Snails Loosing There Shell?

[madjoker14]

Hi all,i have 6 apple snails along with 2 mollies', 2 platy and 5 zebra dynos,

well the problem that i am experiencing is that when i first got the 6 apple snails there shell where fine/no cracks or anything and now im seeing cracks on there shell and not that i can see through them but i can tell some parts of there shell are thicker then other...

is my water condition bad that it could be making there shell to not be as strong as when they where in the fish store, i heard that you could give the snails some type of pill that could help strengthening there shell or help rebuild there shell

any one know of such pill or maybe some liquid that i can pure into the water without harming my other fishes?

once again thanks for any help or info provided

 

[snoopyfrench87]

search for 'the snail shop'
its a website that sells - believe it or not - Snails

they also sell a liquid calcium that you add to the water to keep the snails strong and also supply food for them.

I tend to see this problem in apples kept in tropical tanks - the ones i keep in cool water tanks are fine and grow very large

 

[madjoker14]

hey i think i found the site,good info they offer. hopefully with a bottle of this stuff my snails can grow bigger n stronger, literally lol but thanks for the info

 

[Corleone]

A cheap alternative (though probably not as good in the long run) is a Tums in your filter box. The active ingredient is calcium carbonate, and there's Tums with Calcium that has a higher calcium content. The other ingredients can be removed with filter carbon.

 

[madjoker14]

hey thats sounds pretty good, it is pretty cheap but why dont u think its good in the long run??

 

[Corleone]

hey thats sounds pretty good, it is pretty cheap but why dont u think its good in the long run??

Mainly because I don't know what all the additives used in Tums are and their effects on other tank inhabitants. A great deal of it is inert, but it does have artificial flavors and dyes, some of which can be harmful to animals. I've heard of people using them long term with no issue. I haven't tried since my water is very hard and alkaline and my snail doesn't seem to have any shell problems without it.