Mystery Snail Shell Eroding

[Silencedogood]

Hi,
I have a mystery snail and I was treating ick in my 30 gal tank for 3 months. At the end of that time, I noticed that my snail's shell had at least 20 tiny holes in it and he appeared dead. I took him out of the tank and he was alive, but his shell was very brittle and rough. After a month his shell is slowly growing back. I was just wondering why that happened and if it is safe to treat my fish while he is in the tank.

Ick treatment that I used:

Kordon Ick Attack
Marineland Ick Remedy

I had him for 2 weeks before the ick started and he was healthy.

Thank You!

 

[fishperson100]

Well, could you keep him in a quarantine tank until you are done treating the ich? I'm not sure, sorry, I've never had snails...

 

[Colin_T]

What is the pH of the water?
Snails need to be kept in water with a pH above 7.0 or the acids in the water damage the shell, which is made from calcium carbonate.

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The Kordon Ick Attack might have something in it that is bad for snails. Their website won't tell me the ingredients and who knows what is in it.

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Marineland Ick Remedy contains Malachite Green (aka Victoria Green) and Nitromersol. Both of which are carcinogenic and should not be used in an aquarium with invertebrates.

Make sure you wash your hands with soapy water after handling this stuff or working in the tank, and try to avoid getting it on your skin.

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The following link has all the information you need to know about whitespot. The first post on page 1 and the second post on page 2 are worth reading.

If your fish every get whitespot again, you can treat it by increase the water temperature to 30C (86F) for 2 weeks and the temperature will kill the parasites without using medications.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-is-ich.7092/page-2

 

[Silencedogood]

Colin,
The Kordon is supposed to be safe for snails, reefs, etc.
I had asked the pet store that I got my fish and snail at and the Marineland is what they use for ick and they treat their fish with the snails in the tank with no problem. Actually, nobody had ever heard of that happening because of that treatment.

Is it safe to put aquarium salt in the tank that my snail is in? I have gotten mixed advice on that.

 

[Colin_T]

it depends on how much salt you put in the tank, but generally snails are fine with a small amount of salt in the water for a short time. If the snails don't like it they will either close their operculum or climb out of the water.

 

[Silencedogood]

I was told (by an aquatic specialist) that freshwater fish need a small amount of salt in the tank all the time. Will it harm the snail if there is salt in the tank for a long period of time? And he still has some holes in his shell so I'm not sure if salt would make it worse or not.

 

[Essjay]

Some freshwater fish can tolerate salt - eg livebearers - but soft water fish should never have any salt in the water on a permanent basis, only short term for health problems.

Was the aquatic expert someone who works in a shop? Most shop workers are anything but experts. Never believe anything a shop worker says till you have researched it for yourself.

 

[Silencedogood]

I have platys, neon tetras, and a pleco. The aquatic specialist was visiting Petco but I'm not sure where he actually worked.