snail advice

[VividAquatics]

Heads up! If you microwave it in water for 4 mins and then ice bath for 1 min it will sink to the bottom of your tank and takes away any cloudiness you get from it floating!

[Fancyfish]

All snails in the Pomacea family are considered apple snails but not all eat plants. The current aquarium trade 'mystery' snails do not eat live plants but will eat dying/dead plants. I think that many years ago the aquarium trade 'mystery' snail was P. canaliculata. Applesnail.net is an awesome source of all sorts of information on these snails.

You mention not messing with your pH several times, but I didn't see what pH you are trying to maintain. An acid environment and snails do not play well together. That could be what is going on with your snails shells. While feeding them calcium may help, they really prefer a neutral or hard environment. I used reptile sand in some of my snail tanks and sea shells in others. I've fed calcium tablets, and I do feed Ken's pellets with calcium. The tanks that have the sand or shells do fine. The other tanks I get pitting in the shells because there are too many snails in the tank and they pull all the minerals out of the water quickly. And the food doesn't give them enough. You can see the type of damage it does in this picture.

[sassymare]

I’ve never been able to find a clear answer on that since it seems like everyone has a different opinion. The closest I have found is that they are in the same family of snails, but that the ones sold as mystery snails are Pomacea bridgesii or Pomacea diffusa. Apple snails are Pomacea canaliculata and they grow very large and are banned from many states. They come in many different colors such as yellow, blue, white, and purple. P. canaliculata eat plants while P. bridgesii or P. diffusa do not. Applesnail.net is a good source of information on them.

http://applesnail.net/content/various/recognize.htm

[Crush]

I thought they were but I'm a newb to snails.

[ptran]

Is mystery snail and apple snail not the same?

[sassymare]

I have never had a mystery snail eat any of my plants. My ramshorns eat plants but usually only the dying leaves.

[ptran]

One of my big mystery snails

Is this guy eating your plants?

[sassymare]

One of my big mystery snails

[sassymare]

I raise several different kinds of snails from mystery to pink ramshorns and I have found that the best way to keep their shells healthy is by using reptoguard. It has helped me with numerous babies and adults. My mystery snails are actually growing quite large.

[mredman]

I believe it is a matter of symptoms rather than the cause. My first suspect would be pH and not diet. Most snails die due to lack of food but a thinning shell is a different matter.

Mike

[Crush]

Sounds like a viable option, shouldn't change my ph I wouldn't think. Thanks for the tip

[morpheus]

spinach is very high in calcium. some people gently blanch it, others just wash it well, and anchor it in the tank for a few hours. whatever snails do not finish just remove it so it does not foul up the water.

there are some veggie sticks from Ken's Fish i hear work well although i never have used them personally. they are on amazon like 1/2 pound for $9 plus shipping.

[Crush]

I swore I wouldn't do snails again but I had to try a more natural way of ridding myself of some algae. I love these nerites now. of course since I got the nerites my daughter had to hit me with the "so now your going to get snails again" so I had to get the mystery snails cause of her...lol

[Beth777]

I've been noticing that my mystery snails shells look a bit rough. I'm wondering if my brichardi are beating them up. I don't think I'll buy any more of them. Got my nerite in the 10gal and so far he looks real good.

I read that too. it was hit and mis with cuttlebone. some said it clouded up their tank for a while, others said it cleared up quickly. the pill I used clouded the water for 30min to an hour. Though the cloudiness came from the mollies I have left picking at the pill. I also read about seashells. I found a lot of options last night. I didn't find any that wouldn't mess with the ph.

[Crush]

I read that too. it was hit and mis with cuttlebone. some said it clouded up their tank for a while, others said it cleared up quickly. the pill I used clouded the water for 30min to an hour. Though the cloudiness came from the mollies I have left picking at the pill. I also read about seashells. I found a lot of options last night. I didn't find any that wouldn't mess with the ph.