Mystery Snails not surviving

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liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

Mystery Snails not surviving

by liam1995

Good evening,

I am from Australia and have a 20 gallon tank. I have tankwater and am in no need of water ager. When ever i buy any snails e.g mystery and red ramshorn they never seem to survive more than about two days. Any reason why? My PH, ammonia and nitrate and nitrite levels are all in check. I have a female betta that nips the snails when ever i put them in the tank. Would this cause sufficient stress to make the snails die? I enter the sails into the aquarium by putting a very shallow bowl in the tank and floating it with a little bit of the aquarium water in it. I then place the snails in the bowl and wait for them to climb out and discover the tank. I can't see why they would be dying apart from the occasional nip from the betta. Would this cause them to die in two days? What degree of temperature fluctuations cause them to die? A few degrees celcius e.g 22C -26C? Help would be greatly appreciated because I believe that these big yellow snails would make my fishtank so much better.

Cheers
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Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Tankwater generally has insufficent calcium and is not really snail friendly in the long term.

What is the PH? Being tankwater it will be on the lower side.

Can you post the actually Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate levels. Try to get the KH and GH levels also :)


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

by liam1995

I haven't put a snail in the tank for about 3 months now. I will post PH, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite levels. What is GH and KH? Is it necessary that I own a test kit?


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

mystery snails are very hard to keep

olive nerite snails can withstand most conditions (a little expensive) but well worth the price...generally live to about 2 years (though the ones I have have lived for over 3 years)...and they are great cleaners


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Mysteries are simple to keep, if you have the correct water. Something in your water must be killing them. I have troubles with keeping them in rainwater, their shells degrade and they die, even wit adding calcium. I know keep them in town water and do not have the issues at all, they breed like rabbits *L* I have a breeding colony.

If you are having troubles with mysteries, chances are you will have the same issues with other snail types.

GH = General Hardness, measure of Calcium & Magnesium ion concentrations dissolved in freshwater

KH = Carbonate Hardness, measure of Carbonate & Bicarbonate

It is necessary to own a test kit, honestly it will make your life easier and far safer for your fish/snails/etc


yasherkoach
 
Posts: 1306
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:24 pm

by yasherkoach

reason I said mystery snails are not hardy is about 10 months ago I bought 36 assorted mystery snails, $3.00 a pop (over $100.00 worth), and within one month every single snail passed on

whereas I have the same amount of olive nerite snails in the tank since its inception, that is, over 3 years ago (and their lifespan is 2 years)

also I have trumpet snails - I started with 20 about 2 years ago, and I now have at least 500 in the tank (AND I LOVE IT!...and so do the dwarf chain loaches)

liam, now you have to choose: no snails or correct a condition in your tank OR purchase olive nerite snails (or trumpet snails...but I must warn you, olive nerite snails rarely reproduce whereas trumpet snails will reproduce dramatically and unless you have loaches in the tank to help diminish its population you will have a snail tank instead of a fish one)

let us know which one you choose


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

Yes yasher but your reasons for losing the apples may not be the reason liam is.

ALL snails require high levels of calcium or their shells degrade and they will die, i dont care what type of snail that is. I lost pond, malaysian trumpets, native snails and mysteries.

If you cant keep mysteries alive then something is wrong, that is a fact

Getting other snails does nothing but avoid the issue. My advice get to the bottom of why they are dying and you will be a far better fishkeeper than just avoiding the problem which could end up being to the detriment of other species in your tank, wether that be fish, snails or shrimp


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

by liam1995

Ammonia 0
Ph 7
Nitrite 0

This is very informative. I will order some mystery snails in at my local pet store add calcium (is a sea shell adequate?) and do a water change before i add the fish. Will this be enough? My water comes from my creek about 200 metres away. It used to have little black snails in it but they disappeared in the drought 5 years ago. What else should i do? I don't know what condition is wrong in my tank.

Thanks again for this great info.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

For some reason, i have had poor luck with mystery snails too. My tap water is naturally hard and alkaline, so i know that wasn't the problem in my case. I see mystery snail babies for sale all the time in the local classifieds, so i tend to believe alasse that they are generally easy to keep and breed. In my opinion, if you are having trouble with one particular species, but your tank is otherwise healthy and successful, one option, as yasher has suggested, is to just avoid that species.

I don't think simply putting a sea shell in the tank will be enough. Someone once suggested dropping a cuttle bone (i think that's what they are called) into the tank--one of those things that birds use.


Alasse
 
Posts: 993
Joined: Sun May 09, 2010 5:35 am
Location: QLD Australia

by Alasse

liam is using rainwater as stated in his first post. This will cause issues will ALL snails. Adding calcium can help, but honestly the amount you will need to add may be cost inhibitive to many. Adding a sea shell will not help much unfortunately, shells release calcium far too slow to be of much benefit to your water. You would need at the least some liquid calcium (chances are also some cichlid salts to buffer the water). And adding this you will really need a KH/GH liquid test kit.

Liam is also Australian and we do not have nerite snails here just so you know for future reference :)

Unless you have access to another water source (bore water, town water) then you may find it easier to just not keep any snails, unless as stated through the thread, you want to buffer the water to what they require :)

Mystery Snails not surviving

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