Question About Giving Snails Calcium

[mandy2936]

Hi,
I have three Zebra Nerite Snails, two in my 20g and one in my 5g. The two in the 20 are doing great, they move around the tank a lot, though I have never seen them eating any algae wafers that I drop in. Regardless, I think they are doing okay though because they are active. Anyway, the other day I noticed a very small area of white on one of the snails... it wasn't exactly on the shell, closer between the shell and the fleshy part.

However, I'm not exactly sure if this is due to lack of calcium, which is why I was wondering if it would be bad to add calcium to the tank if it wasn't needed after all. Because I have birds, I always have a cuttle bones readily available. If I were to add some to the tank, should I just chop some up and sprinkle it in... or what?

Thank you very much.
P.S- The snail in my 5g looks fine, but he BARELY moves. He is ALWAYS in the same spot on the wall, and it is so annoying because I bought him so could move around and clean some algae, also for the interest of my Betta. He has now just become apart of the decor, because he acts like a rock, only difference is he is creating some unwanted bioload in the process. Any ideas?

Thanks again, everyone!

 

[dkpate]

You can use a cheese grater to grind up the cuttle, run it under water for a bit first, so you don't end up with a bunch of dust. Then just sprinkle a little in the tank, (I use about 1 tsp every 2 weeks or so for the 20 gallon). You will have some that floats, but it eventually sinks, and the ones that don't are okay, or you can remove them.
I have started burying the cuttle in the sand, it works out better for me, and is not as messy. I break it in half, and just leave it in there until it goes away. You can also stick a piece in the filter if you have room.
My ramshorn snails don't move until the lights go out, they just hang out all day.

 

[mandy2936]

Thanks! My comments below in blue.

You can use a cheese grater to grind up the cuttle, run it under water for a bit first, so you don't end up with a bunch of dust. Then just sprinkle a little in the tank, (I use about 1 tsp every 2 weeks or so for the 20 gallon). You will have some that floats, but it eventually sinks, and the ones that don't are okay, or you can remove them.
Ok, I'll try that. If the snails turn out not to be in need of calcium, can I do any harm by adding some? Like can there be TOO much calcium?
I have started burying the cuttle in the sand, it works out better for me, and is not as messy. I break it in half, and just leave it in there until it goes away. You can also stick a piece in the filter if you have room.
Should I do that instead of sprinkling it in, then? I like to idea of no mess better, I'm a freak for clean tanks. Hehe.
My ramshorn snails don't move until the lights go out, they just hang out all day.

Yeah, I get what you're saying there, I just thought it was weird because two of the snails are very active, while one of them is SOOOOO lazy. lol.

Thanks for your help!
P.S I just noticed a bunch of new emoticons! I like these!

 

[dkpate]

I have never had a problem adding it. It MAY change your pH a teeny bit, but shouldn't be enough to cause any problems.
I like the chair emote LOL.