To Salt Or Not To Salt; That Is The Question...

[notg2009]

Hi everyone,
I searched the forum (and other sites), and I could not find specific answers to my questions, so I am starting a new topic.

1) I got an Inca Snail (Apple Snail family) about a couple of hours ago! , and I was wondering how much salt it can tolerate in my freshwater tank. I usually add a tea spoon of salt with each water change (about 40% twice a week; is that too much?? ).

2) Also I wanted to know if the brown algae in my tank are enough as a food source or it needs leafy vegetable too? I'm a bit hesitant to add vegetable, since they make the tank water cloudy.

3) Are these snails active at night only? I have been watching it for the past couple of hours like a little kid to see if it moves, so that I can then jump up and down like a little kid and get all excited

Thanks for helping me out
Omid

 

[ZoddyZod]

what other stock does your tank hold? I was not aware that any apple snail variety required salt

 

[notg2009]

what other stock does your tank hold? I was not aware that any apple snail variety required salt

This is what I have in the tank with some extra info:
10 USG Tank containing: 2 Dwarf Gouramis, 2 Platies, 2 Golden Mollies, 2 Corey Catfish, 1 Rainbow Shark, 1 Inca Snail
Temp: about 78 F pH: about 7.0-7.4 Ammonia: <0.02 (safe)
Vegetation: 3 aponogeton bulbs and 3 water lily bulbs (some growing, some not)
Filter: Active carbon

I AM NOT SURE IF INCA SNAIL IS THE SAME AS GOLDEN APPLE SNAIL. I forgot the name after I bought it!!

 

[notg2009]

Since I'm not getting any info here, let me update: the snail is active now, so apparently it needed some time to get used to the environment. As for the salt concentration, it shows no problems; it's moving pretty fast for a snail, and is feeding on the brown algae on the gravel. I will update salinity when I get a hydrometer.

Still, I appreciate it if anyone could answer my questions in the first post.

 

[fishnovice]

Since I'm not getting any info here, let me update: the snail is active now, so apparently it needed some time to get used to the environment. As for the salt concentration, it shows no problems; it's moving pretty fast for a snail, and is feeding on the brown algae on the gravel. I will update salinity when I get a hydrometer.

Still, I appreciate it if anyone could answer my questions in the first post.

Large snails can't just live on algae growing in the tank. You need to feed them algae wafers or sinking pellets. Fresh veg is good too -try slices of cucumber or courgette/zucchini weighed down with a teaspoon.My platies, mollies and catfish love fresh veg too!
Why such big water changes? 40% once a week is enough - unless you are doing a fish in cycle?

 

[notg2009]

Since I'm not getting any info here, let me update: the snail is active now, so apparently it needed some time to get used to the environment. As for the salt concentration, it shows no problems; it's moving pretty fast for a snail, and is feeding on the brown algae on the gravel. I will update salinity when I get a hydrometer.

Still, I appreciate it if anyone could answer my questions in the first post.

Large snails can't just live on algae growing in the tank. You need to feed them algae wafers or sinking pellets. Fresh veg is good too -try slices of cucumber or courgette/zucchini weighed down with a teaspoon.My platies, mollies and catfish love fresh veg too!
Why such big water changes? 40% once a week is enough - unless you are doing a fish in cycle?

Thanks for your reply. The thing is that I had a brown algae boom recently, so I got a rainbow shark and a snail to take care of the problem. I want them to eat algae only until brown algae levels go down. I will give them some zucchini or cucumber in a couple of days.
As for water changes I will do 2, 20% changes every week from now on (total of 40% per week as u mentioned).

Thanks for the advice.