Mystery Snail Shell Crack

[Lofi]

Hey all!

I have this yellow male mystery snail that sadly came with a small crack- unfortunately it seems to have evolved into a bit of a concern. As he gradually gets bigger, the crack seems to get worse and I'm wondering if it's a cause for pain for the little man.

I've heard of mending the shell, but I'm not certain what would work best considering the crack and the increasing size. Let alone, aquarium safe glue, nail polish or whatever else can be used in assistance.

The more recent picture is of him in the corner of the tank on the glass. I fear it has split to the point of potential exposure.

Thank you for any and all help

 

[King Fisher]

Are you using tap or RO water? A lot of times the shell of snails deteriorate with a lack of minerals. Especially calcium.

 

[Lofi]

It's about 60-40. 40% being RO.

I don't think that it's a deterioration as opposed to he's just growing too fast to heal accordingly. I feed them cucumbers regularly to potentially regulate a loss of calcium.

I'll add more if it helps- I'm just against using cuttle bone and would need an alternative so I could keep the TDS down.

 

[King Fisher]

I think you can dose liquid calcium to the water. I'm just wondering if he has a thin shell from a deficiency or his shell isn't growing at the rate he is. What's the TDS of your tap water?

 

[DreaminginBlue]

To me it looks like he had an injury where the new growth of the shell occurs, and he’s unable to grow new shell in that area, hence the gash running up the side of his shell.
Definitely check the pH, GH, and KH amd increase them if needed.

 

[Fishlover99]

Blanched kale is a excellent way to get calcium back into them quicker than just water column. I have had some snails come to me with their shells in half and organs exposed. Idk how I saved it. I did big water changes for clean water and gave it alot of kale and blood worms. I kept one drop of meth blue in the one gallon keeper I kept in to heal. I kept the temp at 80. It had a small filter so it had water movement and air. With in a month it had sealed it's self shut again. These guys take months to heal. They need a pH of no less than 7. 6.5 is pushing it for them. They love their temp to be 78-80. Water no softer than 75ppm. If you can meet these then you have supplement for them. A lot of info on these guys that is given out at pet stores is in correct. These snails rank right up there with gold fish, and betta fish. Most abused and most misunderstood.