix. When low on CaCL, I have adjusted it slightly. Seems to make no difference to fish or snails.

[hc8719]

At PetSmart we throw in some of those 3 day feeder calcium blocks. That way the snails actually ingest it