Snail Problem

[markenk]

Hi all, I'm running into a bit of a problem here. I own a 30 gallon tank and had it about near 2 years now. i have two plecos, two chinese algae eaters, two simeonese(sp?) algae eaters, and a few other tropical fish that i don't know the names of. i never had any problem with fish and their health. i've had occansional icks now and then, but they never got to anything major. overall i've only lost 3 fish and that's only because i had to leave my home for 2 weeks on a business trip and i guess i over-estimated the so called "2 week pyramid food" thing i purchased from the fish store.

now, my question is this. i've never had any major problem with fish as stated above, but i've always had problems with snails. i started out with 5 apple snails and 10 ramshorn snails. after a couple months, 4 apple snails and 8 ramshorn died. i bought 5 more apple snails and 5 more ramshorns about 3-4 months ago. so far, 2 ramshorns and 1 apple snail died since then. the rest of the apple snails seem to be doing ok (two of them have gotten big now), but all of my ramshorns have turned to sorta white/milky color. i looked this up on the internet and it says it's because my water is not hard enough. i have been testing my water regularly since i purchased my second batch of snails, and it always said the water hardness is "very hard", and PH at about 7.4. just for the record, i always use filtered water to refill my tank and the temperature at about 28-30C.

what am i doing wrong? i'd like to see more snails in my tank. i heard breeding snails is very easy (feed alot), but i just can't get to that point. any ideas or suggestions?

[angelcakes]

hello and welcome:19:
im wondering if your snails have a calcium problem,not enough calcium will cause there shells to soften and slowly will leed to the snail dying,the shells will also go a milky white,

[markenk]

Hi thx for the response :)

i read that from another website also but i thought calcium level = water hardness... no? if not, how do i increase the calcium level?

[angelcakes]

not 100% sure, but i know you can buy calcium drops which help to keep there shells hard,

[Steff]

You can use crushed egg shells to give the snails calcium. Which temperature has the water in the tank? If it is too warm, it kills the snails as well.

[xoolooxunny]

using filtered water (is it RO?) will definitely soften the water, and I'm assuming your using test strips for the water tests? You should try a liquid test kit, they are much more accurate. At least a hardness test. That's what happened to my snails, and when I switched to liquid test from the strips, I found out my water was actually a lot softer than I thought.

[markenk]

hey all, thx for the responses. :)

my water stays at around 30C-ish. i'll definitely try the crushed egg shells. do i just crush them with my hand and throw them in the tank or do i have to grind it with a blender or something?

as for the water, i'm going to try and do a 25% water change with pure tap water and put aquarium salts in the tank filter. hopefully that'll help. i realized just now that using 100% filtered water is not good. what's RO btw?

[Steff]

Try to make very small pieces of egg shell. You can also use a cuttlebone. Scratch over the surface with a fork (or something else) them put the powder into the tank.
Do you have 30°C in your tank? If I understood that right I would say reduce the temp to max 25°C. The warmer the water the faster the snails are growing. This can cause a lack of calcium.

[markenk]

i will try to lower the temp. i had it at 25C or so before but i read it from somewhere that snails can die if the water temp is too cold. it also said that snails won't lay eggs until the temp goes up to the idle (according to that website the idle temp is 30C).

[Steff]

25°C is OK for apple snails, the ramshorns do not care if the water is cold or not, but they don't like it too warm (my ramshorns have 22°C, without a heater). So put the temp back to 25°C and watch your snails be happy.

[Lady Hobbs]

You have a lot of algae eaters in one tank. Either the snails are starving from nothing for them to eat or some of your stock is eating them. Could be when you treated for ICK, they died from whatever treatment you used, as well.

[markenk]

i crushed one egg shell with my hands and sprinkled them into the tank (after cleaning with tap water), and lowered the temp to 25C. i'm kinda excited to see how my snails will react. funny thing is that the remaining 4 apple snails have been really active throughout the day and night, but ramshorns only come out during the night. i always feed my snails some veggies (mostly green beans and sinking algae chips), but only time i see ramshorns move is during the night.

i'm also curious as to what kind of fish i have. the thing is, i live in japan and i didn't know what kinda fish i was buying cause the signs were all in japanese. anyways, these fishes have appetites like no other. whatever i throw into the water, they eat as long as it's a food type. they even ate romaine lettuce i put in for the snails. maybe i'll take a picture of one and upload it here. i'm just curious cause it's kinda hard to feed my snails with these hungry fish lurking for any kind of food coming their way.

[Drip Loop]

Did I see you mention that your using aquarium salt? I could be wrong, but isnt salt lethal to snails?

[Wild Turkey]

Add vegetables to the snails diet to suppliment calcium, If you are having problems getting it to the snails you can put it in a small mason jar and sink it with the opening facing the glass, but not touching it. Makes it harder for fish that are larger than the snails to get to it. Also experiment with foods and see if you can find something the snails like that the fish dont.

As long as ur ph is above 7.0 Its fine.

Use no salt, it will hurt and eventually kill the snails.

Max temp for apple snails is gonna fall around 83 F, 85 is pushing it. Trumpet snails however im not sure.

In the future i wouldnt put anything in my tank before i research it, on that note are ur plecos bns? If they are common plecs they are gonna quickly outgrow that tank.

Good luck!:19: