Please help with snails...

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Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

Please help with snails...

by jweb1369

Why is it that all the snails I get just die? After one day of having 3 mystery snails they all just died. The tank was just setup, it is completely freshwater. Is that bad for snails? I know that they need slightly salty water for their shells. I also just read that they need 3-4 inches of the water to be down for them to lay eggs and breath air. Which I did not have for them. anyways, the next day the water was cloudy and they were half in and half out of their shell with very slow reaction time. I took them and threw them in the pond outside thinking they were dying. I have no idea about snails and I am just getting into them for food for my puffer. I need to figure them out though fast, because my puffer needs to clip down his beak. Please help.


a1k8t31524
 
Posts: 939
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 5:10 am

by a1k8t31524

what is your PH?


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

my pH was like 7.0 i think, it is straight from tap. I haven't tested anything yet because i dont have my new kit in and my old one run out. Anyways I see the little nuisance snails in there. There is like 3 of them in one spot so that's a great sign! Oh if I want to add some salt to it for their shells how much instant ocean should i put in there???


Tmercier834747
 
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm

by Tmercier834747

if this is a FW tank..uh...NONE. As far as my understanding of PH goes a snail will survive in a pH ranging from 6.2-8.?+...the more acidic (<7.0) the harder it will be for a snail to grow or maintain its shell. My mystery snail has been living in my 16 gal with a pH of 6.4 for months, and doing well at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjz17-vBUdQ

Instant ocean will probably kill any FW fish you have...and no doubt hurt the snails more than help...

someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I did have a problem with a mystery snail I purchased more recently for my 30 gallon, though it had moved between 4 tanks in a week and was put in my 30 gal during its cycle, at which point it lasted 3 weeks and died from sickness or starvation, or inability to acclimate..hard to tell with a snail.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

okay so they should be okay in an uncycled tank right? as long as there is fish flake on the bottom?


ChristinaBug2890
 
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Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:15 pm

by ChristinaBug2890

I always thought snails ate algae...


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

They do but they also eat uneaten fish food. People also say they clean tanks but that is not necessarily true. They can leave slime trails that look much worse than algae that clings to the glass.


Sumthing_Fishy
 
Posts: 193
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:47 am

by Sumthing_Fishy

I started off with 3 mystery snails. My significant other put some aquarium salt in there for the other fish and didn't think about the snails. They all started acting sick, not moving around or eating for most of the day, so I took all three out and put them in bowl to drain most of the water out and refill. One died, but the other 2 lived. The other 2 went on to lay eggs at the top of the tank above the water line. After several egg clusters of 100+ eggs, 8 survived, and 2 died off, and now I have 6. I have seen my guppies and platies nicking at them and they probably did something to them to kill them. So now when I see a guppy pecking at the snail, I catch him and throw him in the oscar tank for a while.


jweb1369
 
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am

by jweb1369

haha fishy time out! lol.
yea i want mine to lay eggs. did you have the water about 3-4 inches below normal water line?


Tmercier834747
 
Posts: 887
Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:33 pm

by Tmercier834747

Nonono, I meant I probably made a mistake cycling the tank with the snail in it, not that it was required to cycle a tank with the snail in it. lol. Though I'd figure any snail is much hardier than a fish, apparently the one in my 30gal didn't agree with me.

Snails will feed on all sorts of organic matter, and there are 2 or 3 different types of mystery snails. Some will feed on algae, some will not, some will be noctournal, some will not. In any case it shouldn't be hard for them to find something to eat. Especially in the planted tank.

Please help with snails...

14 posts • Page 1 of 2

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