Snail Help!

[rarefish]

I currently have one adult mystery snail left after my other four died from their shells degrading rapidly, despite me puting Kent Concentrated Iodine, Kent Liquid Calcium, Proper pH 7.5, and some crushed coral in my substrate. I keep testing the pH, on two differant test-kits to check if it is right, and it is 6.4(???). I put the proper dose of Proper pH 7.5 in. I just did an experiment with it though, and my water stayed at 6.4 after I put it in. I think this is one of the problems with their shells degrading since the pH is acidic. Does anyone know of a better product that WILL raise the pH? I'll also add my current water stats to see if they could be contributing:

Nitrate: 200 (kit says that plants/algae use it for food; not harmful to fish(?))
Nitrite: 5.0 (I'm running to do a water change right now!)
GH: 300 (can this affect the snail's shells?)
KH: 40 (what can I do to raise it?)
pH: 6.2 (what can I do to also raise it?)

Thanks ahead everyone!

P.S. The tank is a 20 gallon-high with a few cory cats and some livebearers. It also has a few live plants.

 

[dizzied]

Not sure about mystery snails, but most snails are pretty tough to nirites and nirates and can survive a cycle.

Snails will perfer water that is harder and more alkaline, so 6.2 is too low. In soft water, they're unable to properly grow their shells. I believe they're also sensitive to copper.

I'm guessing either the Proper PH 7.5 had some sort of ingredient that was harmful, or it caused the PH to rise and drop too quickly. It's also possible you never cycled your tank, a cycled tank shouldn't have any nitrites.

 

[rarefish]

I cycled it a year ago(???). Has anyone heard of Seachem Alkaline Buffer?

rarefish

 

[dizzied]

Forget about using those PH adjusters. That could be what's killing your snail. Changing your PH too quickly would hurt them anyways. You're better off setting some crushed coral or tufa in a corner or in the filter and let it rise slowly.

 

[rarefish]

I'm going to quit using Proper pH. Here are the new stats after I changed the water:

Nitrate: 160
Nitrite: 0.5
GH: 300
KH: 40
pH: 6.4

Here are the stats of the water right out of the tap:

Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
GH: 0
KH: 0
pH: 6.2

I've added more crushed coral to the substrate.

rarefish

 

[Donya]

What units does your test kit measure with? Nitrates are harmful to aquatic animals and should really be 40ppm or under for tanks with invertebrates (and fish too for that matter, to avoid nitrate poisoning). Snails may seem resistant to bad water parameters, but both can poison them and they will die if exposed to it for long enough.

Try adding baking soda to new water at water changes to get the pH up; it's the cheap and easy method of pH buffering. Test it in a bucket of water to figure out how much you need to add to get the pH where you want it, and always mix it until clear before adding it to the tank. Sometimes a fraction of a teaspoon will have a huge impact, sometimes it takes a lot more. It depends on the individual tank's chemistry.

 

[Lynz781]

Two questions. Rare fish, What kind of kit did you use to test the water right out the tap?
And Donya, is baking powder harmful to fish/snails?

I read that someone feed antacid tablets to their snails for calcium.

 

[Donya]

provided the baking powder is 100% sodium bicarbonate and it is completely dissolved (until clear) prior to addition to the tank, it is completely safe. The only cautions are:
- it will raise kH like a regular buffer
- if it's added too fast it can swing the pH up really high in a matter of seconds.
- if it's added right on top of a snail and isn't completely dissolved, it will give the snail chemical burns.

The last one is something to worry about with all pH-modifying substances, even commercial ones specifically for aquaria.

I read that someone feed antacid tablets to their snails for calcium.

Yeah...I know people do that and some have a lot of success with it. I never have and never will because I don't trust the fact that not all ingredients may be listed and there is the fizz factor with some...and that's bad news. Basically I would never go for something that isn't mainly a calcium supliment, since a lot of newer antacids are strongly reactive. There are other, safer options out there, although they may be harder to find and a little more expensive.