Snail help!

[Kwhite]

Hi, I've had several mystery snails in 3 different tanks for about 3 months. Their shells are starting to deteriorate and crack. One looks about to split wide open. What is going on? My water parameters are all fine. I bought a cuttlefish bone and put some in. Can anyone help?

 

[reefdiver]

Your water is to acidic. I'm guessing ph is on the low side. Try cuttle bone

 

[Maggiea218]

Mine have done this too, have you changed what you are feeding them? I started to feed mine cucumbers and zucchini instead of just algae wafers and it seemed that it helped a lot. I also bought liquid calcium and put in a drop for each gallon, every day. I keep the cuttle bone in the filter and make sure the ph stays a little higher but if you have other tropical fish you may not be able to do so.

 

[Kwhite]

Thank you. I just dropped the cuttle bone into the tank, should I have put it in the filter?

 

[bob mccoy]

i take calcium pills that we take as humans and add them in the filter and works great.

 

[Fishfur]

You can also use those 'vacation fish feeder' blocks, as they are mostly plaster, which is calcium, and they'll eat those, and build up their shells. It is pretty common for the shells to get some deterioration as they age, but so long as the pH is above 7, they should be ok, if the water is reasonably hard.

Soft water is a problem because there's so little calcium in it. And I put cuttle bone in too. It sinks after awhile and eventually disappears, whether they eat it or it dissolves I am not sure, but you don't have to put it in the filter. It will catch a lot of crud in there, due to the texture of the cuttle bone.