Second netrite snail death

[JuiceBox52]

That's good to know! He was probably about a year and a half then.

 

[Colin_T]

I reckon your pH and GH are too low for nerite snails. These snails have a marine larval stage, which means the snails themselves should have hard water and maybe a bit of salt. All snails should have a pH above 7.0.

 

[JuiceBox52]

I reckon your pH and GH are too low for nerite snails. These snails have a marine larval stage, which means the snails themselves should have hard water and maybe a bit of salt. All snails should have a pH above 7.0.

Ok! I wont buy anymore unless I do a hardwater tank

 

[Essjay]

I have soft water (GH 5 but pH 7.4). I currently have nerites which are several years old. I wonder if it's my pH which means they survive.

But I've also had nerites which have lived a few days, and nerites which have lived a few months.

 

[Colin_T]

I have soft water (GH 5 but pH 7.4). I currently have nerites which are several years old. I wonder if it's my pH which means they survive.

But I've also had nerites which have lived a few days, and nerites which have lived a few months.

Try to breed the ones that live longer and produce a strain that lives longer.

If they die within a few days of you getting them it is usually stress from being shipped and different water chemistry.

If they die after a couple of months, that could be your tank or you got old snails.

 

[Essjay]

I currently have 4 nerite snails. Two were bought from Ebay in July 2011 (zebra and the orangey red type with black markings). The small black and yellow striped one was bought from Pets at Home in December 2013 and the small grey mottled one in December 2014 from Maidenhead Aquatics - I bought 3 of these and one other which I thought was black but as it grew it had gold zigzag stripes. Two of the grey ones and the zigzag one lived a few years, the last grey one is still alive.

I'll see if I can find the zebra snail to take a photo when the lights come on, he does look rather old but is still crawling round the tank.

 

[seangee]

I bought 3 about 2 years ago. One died after a week, another one about 6 months later and the 3rd is still going strong and very active usually. Sometimes he does spend a few days on an extended siesta and causes me a mild panic . Water is soft (dGH=6) with a neutral pH of around 7.

I lost loads of shrimps last year which could have been due to disturbing the substrate but the nerite was fine. I never got to the bottom of why almost all of my shrimps died. I did an immediate 90% water change followed by another 90% change the next morning and enough survived to re-populate the colony, even though I could not find a single one after shrimpageddon.

 

[Meg0000]

I also think your snails died of old age. I think it happened to me too because I had two zebra nerite snail and they died also one after the other but they almost never moved and now I have one that I got one month ago and I realized it was not normal that my other nerites didn't move a lot because the one I have now can do the tour of the entire tank like 3 times in a day in my 4ft long tank! Also I noticed that the nerites in the tank for selling plants look often healthier (moving a lot) than the one in the tank to sell them so I would recommend to ask to buy a nerite from the tank that's there for selling plants.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I reckon your pH and GH are too low for nerite snails. These snails have a marine larval stage, which means the snails themselves should have hard water and maybe a bit of salt. All snails should have a pH above 7.0.

Exactly....

That's why i was worried about your pH @JuiceBox52...

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I have soft water (GH 5 but pH 7.4). I currently have nerites which are several years old. I wonder if it's my pH which means they survive.

But I've also had nerites which have lived a few days, and nerites which have lived a few months.

Same. My pH is at 7.4-7.6 I've had my nerite for over 2 years. (Closer to 2 1/2 now...)

That's why I was worried about @JuiceBox52 's pH. Its super low.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I also think your snails died of old age. I think it happened to me too because I had two zebra nerite snail and they died also one after the other but they almost never moved and now I have one that I got one month ago and I realized it was not normal that my other nerites didn't move a lot because the one I have now can do the tour of the entire tank like 3 times in a day in my 4ft long tank! Also I noticed that the nerites in the tank for selling plants look often healthier (moving a lot) than the one in the tank to sell them so I would recommend to ask to buy a nerite from the tank that's there for selling plants.

I don't know why you people (And not just you, @JuiceBox52 and @utahfish as well) keep saying that they can only live for a year.

That is simply not true. In all honesty, @JuiceBox52 's snail probably died due to her extremely low pH.

I have had my Zebra Nerite snail for over 2 years now. She has been in cold and hot water, shes been through a move across the United States and she still hasn't died. Nerite snails are very hardy.

The only explanation is that her snail died due to her low pH. (The lowest possible pH that is recommended, is 6.5 pH. The actual recommended pH, is 7.5)

 

[utahfish]

I don't know why you people (And not just you, @JuiceBox52 and @utahfish as well) keep saying that they can only live for a year.

That is simply not true. In all honesty, @JuiceBox52 's snail probably died due to her extremely low pH.

I have had my Zebra Nerite snail for over 2 years now. She has been in cold and hot water, shes been through a move across the United States and she still hasn't died. Nerite snails are very hardy.

The only explanation is that her snail died due to her low pH. (The lowest possible pH that is recommended, is 6.5 pH. The actual recommended pH, is 7.5)

Never said they werent hardy but the average lifespan of a nerite snail is around two years. That yours has lived longer isnt the rule its the exception. I have a cat hes 18 years old that doesnt mean the average lifespan of house cats is 18 years, its much lower, my cat is the exception not the rule.
Could her snail have died from too low PH. Possibly but one cant rule out died of old age either.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Never said they werent hardy but the average lifespan of a nerite snail is around two years. That yours has lived longer isnt the rule its the exception. I have a cat hes 18 years old that doesnt mean the average lifespan of house cats is 18 years, its much lower, my cat is the exception not the rule.
Could her snail have died from too low PH. Possibly but one cant rule out died of old age either.

That is simply not true. According to a quick Google search, the average lifespan of a nerite snail is 2 years. Is that 100% correct? No! There is no way of actually knowing. My nerite snails had lived for 2+ years and I know some of @essjay 's nerite snails have lived for long than that. Why do you ask? Because our pH for nerite snails is in the green zone.

6 pH for a nerite snails is crazy low. (Even if it is only by 0.5 ppm)

She should have done research before getting her snail. That's all I'm saying, not meaning to argue.

 

[utahfish]

That is simply not true. According to a quick Google search, the average lifespan of a nerite snail is 2 years. Is that 100% correct? No! There is no way of actually knowing. My nerite snails had lived for 2+ years and I know some of @essjay 's nerite snails have lived for long than that. Why do you ask? Because our pH for nerite snails is in the green zone.

6 pH for a nerite snails is crazy low. (Even if it is only by 0.5 ppm)

She should have done research before getting her snail. That's all I'm saying, not meaning to argue.

I think you are having a difficult time understanding how averages work. When someone says a neon has an average life span of ten years they come to that conclusion by observing how long populations in captivity live. Is it a perfect system? No but it gives one a general idea, same goes for nerite snails. The average life is 2 years. This isnt some arbitrary number somebody made up or a matter of fact number, its an avererage.

 

[utahfish]

Also a bigger cause than the PH is the low GH. I mis read it and thought it said 12 -22dgh not 12ppm. 12 dgh is hard water 12ppm-22ppm is 1dgh which is super low.
Snails need calcium and magnesium in the water for shell development and with only 1dgh they wont get it.
Id suggest raising the gh of the tank between 4-6dgh and in doing so the PH will also raise. My tank is around 5dgh and around 7ph and the longest ive had a nerite is a little over 2 years and those were olive nerites. Every time ive bought a tiger or zebra nerite they die in a few months or weeks for whatever reason so i gave up on them