Mystery snails with cleft shell

[Narideth]

Hey guys,

I've been raising some fancy colored mystery snails and they've been doing great until the last like, two weeks. I noticed that both of the large purple snails were developing these clefts in their shells. You should be able to see in the pictures the cleft, but I've had these babies since they were pea sized and now they're about the size of a quarter and still growing quickly. You can see where the original owner had poorly calcified water/food and the smallest whirls on their shells are all pitted.

Now it's possible that maybe there was a week or two where the calcium in the water dropped too low, which has quickly been remedied and I'm working on a snello recipe to feed from now on, but -both- of the large snails from the same breeder have this cleft in exactly the same spot. Is this a genetics thing? Should I try to fix it, or will the snails heal these on their own with plenty of good calcium?

No signs of altered activity, still zooming around the tank living their best snail life, but my intent was to breed these beauties. I have other snails from a different breeder and I'll have to see if they develop anything similar but they're still dime sized for the moment.

Any thoughts on if I should do anything more than increase calcium? The rough edge from that momentary lack is already growing out, but the cleft has shown no sign of sealing up or filling in. Granted, it's only been about a week since I noticed, but their baby growth is just amazing and their shells have already added a quarter inch of additional shell.

Thanks for any help!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Interesting. It could be a lack of calcium.

My Nerite snail is showing signs of shell “rot”, only because she is over 5 years old.

Do the parents have this same thing? It could be a genetic issue.

 

[Narideth]

I don't have the parents, and there was only a single image on the posting to go off of, however there is one snail in the picture that is facing the right way to see that it seems to have a developing dip in the same location.

It would really be a shame if this were genetic. Luckily the other batch of snails are from a different breeder, and all I can really do I think is keep their calcium nice and high. I know that shells can be repaired if they develop holes, but is there anything else that can be done for this? I've never kept mystery snails before, only nerites, ramshorns and rabbit snails. There are rabbit snails and baby ramshorns in the same tank that show no signs of shell issues.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I don't have the parents, and there was only a single image on the posting to go off of, however there is one snail in the picture that is facing the right way to see that it seems to have a developing dip in the same location.

It would really be a shame if this were genetic. Luckily the other batch of snails are from a different breeder, and all I can really do I think is keep their calcium nice and high. I know that shells can be repaired if they develop holes, but is there anything else that can be done for this? I've never kept mystery snails before, only nerites, ramshorns and rabbit snails. There are rabbit snails and baby ramshorns in the same tank that show no signs of shell issues.

My best guess is genetics, or an injury to the shell, that occurred when they were really young.

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

One of my MS has the same thing, he had it when I first got him. It’s due to lack of calcium. The little one will have that for the rest of it’s life but won’t affect it.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

One of my MS has the same thing, he had it when I first got him. It’s due to lack of calcium. The little one will have that for the rest of it’s life but won’t affect it.

It doesn’t really look like lack of calcium.

Lack of calcium usually looks like the shell is rotting white.

 

[Narideth]

It is possible that the calcium in the tank was lower when these problems started - I'd just done a couple of water changes and while I do have hard water, I supplement with a wonder shell and didn't this time for about a week after. Maybe they're predisposed to it, but the momentary dip allowed the problem to manifest?

 

[Aussie_Bristle]

It is possible that the calcium in the tank was lower when these problems started - I'd just done a couple of water changes and while I do have hard water, I supplement with a wonder shell and didn't this time for about a week after. Maybe they're predisposed to it, but the momentary dip allowed the problem to manifest?

yeah could have been. Could of been lack of calcium from the previous owner. That how my little guy got his. Poor water conditions can also do it too

 

[Narideth]

Water conditions in that tank are pristine, and it's been set up for over 6 months. I wasn't about to put expensive fancy snails in a bad tank, hehe. I am frustrated, but, I'll take excellent care of any hopeful future babies, so.. I guess we'll see what the future holds. Thanks for the input!

 

[Narideth]

For reference, and because I haven't shown anyone this tank yet, this is the tank in question. It's home to a pair of male guppies, a breeding colony of blue dream shrimp and the various snails.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Looks really good. That black subtracted really makes the guppies color pop.