# Deteriorating Snail Shells



## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

My snails' shells get white and pitted. GH and KH are 6, and pH is 7.2. Does anyone know why this happens?


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## Transposon (Sep 19, 2012)

Your pH and water hardness seem fine. That's weird. But my ramshorn snails get white and eroded shells when I don't feed them enough. Maybe it's a deficiency other than calcium?


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

What are you using to raise GH?

That sounds very common for our lower mainland snail keepers even though they're dosing extra calcium. Our snail keeper friends back east that has higher mineral content in their tap water and they don't have the same issues. I suspect they have a higher natural magnesium content in their water supply. It could be your source of calcium or if you're just only dosing calcium for GH, try adding Epsom salt for Magnesium. My understanding is that magnesium helps with calcium absorbtion, maybe a 3:1 ratio calcium/magnesium? I'd be interested to see if that works for you.

The ramshorns I keep with a layer of Caribsea Florida Crushed coral with aragonite has nicer solid red shells than the ramshorns in my regular ramshorns in the community tanks w/o the natural buffering of aragonite.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

I use Equalibrium and Alkaline Buffer. I may try a little Epsom salt, but it is a planted tank so I don't want to make it too salty.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

It's true Epsom salt is a "salt" but it's Magnesium Sulphate, so not Sodium based like regular table/aquarium salt - Sodium Chloride. Snails wouldn't appreciate salty (sodium) either.


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