# Why are snails turning white?



## neonfish3

I have a lot of MTS's and Ramshorn snails that are turning white! I've never seen this happen before. It seems like it has started with in the last month or less since my last re-scape of the tank. 
Here is a ramshorn








and one of an MTS









could this just be from old age? or some sort of deficiency.
Also I have alot of old dead snail shells in my tank. From loach lunches or old age. If these accumilated would they eventually start to harden my water and raise my pH. I know your not suppose to put decorative real shells in your tank for that reason.

Steve


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## chiahead

I think there shells turn white when the hardness is too low for them. I am not a snail expert but I remeber reading this somewhere that they turn white and then break killing the snail.


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## neonfish3

I cant see my pics in my post. I dont know why, 1st time using IMG tag. I used a pic in my personal gallery here on APC.

Steve


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## trenac

Lack of calcium from what I have heard. However my hardness is 16 and my snail shells still turn white.


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## gnatster

> I cant see my pics in my post. I dont know why, 1st time using IMG tag. I used a pic in my personal gallery here on APC


I took the liberty of fixing the images. What you did was link the page they are on. What you need to do is right click on the image and select "Copy Image Location" and use that as the link.


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## Piscesgirl

I think it is when they turn clearish white and brittle that they are lacking calcium. I have some that look like yours as well, not sure if it is old age or perhaps even a disease? I've even wondered if it is places there the snail's shell got damaged somehow (fish?). If your ph is close to or below 6, however, that also can be a reason.


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## trenac

PG... Thanks for clearing that up.


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## neonfish3

oops sorry, thanks for fixing that.
When I right clicked on the pic it wasn't one of the options.


Steve


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## HeyPK

When the snails get old, their shells begin to erode, especially if CO2 levels are high. There is a brownish protective covering on their shell, and if that gets scratched, scarred, or just wears out, then the calcium carbonate underneath begins to dissolve. Rapdily growing snails, with plenty of food do not show this.


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## Edward

Hi
I have the exact same snails in GH of 0.25 and pH of 4.0 and they look healthy. Maybe you need to feed them, is there some food for them?

Edward


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## neonfish3

Thanks for all the replies. 
Is there food? Umm, ....
If they like algae, there's a damn smorgasbord!!!!
I can't find my journal right now but from my memory my KH is 12, GH is 19 and pH is 7.2 Those numbers are the same from the tap (well water) except pH is 8
What about the old excess dead snail shells accumulating?

Steve


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## HeyPK

Old snail shells should be slowly dissolving and contributing calcium for the living snails. CO2 additions speed up the rate of dissolving. I would not worry about old snail shells getting the calcium and magnesium level too high. A GH of 19 is pretty high, however. There certainly should be enough calcium for the snails! Are all your plants doing OK?


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## neonfish3

Ok, I won't worry about it, unless I see parameters change. I believe all my plants are doing fine. Algae is ok with me. I think it makes it look more natural. I have never seen a body of water (lake, pond, river, stream, creek) without it. 
Heres a pic of my 55gallon about a month ago.










Thanks for all the replies.
my personal gallery http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=42&userid=

Steve


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## thaerin

that is a beautiful tank neon!
Actually, looking at your gallery, they're all beautiful! Incredible colors on the fish and that 20 gallon with the angels.. =P~ 

I agree about the algae though. I don't really do anything about it, I let the tank sort itself out. The algae on my driftwood softens the appearance a bit, makes it more natural.


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## HeyPK

I have a tank with white-shelled, elderly ramshorns, and I noticed one of them that seemed to have a very large body for the size of its shell. It was dragging the front portion of its shell that had broken off and was held by just a thread. I think that algae low in protein may be the reason for the arrested growth of the ramshorns. The nitrate content of the water was too low for my LaMotte kit to detect. There are some pond snails and MTS in the tank that seem to have normal, un-eroded shells. I have started adding more nitrate, and, in a week or two should be able to see if this helps the ramshorns. There is about 100 ppm of calcium in the water, so low calcium isn't the cause.


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## Piscesgirl

What about food, HeyPK? Do they get enough left over fish food?


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## HeyPK

No leftover fish food because there are no fish. I just let the nitrogen get low. I have had the nitrogen back up at measurable levels for two days, and already the snails are looking healthier. The pond snails have started mating, and there is already a pond snail egg case, the first I have seen in at least a month. Some of the pond snails have white shells, but they show none of the pitting and etched grooves seen in the Ranshorn shells. 

When nitrogen runs out the protein content of the algae gets so low that it has very little food value. The snails eat all they can, but are protein starved. With higher nitrogen in the water, the algal protein content goes way up, and the snails get healthy. 

The same is true for Daphnia. I have Daphnia in the tank to keep green water down, and the green water was having a buiildup, but the Daphnia were not multiplying in response. When I added the nitrogen two days ago, within 24 hours I could see that the Daphnia were starting to produce eggs. After the second day, there are a lot more baby Daphnia in the tank, and the adults are all producing bigger batches of eggs. Thanks to the nitrogen, the green water is a lot thicker than it was two days ago, but the Daphnia population is responding nicely.


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## Piscesgirl

Very interesting, HeyPK -- thanks! I can't resist feeding my snails even if they have plenty of algae, but that is very good to know.


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## gnome

Sorry I didn't see this sooner!

I can tell you how to prevent this from happening with the younger snails: Hikari Tropical Crab Cuisine. Of course there are other factors like extreme softness and low pH that aggravate the etching, but it seems to me that the calcium that will help build a strong, healthy shell needs to be absorbed into the body from the foods that the snail eats. 

Crab Cuisine contains calcium iodate. I originally got it to help supplement my shrimps' diet, but during a period that I added it in excess, I noticed that the snails were all of a sudden growing faster, and their shells were no longer getting etched. Prior to this, I rarely saw them get much bigger than about 1/4" but now I was seeing 1/2" or larger, and with *beautiful* shells. Later, when I stopped feeding the pellets, the snails were once again getting etched and not achieving a very good size. 

Try it - if you have shrimp in the tank, they'll love it, too. If you have fish that might go after the pellets, then drop them in after lights-out. 

-Naomi


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