Assassin Snail Color Issue

[BaylorPerez]

So since i have gotten 2 assassin snails for my 20Gal tank, they have been slowly taking out my pond snail and MTS snail infestation that seemed to have happened when i got my first couple plants.
 
Now that most of the snails are gone,(shells on the bottom of the tank of most that have died due to the assassins), i have noticed that the color on their shells isnt...... or should be as birghtly colored as it should be. 
 
Is this a sign of stress? or not enough food for them to keep their color and shell hardiness up?( i do add calcium enriched Algae wafers for the snails every few days as they dont eat one til a few hours after it gets put in)

 

[Chad]

I'm assuming you are talking about the assassins' shells and not the dead snail shells laying about.
As time goes on the assassins' shells often get coated in algae. Try taking one out and rub it gently with your finger and see if it polishes up again. 

 

[BaylorPerez]

yea the assassin snails shell is like loosing its color, the dead snail shells i keep in the tank for the Calcium it contains that dissolves into the water very slowly

 

[DoubleDutch]

Older ones often get another (less bright) color. They are carnivores, so algaewafers aren't the right food for assassins

 

[BaylorPerez]

well, i feed them a mix of wafers, shrimp/snail pellets, fish flakes, and bloodworms(as mine seem to love them every so often) i feed them maybe 1 wafer every 3-5 days, then the rest is the mix of protein based foods

im assuming i will have to go up to petco/petsmart to get more MTS for my assassins as they loved those as they went after them first before the pond snails

 

[Chad]

When my assassins were done with their job of eating the other snails I traded them back into the LFS where I got them. 

 

[BaylorPerez]

i got mine online, no returns after 30 days (the just got finished with the last of the pest snails 2 days ago and i got them 3 months ago)