# Cuttle bone



## gordonrichards

Its calcium. I've heard of people using it too.


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## kozlany

I've got really soft water. I'm constantly adding calcium but still had shell damage showing on snails. I put a cuttlebone in and while it's too early to tell if it's helping I have noticed all the critters in the tank have been on it.

Tank has shrimp, guppies, otos, bushynose plecos several kinds of snails and corys. Everyone grazes on it.


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## whizzle

Thanks guys! Kozlany once you find out if it works or not you should make a thread on it.


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## Betta Maniac

I'm another person with soft water. I keep a chunk of cuttle bone in all my tanks. It will float for a few days, but eventually it will sink and you can tuck in somewhere unobtrusive. The snails and shrimp graze on it pretty regularly.


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## mordalphus

it'll eventually cause molting problems on shrimp, so it's best to just put a tiny piece you've broke off in at a time and monitor gh.

or just used a product which raises gh.


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## whizzle

Cause molting problems how? Raising the gh to high?


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## mordalphus

yessir


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## Betta Maniac

mordalphus said:


> it'll eventually cause molting problems on shrimp, so it's best to just put a tiny piece you've broke off in at a time and monitor gh.
> 
> or just used a product which raises gh.


I do use just a small piece (about the size of a quarter).


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## kozlany

My water is darn close to RO water. 

If I'm changing out half the tank water regularly and sometimes more I doubt it is going to change my gh much.
Been testing it now and then and it takes a bunch of calcium just to get things up to 4 or 5.

I did a half tank change yesterday and did a very unscientific half a handful of espoma garden lime into the water and I'm only getting a GH of 4 or 5. Just tested it when I read the new posts. I've got the whole cuttle bone in there too.

I'm also feeding them algae sticks with added calcium regularly along with other things.

Espoma is an organic gardening company. Pricey for a outdoor garden. Cheap for a fish tank. Add it to water and it starts dissolving nearly immediately. The pellets turn to a fine dust in seconds and in an hour or two the dust is gone from view.

I just grabbed another unscientific tablespoon or so and threw it in. Some of the powder is sitting on a leaf. Shrimp were on it eating it as is.

Now I'm going to have to pay attention and see just what it takes to raise this water a degree or two.


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## kozlany

I guess you can see a difference but I've increased the lime I've been adding dramatically since I bought a new test kit.


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## karatekid14

I did a report on cuttlefish, very cool, smart little guys. I have heard cuttle bones are good for tanks and birds. Sorry for the side note.


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## sayurasem

bump. 

So can anyone confirm this? I bought this at petsmart today... $1.49
I'm going to try now, pictures coming up.


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## diwu13

Cuttlebone does definitely work in providing snails with an extra source of calcium. However, if your water is very acidic then no matter how much cuttlebone you supply their shells will still degrade as soon as the cuttlebone supply runs out.


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## mordalphus

Even with cuttlefish bone snails shells will degrade in acidic water. The amount of calcium in their diet or the water doesnt matter at all when it comes to their shells developing holes. It has to do with pH. Now for them to grow their shell they need calcium.


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## eklikewhoa

I have a piece in my filter away from the display cause it's unsightly. 

I have not noticed any problems prior to use nor after so I couldn't say for certain but with the frequent water changes I don't see how it's presence could steadily increase unless you don't do water changes and allow for it to creep up.


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## sayurasem

diwu13 said:


> Cuttlebone does definitely work in providing snails with an extra source of calcium. However, if your water is very acidic then no matter how much cuttlebone you supply their shells will still degrade as soon as the cuttlebone supply runs out.





mordalphus said:


> Even with cuttlefish bone snails shells will degrade in acidic water. The amount of calcium in their diet or the water doesnt matter at all when it comes to their shells developing holes. It has to do with pH. Now for them to grow their shell they need calcium.


Opps, I forgot to mention its meant for Shrimp tank.
I post thread where my cherries died after molting, and their gills are opened up like wings when I found them dead. (Assuming its molting problem)

I do use RO water + Fluval Mineral Supplement only.
So I just did drop a little piece of cuttle bone (penny size) into the tank. Its floating now, My GH is 5 right now. Lets see what will happen in 1 week.


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## mordalphus

Looks good, I had problems with a whole piece in a 20g, I doubt a penny size will do much.

If your Gh is raised with fluval minerals though, why do you need to add more calcium? Just for them to eat?


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## mordalphus

I think raising your pH past 6.5 will help more


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## garfieldnfish

I have R/O water and use an approximately one inch square piece of cuddle bone per 10 gal in all my shrimp and snail tanks.


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## C Campbell

I keep a small piece of cuttlefish bone in all of my tanks.

Snails have been looking a lot better and shrimp have been growing. molting and reproducing without any issues.

My PH runs about 7.0 and my water is probably a little on the hard side, although I never check it.

-Cory


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## sayurasem

mordalphus said:


> Looks good, I had problems with a whole piece in a 20g, I doubt a penny size will do much.
> 
> If your Gh is raised with fluval minerals though, why do you need to add more calcium? Just for them to eat?


I heard Fluval Mineral is not that good. I bought it just because it was local. Next time I'll buy Mosura Mineral stuff, I just dont preffer buying stuff online.


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