# Too soft of water, or a snail shell parasite?



## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

Hello all, I received a few new snails today. They have some pretty thin spots on their shells, almost looks like something was chewing away at them. Is there anything safe I could put over the thin spots to protect them from damage?

My water is pretty hard so if that is just from soft water, will they thicken back up?


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

It's a combination of soft water and rabbit snails suckin on em once in a while.

They were in with CRS (soft water), and even though I had cuttlefish bone in with them, they still had some erosion. Looks really bad in super macro, lol.


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

lol, yea it does, that seems to be the worst one and he happened to be right up front.

The reason I took a pic in the first place was because one of my new blue pearls was hitching a ride. Then seeing the shell through the zoomed image made me wanna see if i could patch him up.

Maybe some spackle would do the trick. :hihi:


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

hmm, rabbit snails aren't so cute are they.. 

http://arizonainverts.com/forums/uploads/monthly_11_2008/post-1-1227833358.jpg

Kinda looks like that shell sneezed out some nasty goo.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

I think rabbit snails are cute! haha, that's a bad picture 

My rabbit snails in that tank were so hungry for calcium they were suckin on everyone, and totally ignoring the cuttlefish bone for some reason (must taste bad).

But the rabbit snails are out of the tank now, and the snails I sent you are actually about 2 years old. At 5 years old (kept at 70-72 degrees) they'll be larger than a golf ball!


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

the tank they are in seems to stay about 76, my HOB must run warm, the heater is set at 72. 
Then again, my 90 gallon goldfish tank stays at 78-80, thats just how much my canister filter heats the water. The pump I have in my sump might add a little heat, but it never feels nearly as warm as the impeller area of my canister.

(house temp is set at 72 now that it's cold out)


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

http://www.javaomega.net/snail.html

I still think they look like shell snot. 

The tri-color horn snail looks pretty cool though.

lol @ "don king snail" :hihi:


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

oo, the Sulawesi zebra snail looks kinda neat too.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

clean out a boiled egg shell.. wieght it down... maybe your snails would like munching on that instead?? 

mine go over to the shell ocassionally.. it seems that they just go over as needed..


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

I found one lengthy repair method:



> *Equipment you will need*
> 
> Clean soft baby's toothbrush
> Cooled boiled water
> ...


lol, i could get creative and do little sculptures on their shells over the damaged areas. 

hmm, how long can they stay out of water? :hihi:


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Clint said:


> lol, i could get creative and do little sculptures on their shells over the damaged areas.
> hmm, how long can they stay out of water? :hihi:


I would do 1 a day. Perhaps putting it in a saucer with water would help.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

you can use marine epoxy putty too.

but unless there's an actual hole, they should be fine.


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## syzygy9 (Aug 9, 2010)

Is it not normal for it to heal as it grows if the water has plenty of calcium in it?

I ordered some Nerites and 1 in particular had this kind of damage over his entire shell when he arrived. It was hard to tell what color he was because 75% or more of his shell was white "chip out" looking things like your picture. I assumed it happened during shipping or something.

It's only been about 3 weeks, but he now looks almost perfect. My water is pretty hard though (10dGH, 9.5dKH).


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

It's possible, I wasn't sure, I just figured once they formed the shell that was it for that section. I've always hard hard water so my mystery snails have never had holes.


Speaking of mystery snails, i should have some purple stripe babies hatching soon.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Probably a combination of soft water, and co2.


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## Hilde (May 19, 2008)

Nue said:


> Probably a combination of soft water, and co2.


His water is pretty hard, though. I have very soft water and the snails don't look like that when they die. They just die and their shells look normal. Something obvious ate on them. Shell probably decayed at the spot it was ate on.


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## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

For one, it's not dead.
For two, it's from soft, acidic water (I should know, I just sent them to him)
For three, I already said a rabbit snail was sucking on him. And albeit a rabbit snail cannot EAT a snail shell, with the combination of soft water, acid and something sucking on you, you'd erode a little too!

haha


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

Nope, not dead, they are doing pretty well. But they are about as lazy as a dead snail during the day. hehe

There is a tiny little baby one scooting all over the place, they are quick(for a snail) when they are small. I like the gray skin with the orange spots and the stripes they have on their shells. 
Now if i could just keep my red spot nerites off them, those things even plow over my little corona nerites. And my corona nerites are all over my zebra nerite, and my zebra nerite just sits there all day like a bump on a log. My o-ring nerite is constantly trying to escape, and my green horn nerites scoot all over. (who would have thought a snail tank would have so much going on.)


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## QC Discus (Oct 25, 2010)

*Snail*

The "holes" will not grow closed. The shell grows from the outer lip.









Holes are caused just as explained before.
I always advise to seal the hole ASAP. as it will continue to 
degrade and be eaten on by ALL other snails once the protective
outer layer has been removed or damaged . The inner layers of the shells
are quite soft and other snails will find this and consume it .

A coting of clear nail polish will help . But will need to be reapplied constantly. I have also used "Super Glue" , both need to be applied to a 
completely dry shell in-order to last.
Nice things with Apple snails, they can go out of water for 4-12 hours with no ill effects.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

CO2 will also cause erosion, did the tank they came from have co2? 



Hilde said:


> His water is pretty hard, though. I have very soft water and the snails don't look like that when they die. They just die and their shells look normal. Something obvious ate on them. Shell probably decayed at the spot it was ate on.


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## Clint (Oct 7, 2010)

Menards has some JB water weld stuff, it's drinking water safe and you can use it under water or on wet items.. i might give that a try. (it's a tube of putty you cut off how ever much you need then knead and apply)

I do notice that the nerites keep climbing on the trap door snails, when ever they aren't scooting across my counter that is..

My zebra nerite has some bad spots on his shell as well.

I have some 2 part epoxy that would work great.. but it gets a little hot after mixing it.  lol (gets rock hard and would last forever. Would make them turtle proof too, can withstand pressures up to 1400 psi I think the package says)


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