# Snails above water level...sick?



## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

I have just purchased assassin snails a few days ago, and I received it earlier in the mail in the afternoon. They were in healthy condition, so none of them arrived dead; I acclimated them to my heavily planted 10 gallon MS Amazonia Aquasoil II tank. A hour later, they climbed up above the water level, and decided to take picnics. 

Well, trying to come up with a solution to why that happened, and thinking as of late...... Coincidentally, my miniature sized baby MTS's cling upside-down below the water line...what's up with that? Trying to eat protein film or micro-sized pellets...? Also, my pond snails are actually in bad shape; their shells look pale; I'm all guessing it's due to low pH, kH, and calcium deficiency? What now? Calcium tum tablets for my tanks? My cherry shrimps that in the same tank, are completely fine; they get their nutrition from algae wafers; but my pond snail's shells look chapped, and wrecked all over....

Could the problems I assume truly be the cause of the assassin snail's phobia of the tank's water? Water changes are done maybe once every 2-3 months; but I rarely do it; it's a El natural type tank using aquatic plants as the biological filter, but I still use a mechanical filter; I do not dose (I would dose 0.01 ppm of Potassium every once in a while), or do I use co2, or high lighting; it's a low light setup. Temp is about 80 degrees. Nitrates remain really low 10ppm and I keep it that way... 

So, what's going on? Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## mudboots (Jun 24, 2009)

Snails wanting to hang up out of the water "can" mean tough water conditions for them. Not real sure though; it may just take a little while to settle if this is a new tank, or if it is established already I have no idea what the cause may be.

But on the poor shell condition, I had a similar issue with my MTS (no other snails because the Apistos keep eating every other snail I try to stock in there). I added "a couple handfuls" of powdered dolomitic lime to a 125 (whatever that equates to) and within a very short time period (another scientific term) their shells look great, plus the crpytocorynes look livelier to boot. I'm not sure where to buy such small quantities of ground limestone, but you could shoot TexGal a query. I got my "couple handfuls" third-hand from a batch she purchased somewhere.


----------



## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

Finally, the assassin snails just had a hard time acclimating for a little bit; they dropped back in, and are burying themselves. Looks like they will be fine; I'll make sure they get their nutrition; but there are plenty of Pond snails...:^)


----------

