# Snail's shells turning white - What does it mean?



## TimsViv (Jan 16, 2004)

My snails have died back quite a bit and the one's that remain seem to be losing the black coloring in their shells. I know this is an indication of water quality, but I don't know what substance it signifies is missing.

Can anyone help me help my snails?

Tim


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Low calcium?


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

I'm having the same problem, what is a good calcium additive that will not effect water parameters?


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

trenac said:


> I'm having the same problem, what is a good calcium additive that will not effect water parameters?


I don't know that it's possible to add Ca without affecting your GH. What is your GH at now?


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

bharada said:


> What is your GH at now?


My GH is at 10


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

My GH is at 15 and I also have the occasional snail with a white patch on its shell. But then again, I don't have any die back problem. According to my water report I have 46ppm of Ca out of my tap so for mine maybe it's a genetic thing.

Kent has a Ca supplement that some have mentioned but I wouldn't know what a proper dosage would be. The APC Fertilator gives dosing guides for calcium Chloride, Calcium NItrate and Flourish Equilibrium.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I read something at www.azgardens.com/shrimpfactory.php about invertibrates needing Iodine even in fresh water.


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## Piscesgirl (Jan 20, 2004)

White shells usually mean they need calcium -- Trenac what is your KH? You can add a bit of cuttlebone to the water, or calcium carbonate. These will raise GH and KH both, but I wouldn't say by very much (at least it doesn't for me, and I have soft water). Just a bit will do. 

Is your water naturally GH 10, or do you supplement? Perhaps the GH of 10 is Magnesium and not Calcium (GH does not specify which).


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## Hypancistrus (Oct 28, 2004)

It's not necessairly just low calcium... too high a co2 level can cause their shells to erode and turn white (too high of a carbonic acid level). In addition, too high of a potassium level can also cause calcium uptake problems... so even if you have calcium, if you have high potassium and high co2, it won't do much good to add more calcium.

To lower potassium, you can just do water changes and replace with RO or distilled water. There is a titration test kit available from aquariumlandscapes.net that can only accurately test potassium in the 1-2 ppm range, but it _will_ at least tell you if it's present in your tap water and aquarium water.

I would recommend keeping CO2 levels under 20ppm. I keep mind around 15 ppm and my plants do just fine, and I am probably using the highest lighting of anyone here... 250W metal halide!

To raise gH without adding potassium, I use Kent Botanica gH+. It's a liquid pre-mix of calcium and magnesium only, and it instantly blends into the water with no clouding.


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

Piscesgirl said:


> White shells usually mean they need calcium -- Trenac what is your KH? You can add a bit of cuttlebone to the water, or calcium carbonate. These will raise GH and KH both, but I wouldn't say by very much (at least it doesn't for me, and I have soft water). Just a bit will do.
> 
> Is your water naturally GH 10, or do you supplement? Perhaps the GH of 10 is Magnesium and not Calcium (GH does not specify which).


My KH is 7 & I do not supplement GH. This is what I don't understand because all my other tanks have soft water with a KH of 3 or 4. 

I have heard of adding cuttlebone before, I guess you buy cuttlebone that you find in pet stores used for birds. How do you use it?...Just break off a piece and drop in the tank water or put in your filter.


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

bharada said:


> My GH is at 15 and I also have the occasional snail with a white patch on its shell. But then again, I don't have any die back problem. According to my water report I have 46ppm of Ca out of my tap so for mine maybe it's a genetic thing.
> 
> Kent has a Ca supplement that some have mentioned but I wouldn't know what a proper dosage would be. The APC Fertilator gives dosing guides for calcium Chloride, Calcium NItrate and Flourish Equilibrium.


Mine do not have a occasional white patch, their shells are turning completely white. I do not have a die back problem either. I've got to check into getting a water report from my water provider. Sorry, but I could not pull up the link that you provided.


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

Aquatic Plant Centeral (APC) seems to be haveing some server issues today.


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

bharada said:


> Aquatic Plant Centeral (APC) seems to be haveing some server issues today.


I'll try later, thanks for the help :fish:


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## bharada (Mar 5, 2004)

The only snails that seem to be afflicted by the white patches are large (3/8"+) Ramshorn. The pondsnails don't seem to be suffering nor are the MTS that I occasionally see. For reference, my C02 is kept at ~30ppm and I am dosing K at 2X my NO3 ppm amount (high fish load). At water change I dose about 3ppm of Mg since I've noticed more Ca deficiency symptoms in my plants if I don't.


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