[Octantis]

Last week picked up a Zebra Nerite snail. He doesn't move around at all during the day except if I do a water change and he's up near the surface. That being said he is in a different spot each morning when I come into work.

My problem is that I still have diatoms in my tank one week later. With one exception of him cleaning a 3" long section of driftwood I can't see any effort by him.

To read descriptions of these guys it sounds like they are miracle workers yet I don't see it. Now perhaps my black substrate is covered in diatoms and he's eating those and avoiding the plants and glass. My hope is for him to hit the few plants in my tank that have diatom issues that I can't reach to clean.

It's a 3 gallon tank and one snail. Do I need more or do I just need to wait?

Bonus question. I have a mystery snail that I've had for months that is always on his back. I did the smell test and he isn't dead and he retracts if I touch him. Is the back thing a property of my Betta be a b!tch and knocking him around or is he just on siesta? He doesn't move around all that much anymore.

Thanks

 

[Octantis]

I tried a few Amano and the Betta was always looking for them. After a month they said enough and took a jump out :-(

Temp of the tank is 78F.

I do a 1 gallon water change each week.

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5 ppm
Hardness is about 9 drops for both G and K.
Phosphates .25 if any at all.

Excel 3 drops a day.
No fertilizers

Petrified wood and Driftwood as decor.

 

[Octantis]

Ph is 7.5 and steady. No CO2

Thinking lack of calcium as the source of my issue I picked up some fish feeding blocks last week and broke off a chunk. The first ingredient was Calcium Sulfate. the block is now gone but I'm not sure if it is from dissolving or consumption. I have yet to try cuttlebone, egg shells, or TUMs.

Unknown about the copper. From a municipal source that pulls and cleans river water (St. Louis). I guess I can purchase a copper test just to know. Note, I'm on the same water supply as the fish store and they don't use RO water. That's not to say that their snails aren't in distress at the store either...

Yes the Betta can annoy them on occasion. If they stick to glass he doesn't bother them. If they roll over on their back he'll mess with them a bit.

Push comes to shove I could go the R/O route but I'd only be mixing up 1 - 3 gallons at a time (painfully small amounts). I wish fish stores would have reconstituted R/O water for sale.

 

[Octantis]

Here's an update to close out the thread. On a whim I decided to bring in some water from home. It is crazy hard so I cut it down 50/50 with some RO/DI water from the grocery store. I waterchanged out a gallon and ever since the nerite has been in the water munching away on algae and diatoms on my drift wood. On top of that the diatoms aren't coming back to the places around the tank I cleaned.

So there's something in the St. Louis MO water that snails are not ok with... It is treated river water whereas my house's water is from a treated neighborhood well.