Things to make ya go..hmmm Snails & KH

[Christmasfish]

I noticed something this weekend....
All the tanks that baby apple snails have took over and are thriving in have a considerbly lower Kh (and GH) than all my other tanks.

Some are almost at select and send off sizes (since in teh 20'san down more than 5 large ones can impact bioload) but the former snail holding tank ( now liquourice tank) shows the greatest difference.
I knew teh gourami couldn't hurt the snails..but can it be teh snails are helping the gourami? Are the eating the DS?
It sure seems the case.... maybe the shell building process?

 

[patryuji]

Yes, snails will lower your GH as they pull minerals out of the water to build their shells.

In my tank, which has somewhat soft tap water (GH around 6 degrees) snails always have soft shells.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Very interesting theory christmasfish... I know that I can never keep snails in my tanks, even the babies that I took from WalMart, died off considerably fast. Even with little live plant leaves to feed on, etc. And I have VERY hard water...I'm surprised my fish don't run into little particles of minerals and composites when they are swimming Haha

Something to think about, definitley...

 

[krap101]

that sounds likely.

can snails poop? it may of just been fish poop that got caught in the shell but watever.

im trying to breed the pest snails to feed my puffers and i havent seen one die yet besides when i feed them

 

[TankGirl]

The snails that are present in my more acidic, softer water tank have white, softer shells, and the ones that thrive and multiply in my alkaline, harder water tanks have dark, shiny shells. I put an escargot shell in the heavily planted, CO2 injected soft water tank as an experiment, and within a month it was GONE - first a skeleton and then just dissolved. No problems in the hard water tank for the Africans.