# Mystery snail problem



## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

I have three golden mystery snails in my tank. They are not looking very good. One of them looks like he's even missing pieces of his shell, and the outer rim looks a little translucent. 

I thought the water might be too acidic, but I checked it and the pH is between 7.4 and 7.6. There's also no ammonia, nitrates was around 0.25, and nitrites are at about 35. Temperature is 77 degrees.

The tank is 29 gallon. I've had the snails for about 3 weeks. In the tank with it are 6 otos, 7 neons, 9 adult guppies, and dozens of guppy fry. There's a bunch of those little brown ramshorn snails which I got when I transferred plants into the tank. 

Help!!


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

hmm, try lowering the nitrate to <20ppm


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

They may be getting(or havent gotten in the past) enough calcium for proper shell formation.


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

I was just reading about the shell thing. I haven't added any calcium supplements and they are growing fast. I don't eat eggs, so don't have any eggshells to give them right now. 

Are there any other home calcium supplements out there that I might have?


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## musho3210 (Dec 28, 2006)

Please note that in this post, i am just taking a guess


You can buy liquid calcium supplements at your lfs, but dose it a lot less than the instructions since the instructions are for reef tanks, not freshwater, dose maybe 1/8th of the required amount


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

I bought Kent Marine brand Liquid Calcium, which is originally meant for salt water tanks. I put about one teaspoon of the stuff in to the tank. Looking at the snails, unfortunately I think it might be a little too late. Their shells are pretty beat up.

Any suggestions on dosage?


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## JTheFishGuyG (Jan 5, 2007)

*snail killing*

put them down reply for methods


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

*Re: snail killing*



JTheFishGuyG said:


> put them down reply for methods


OK I'm just going to ignore that.


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## fish_4_all (Nov 13, 2006)

Leaf Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce or Cuttle Bone form the LFS. All have lots of calcium and the shells will repair themselves. Also, algae wafers, spirulina tablets and other veggie tabs will help them to repair and grow better because they have calcium in them. I only used romaine for mine when I had Columbian Ramshorns and they thrived and were extremely healthy.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I'd skip the cuddle bone.. they can make a mess of the water and there is no control over too much calcuim other than very frequent water changes. Foods are going to be the best way to handle this problem, and be careful not to add too much liquid calcium, I will have to do some looking into dosing calcuim in freshwater before I can suggest anything. Too high of a calcium level in freshwater can cause damage to the fish. It would be a good idea to have your water tested for calcium levels, so we know better what is going on. Can you please post the test results?


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

I have a bit of a ramshorn snail problem in my tank. They're actually hard to manage because they reproduce so quickly. If I occasionally remove some and kill them, and leave the shells in the tank, would this be a good source of calcium?


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

The ram's horn shells are not a sufficient or reliable source of calcium, especially not for the problem you are having. How do the shells of the ram's horn snails compare to that of the mystery snails? Are you seeing the same problem? IF the source of your mystery snail problem is from lack of calcium in the system, I would then expect that to show up in all of the snail species in your tank. Having the water tested and providing us with a calcium reading will help us to determine if your problem is for sure a calcium deficiencey and not coming from another source.


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

I'll have to buy a kit to test calcium.

I thought leaving the shells in would help w/ the calcium as they dissolve.

I don't see the same problem w/ the ramshorn snails, but I thought they might not be prone to the same problems since they have such a small life span and there's so many of them.

I've been adding only a few drops of the supplement per day, and the recommended dosage is about one tablespoon for a tank with coral daily, so I think I'm safely underdoing it.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

What are the KH readings in this tank?


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

bettababy said:


> What are the KH readings in this tank?


 I don't know, but I use 1 tbsp aquarium salt per five gallons, and I use a pH up to maintain the pH to between 7.4 and 7.6.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Try to determine your KH. And I would stop using pH up if I were you. They have a tendency to cause pH swings which will eventually kill all the occupants of your tank.


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## JTheFishGuyG (Jan 5, 2007)

*sorry*

My point was that if its sufering like i dont know its really sick from what i hear anyways hope it gets better. didnt meen to be cruel there .


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## dominicanpapi82 (Dec 24, 2006)

One of them died. The other two are doing well. I still don't have the testers suggested in this thread, so don't know all those levels.

If I want to kept the dead snail's shell for decoration, how do I take the snail out of the shell?


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## FDStation152 (Jan 20, 2007)

Boil it.


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