Inca Snail (Apple Family) Eating Plants

[notg2009]

I make sure that my inca snail (member of the apple family) is well fed with algae wafers, but still it eats my plants once in a while and sometimes I see a floating branch or leaf. Is there any way to get them to stop doing that? I've tried hypnotherapy to no avail I have some plant bulbs that I want to place in the tank, but don't want to lose them to the snail's stomach.

Any suggestions?

PS. I checked this article here on the forum and I think my snail species is P. canaliculata (quote: "If you think you have regular apple snail but it eats plants, you most likely have P. canaliculata.")

Here's a picture of my snail: PIC its shell is in bad shape because of some pH fluctuations, so I'm going to add some Tums to the tank.

 

[Donya]

Is there any way to get them to stop doing that?

Nope! Although, from the pic, the areas of the shell that help to distinguish the species are not clear. The spire is awfully elongate for a P. canaliculata, but there are a small number that get a bit stretched out. The angles on the shell are a much better indicator than periodically damaged plants. If there is a distinct groove you can get a fingernail into (think stickybun pastery shape) then it is P. cancliculata or a relative. If there is a right angle at the sutures then it's a P. diffusa (called P. bridgesii in the article - a couple of more recent publications demonstrated that the hobby has been using the wrong name for those snails), and even P. diffusa will sometimes munch/break up brittle plants.