ReyvinWolf
Aquarium Advice Regular
Can you use regular aquarium salt (not for marine) with snails? I read somewhere it was harmful to them.
Aquarium salt and snails
- Thread starter ReyvinWolf
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Higher amounts of salt will bother them.
Average amounts are fine. 1 TBL per 5G.
Mystery snails and Ramshorns.
Nerites are fine with brackish water.
Gradually adding/increasing the salinity in a tank is recommended for fish and inverts, over hours or days.
Also dissolving the salt prior to addition to the tank is best.
From personal experience add salt water mixture concentrate away from snails or use extra tank water so the concentrate is diluted, and doesn't hit the snails.
Average amounts are fine. 1 TBL per 5G.
Mystery snails and Ramshorns.
Nerites are fine with brackish water.
Gradually adding/increasing the salinity in a tank is recommended for fish and inverts, over hours or days.
Also dissolving the salt prior to addition to the tank is best.
From personal experience add salt water mixture concentrate away from snails or use extra tank water so the concentrate is diluted, and doesn't hit the snails.
BBradbury
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- May 24, 2011
- Messages
- 5,011
Hello Rey...
Never heard of that one. I keep Ramshorn snails in my Livebearer and Corydoras tanks and have used a teaspoon of standard aquarium salt in every 5 gallons of replacment water in those tanks for years. Never had a problem. The snails aren't numerous and some are about the size of a dime. I don't feed my fish much, so the snail numbers don't get out of control. The Ramshorn will make short work of most kinds of algae and as far as I can tell, don't damage healthy plants.
B
Never heard of that one. I keep Ramshorn snails in my Livebearer and Corydoras tanks and have used a teaspoon of standard aquarium salt in every 5 gallons of replacment water in those tanks for years. Never had a problem. The snails aren't numerous and some are about the size of a dime. I don't feed my fish much, so the snail numbers don't get out of control. The Ramshorn will make short work of most kinds of algae and as far as I can tell, don't damage healthy plants.
B
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ReyvinWolf
Aquarium Advice Regular
Both my mystery snails died shortly after adding salt to the water. It wasn't even 2 tbsp in a 55 gal tank.
They perhaps didn't die, just closed up their shell to protect themselves from the change in water.
You will know they are dead if they are hanging loose out of the shell and smell horrific.
Was it plain salt or aquarium salt, no additives?
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ReyvinWolf
Aquarium Advice Regular
I know dead when I see dead. They died months ago, just an empty shell left.
bud29
Aquarium Advice Addict
Mystery snails seem to be pretty intolerant of salt, even at the 1T/5g ratio I had mine die. Ramshorns are somewhat more tolerant, as are nerites. You don't want to get too high of levels with any of them, however. Perhaps a better question is, why do you need to add salt in the first place?
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A lot of times they die from spikes in toxins in the water, and mine like to die when the pH changes when our city water company changes from the lake water source to the reservoir water source (Harder and more Gh/kH.)
Gradual increase for salt into tank is helpful for them to adjust.
Gradual increase for salt into tank is helpful for them to adjust.
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