# Can high CO2 kill snails?



## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

I had a lot of ramshorn snails in my aquarium. I've been adding pressured CO2 to my tank for a long time After I installed a drop checker and made sure my CO2 concentration is around 30 ppm, my snails disappeared. Is this concentration lethal for them?


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

I think the acidic water starts to dissolve their shells but its a slow process.


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

My PH is now around 6.6. Is this too acidic for the snails?


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## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

Yes, you have to compensate by jacking up the kh and gh.


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

I've kept hitch hiker snails in my tanks with 30+ppm CO2 and a pH below 7.0 without any problems. Before suspecting your pH level (which would be 7.6 without CO2) I would guess that your GH (and therefore calcium) is probably low. If there isn't enough calcium in the water the snails can't grow and maintain their shells. You can at least partially compensate for this by feeding them calcium rich foods like reptile sticks.


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## tkos (Oct 30, 2006)

Some people put cuttle fish bones in their tanks which apparently some snails will graze on for extra calcium. Not sure how effective this process actually is.


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

I just tested my water:

PH=6.6
KH=4.5
GH=7

Tap Water PH=7.2 (looks like by color chart)

These KH and GH are pretty standard. Tap water has about the same parameters. The only different thing in my aquarium is lower PH (due to CO2 injection).

Do I need to increase my KH and GH to keep the snails alive?


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

tkos said:


> Some people put cuttle fish bones in their tanks which apparently some snails will graze on for extra calcium. Not sure how effective this process actually is.


This is an interesting approach, but where will I get cuttle fish?


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

Cuttle fish are SW, BUT you can get Cuttle fish bones from any pet store if they sell bird supplies. The birds use them to keep down the beak length IIRC.


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

Thanks. I may try cuttle fish bones.


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

It all depends on what type of snails you have.
There is nothing that can destroy those little gray oval snails; nothing!!!
They grow bigger in acidic water. 
They just grawl to the surface if there is too much CO2.
Maybe snail-eating loaches can do the job.


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## snickle (Apr 8, 2007)

My snails started to suffer after I went pressurized. I now put a filter bag of crushed coral in my sump and change every couple of months. The snails look much better. A good diet helps also.


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Just as a side note, someone mentioned getting rid of any hitchhiker snails by absolutely blasting a container bucket filled with new plants with their pressurized CO2.

I'm not sure how that would kill the egg sacs though


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

Thanks to everybody for the advice.

I'll try either cattle fish bone or crashed corals in my tank. But first, I have to re-introduse snails, since I think there is none left in my aquariums.

I don't understand why so many people are trying to get rid of snails. I never had problems with over population. I always thought that snails were an essential part of my aquarium eco-system. They are very good janitors.


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## baboo_jenge (Apr 6, 2007)

This is very mislead.
small drop in PH will NOT dissolve ANYTHING. 

For those hardened calcium shells of snails to dissolve, we are talking about very low acidic conditions.


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## Rob Tetrazona (Jun 21, 2005)

exterminator said:


> I don't understand why so many people are trying to get rid of snails. I never had problems with over population. I always thought that snails were an essential part of my aquarium eco-system. They are very good janitors.


Last time I tested my water parameters from the tap, they were about:

pH 8.0-8.2
GH 6-8
KH 3-4

They can easily get out of control in my planted CO2 injected & non-planted tanks. They can only get so big from what I am assuming are dissolving shells from CO2, pH meter set at 6.8 or so. They get bigger in my tanks w/o CO2. Either way, they reproduce at rapid rates. A population explosion can be unsightly and time consuming to manually remove, so that's the reason I get rid of them. I personally feel that cutting back on overfeeding reduces the population best. I've even taken the fish out, just left cherry shrimp in, not fed the tank at all, and put a major blow on the snail population in my planted tanks. I don't know that it's possible to completely get rid of snails in a planted tank once you've had them already.


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## exterminator (Mar 26, 2005)

I agree. Snails reproduce a lot when there's a lot food for them. I never had too many of them, since I guess, I wasn't overfeeding my fish. In addition, I do partial water changes on weekly bases and remove all visible debris. So snails are there, but always limited by the amount of available food. If I get lazy, then snails will multiply and take care of the extra waste for me. This is what I call a balanced eco-system.


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