[Aquajoy]

I have had some huge apple snails in my planted tank for some time and they dont seem to do that well lately. Their shells corode at the beginning to the point where they get holes in them and then they die. At the same time I experiance very poor plant growth in the tank as well eventhough I inject co2+NPK&trace. Is that calcium deficency or these issues are unrelated and I got something else on my hands?
Thanks

 

[lauraleellbp]

Calcium sounds likely. Have any idea what the kH is in your tank?

They make lots of foods with calcium added now, you might try some of those. Shrimp foods especially.

 

[mumushummus]

thanks laura! i will try that too beside my 8 kinds of fish foods....

 

[shane3fan]

My tanks get a Tums tossed in once in a while--not sure that I have any calcium issues to begin with but I dont figure it hurts to have the extra calcium. I dont put anything extra in my tank for my mystery snails--they just eat left overs I suppose.

 

[lauraleellbp]

My tanks get a Tums tossed in once in a while--not sure that I have any calcium issues to begin with but I dont figure it hurts to have the extra calcium. I dont put anything extra in my tank for my mystery snails--they just eat left overs I suppose.

I asked about Tums as a calcium supplement on here once, and there is a reason not to use them, not that I can recall what it is? I bet a forum search on Tums will pull up that thread...

 

[lauraleellbp]

Here it is:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/shrimp-other-invertebrates/62045-tums-calcium.html

Artificial flavors and sweeteners, and there's safer ways to get calcium in a tank.

 

[bradac56]

I use peaces of chicken eggshells, that gets you the calcium without the added stuff.

- Brad

 

[Ariel301]

Will the eggshells actually dissolve into the water? Or do the snails eat them?

I would agree with not wanting to put the sweeteners/coloring into the water. I think it would be safer to use a bit of baking soda, since that's basically the active ingredient in Tums. I feed it to my goats as a calcium supplement, and have used it in aquariums before to raise the hardness of the water--which is its drawback, it will raise your hardness/pH.

 

[bradac56]

Both they well dissolve over time and I've seen snails chewing away on them.

Eggshells is an old method to add calcium so it's a tried and true take on the problem. Do a search on Google for eggshells in aquariums and you'll see forum posts from the early 90's talking about it. Most of those posts talk about boiling and scouring the shells but that's only if you add them in bulk (a dozen) to your substrate when you set the tank up.

All I do is use an egg in the kitchen, save the shell and then clean it out after it dries and add a few chips to the tanks for snails/crayfish/etc.

- Brad

 

[Streptomycin]

I would agree with not wanting to put the sweeteners/coloring into the water. I think it would be safer to use a bit of baking soda, since that's basically the active ingredient in Tums. I feed it to my goats as a calcium supplement, and have used it in aquariums before to raise the hardness of the water--which is its drawback, it will raise your hardness/pH.

I don't know if I am reading your post wrong, but baking soda doesn't have calcium, please don't feed it to your goats!

 

[Ariel301]

Oops, you did correct me! For some weird reason I was thinking baking soda was calcium something or other... Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, which for the goats is used to prevent rumen upset...not for the calcium! I have something else for that. Silly me lol...I'm really tired today and got all mixed up! (Glad I wasn't refilling the animals' supplement buckets today. That could have been a disaster!)

Sorry for my confusion!

 

[Aquajoy]

Calcium sounds likely. Have any idea what the kH is in your tank?

They make lots of foods with calcium added now, you might try some of those. Shrimp foods especially.

KH is 4 and GH is 16. I don't see how KH has something to do with calcium. General hardness seems to be way up there as well. The only thing I might think of is that calcium makes up a very little part of my GH. I am running 4.5watts per gallon of lights which would deplete calcium very quickly if there is any(or very limited amounts)in my tap water to begin with. When I do partial water change I get purling for a day or so and I don't get the same effect when adding NPK+trace. I don't add GH booster (which would contain calcium) cause the GH of my tap seems to be high enough. That would also explain my snail problem(what seems to be calcium deficency as well).
Doe's it make any sence. I am just too cheap to get a calcium test kit which I will never use again. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[shakti84]

Go to your LFS and make them test your calcium for you

 

[comet]

You didn't say what your ph is. Snails like a high ph. Mine is 7.6 and I've read that 8 is good for them.

I add Kent Liquid Calcium. Don't remember how I figured out the dose, but I use 2 drops per gallon. Snails seem to do well.
Picture of it; http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754101

Plus there are veggie sticks with calcium sold by Kens Fish. And there is a member named VisionQuest28 that sells small packages of it in the Swap n Shop.

And Collard greens are high in calcium. Buy organic, wash well, and blanch them in boiling water.I wrap a plant weight around some to sink them. Then you can freeze all of it in portions for later feedings.
Or if your lawn is free of pesticides ect, you can pick fresh Dandelions in the spring which are also high in calcium.

I have tried crushed eggshells. You have to wash the eggs, bake them( low temp to dry them out) and then remove the inner membrane from them. It's a little time consuming and adding them crushed made the water very cloudy. If anything, I would do what someone else suggested and add a piece of the shell after cleaning them.