Will snail shells hurt my tank?

[Drayven]

I had a pretty bad infestation of snails of pretty much every variety. Mystery, pond, trumpet. Now that I've got my yoyo loaches and they're doing their thing to the snail population I have quite a collection of empty snail shells in the tank. I personally like the way the shells look in the black sand and I'm wondering if there is any negative effects to leaving them in there. Just not sure if they'll make the water more acidic or anything like that.

 

[jsoong]

Shells will slowly dissolve & increase the pH & KH ... to a point. (7.8 pH is the equilibrium.)

If you have fairly hard water, the effect would be minimal.

 

[DragonFish71]

Ya know, I would love to know this as well. I know some critters will nibble the shells for the calcium, like shrimp and other snails, but I'd be curious if there are any adverse effects to the water quality.

 

[mfdrookie516]

the only problem i would see with them is that they have the potential, if sitting with the hole upright, to trap poop and excess food and create ammonia/nitrate problems... thats assuming there are alot of them... but that could just be me being ocd about issues like that in my tanks

 

[epsolon77]

I agree with jsoong. The biggest concern will be the buffering the shells will do. What type of fish do you have in your tank? If you have PH sensitive fish like neon tetra's or angelfish it might be a problem, but otherwise I would not worry about it. Actually if you have slightly acidic water they can help to buffer your tank and keep the PH more stable.

 

[Drayven]

Yoyo loaches
dojo loaches
zebra danios/glofish
swordtails
cherry shrimp
bristlenose

Also I just tested my water right out of the tap and it was a pretty dark blue. My test only goes to 7.6 so I'd put mine at like 7.8-8 if not a touch higher. That shouldn't be a problem right as long as it's consistent?

 

[mfdrookie516]

exactly

 

[epsolon77]

I don't see any problems then. Just for clarification though, snails are not always bad for your tank. The mylasian trumpet snails will burrow through your substrate and give your plants roots a needed lift. Almost all snails do a great job cleaning extra food and other debris up as well. I know population blooms are nasty and ugly, but remember to treat the cause of the blooms, not just the infestation itself. If the snails didn't have a job to do, they would not have been in your tank to begin with.

 

[Drayven]

I understand snails serve a purpose and I hope some of them survive. They moved in early in the life of the tank and their population grew out of control which I'm sure was due to over feeding and other first timer mistakes. now I'm just trying to reduce their numbers.

 

[epsolon77]

I'm sorry I didn't mean to be as offensive as it seems I was. So long as you know the cause for the snail bloom and are watching your levels you'll be in great shape. I keep all my old Mystery Snail shells in the water. My water is more on the acidic side so they dissapear pretty quickly.

 

[Drayven]

I wasn't offended, just explaining

 

[7Enigma]

Are you doing regular weekly water changes of >20%? If so it doesn't matter. Even if you had very soft acidic water and sensitive fish it's not a problem. The only time a lot of shells is a concern is when the shells aren't really empty and start to foul the water conditions from decay, or when the fishkeeper doesn't keep up on water changes and you get a large swing in GH/KH, then go to do a water change and BAM! bad things happen.

Don't sweat it.

 

[Drayven]

I try to do 10% or so every week.

 

[7Enigma]

Yikes! That IMO is a pretty small water change regardless of tank size. Could you up that to at least twice a week? I know shrimp don't like sudden changes, otherwise I'd say do at least 25% changes.

 

[Drayven]

I probably could but honestly I test my water on a fairly regular basis and my ammonia and nitrites are always at 0 and my nitrates are typically well below 20.

 

[7Enigma]

The problem I mentioned in another thread in the General Discussion Forum:

"Even without nitrAte water gets "stale". A closed system like a fishtank will constantly be evaporating water (building up salts), and waste (dissolved solids that are NOT nitrAte such as phosphates). The only way to get rid of them is to REMOVE water and REPLACE it with fresh water."

 

[meegosh]

The problem I mentioned in another thread in the General Discussion Forum:

"Even without nitrAte water gets "stale". A closed system like a fishtank will constantly be evaporating water (building up salts), and waste (dissolved solids that are NOT nitrAte such as phosphates). The only way to get rid of them is to REMOVE water and REPLACE it with fresh water."

Excellent advice! I always think of it as leaving a glass of water sit out for a week then drinking it, it's nasty! If I wouldn't drink it, why should my fish?

 

[mgamer20o0]

but leave that water sit out a week with a pump and its fine for a week. many people do 10%. yes the more is better but its not always a must. there many planted tank people out there who only do top offs never do water changes.

 

[7Enigma]

deleted

 

[Drayven]

I think you're confusing this thread with the 'nitrate' thread. I do weekly water changes and I have a few live plants in my tank