[chiefroastbeef]

Hello folks,

I've had the three nerites in there for 4 months now, they seem to be doing well, roaming around the tank, eating algae off glass and plants.

Since yesterday, I've noticed that two of the snails shells doesn't look as good as it used it. One part of it is turning whitish, it look sit it has "cracks," sort of like cracked skin on a cold dry winter night.

I know this may be some sort of calcium deficiency, although my 50+ cherry shrimp all seem fine. What can I do to improve the snails' shells? Do you climb onto shrimp mineral rocks to get calcium if I buy one? Thanks!

 

[PC1]

Are you using RO water? A lot of snails shells will deteriorate in acidic water.

 

[mordalphus]

You cannot make nerites happy in a tank that:

1) has water with a pH of under 7

2) has CO2

3) has little to no KH

Unfortunately, a planted tank usually has 2 or more of the above. They will continue chomping on algae until their shells wear through, but just keep in mind they will eventually die from their shell being stripped of its calcium... You cannot feed them calcium and expect their shell to get better, feeding them calcium will only ensure they can continue producing new shell.

 

[chiefroastbeef]

According to my uncalibrated test kit, my ph is over 7, i do not use co2 either, or excel/glut.

Not sure about KH.

I use local Hong Kong tap water.

 

[mordalphus]

What's your pH?

If its over 7 your water must be pretty soft to strip their shells

 

[chiefroastbeef]

Thanks Mordalphus for your input!

The last time I checked, my water was in the 7.5ph range through my uncalibrated API kit, the test tube was ocean blue if a recall.

I will observe my nerites a little more, and take a few pics for you guys to see if it is normal. My cherries are molting and going about in the tank just fine.

Thank you for the input folks!

 

[jasonpatterson]

I saw much the same with nerites in pH 8 and KH 14, though I do use DIY CO2. My problem was, I think, a lack of dissolved calcium (GH from the tap is only 17 ppm, more than half of that is magnesium.) I started dosing Flourish (which contains calcium) for my plants and the problem went away completely.

The shrimp I keep never had a problem with the tiny amount of calcium in the water and have bred and molted perfectly well.

 

[moonwasaloon]

Couldn't these help?

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Turtle-Slow-Release-Calcium/dp/B003U7XDTU

 

[GeToChKn]

That probably explains why the snails in my crystal tank are all clear shelled and such since it has a low ph/gh/kh.

 

[Bahugo]

You could try using a calcium supplement (I have used kent's liquid calcium before). I had one snail that was slowly loosing thickness in his shell and moved him to a tank without co2/higher ph/higher gh/kh and his shell started to return but I noticed a speedier recovery when I started adding calcium.

 

[chiefroastbeef]

Thanks bahugo, I will try some kents liquid calcium!

Thank you all.