Mystery Snail Shell gone white?....

Mr.Collings

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2010
31
0
6
London
I'm just wondering if anyone could please tell me why my golden mystery snail's shell has turned like 90% white within the past 24 hours :S

Is this normal? I have only had it for about a week or two....

Nitrites, nitrates, and ammonia levels all seem to be fine....

What else could it be? And is a white shell bad?.... It's white in the sense it's becoming a Little transparent.....anyone know whats up?


Thanks!!
 

Lupin

Viviendo la vida loca!
MFK Member
What are your pH, KH and GH? It indicates your snail's shell may be eroding especially with lack of calcium. What have you been feeding your snail?
 

Mr.Collings

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2010
31
0
6
London
Lupin;4349570; said:
What are your pH, KH and GH? It indicates your snail's shell may be eroding especially with lack of calcium. What have you been feeding your snail?
I have been feeding it leftover flakes from the fish, and shrimp pellets, and it was doing just fine up until recently. I honestly have NO idea what KH and GH are though :S and pH i honestly don't remember but i can check in a min and reply back....

Here are some pics i took (on a crappy cellphone cam) of the snail...

0805002131.jpg

0805002131a.jpg

0805002131b.jpg

0805002131c.jpg
 

Lupin

Viviendo la vida loca!
MFK Member
Check the pH, KH and GH with API liquid kits. Soft acidic water causes the shells to erode.

Your second pic doesn't show shell pitting to me. If you meant it was not white before and simply grew white shell, then it does happen naturally. I can't see evidence of shell pitting but the other three shots are vague to me.
 

Mr.Collings

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2010
31
0
6
London
Hey, ok i checked pH level with a api freshwater master water testing kit and it said it was between 7.3 and 7.5. I am assuming that's good as that's what it said the average tank should be?.... Also i forgot to mention, originally when i bought the snail it was a completely gold colour, and yah it just the other night started going completely white, and now it's almost 100% white, for the exception of the little amount of gold still left on her that you can Kinda see at the bottom of her in the pics...

EDIT: I should also mention (don't know if it means anything) but on top of it turning almost all white, it has grown like 2x the size in less than a couple days.....

EDIT2: I Should Also mention, that despite the colour change in shell, she is still Extremely active and always crawling around, whatever is happening to her, hasn't managed to slow her down. She still seems pretty healthy
 

Lupin

Viviendo la vida loca!
MFK Member
This is normal to me. The second shot showed a perfectly healthy shell, no pittings at all. Snails grow very fast especially if your temperature is 76 degrees and over. The drawback is the shell tends to be a little thinner and prone to injuries so it's always a good idea to let it slow down its growth a bit by lowering the temperature. Seems you're doing a fine job raising this snail. pH is fine. Adding a bowl of crushed corals will help just in case. The snail can benefit from it.
 

Mr.Collings

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2010
31
0
6
London
Lupin;4352730; said:
This is normal to me. The second shot showed a perfectly healthy shell, no pittings at all. Snails grow very fast especially if your temperature is 76 degrees and over. The drawback is the shell tends to be a little thinner and prone to injuries so it's always a good idea to let it slow down its growth a bit by lowering the temperature. Seems you're doing a fine job raising this snail. pH is fine. Adding a bowl of crushed corals will help just in case. The snail can benefit from it.
Yah, sorry the pics aren't too clear... And actually i've been having a hard time keeping the temp down.... It fluctuates between 78-90 on and off a million times a day because it's soooo hot out.... and i am paranoid to turn off the heater to help keep the temp down.....also i heard that despite the benefits of having crushed coral in your tank, it also houses a LOT of nitrates and have heard a lot of complaints about it....i recently added a large hunk of driftwood to my tank, do you think that would be of any help?...

Thanks for all the information you have provided me soo far, it has been very helpful :) Although i'm not too sure my snail is an ivory, i heard those are Extremely rare.....and i know my snail Was gold :S
 

Lupin

Viviendo la vida loca!
MFK Member
Driftwoods turn your water acidic. It's not something you consider with snails especially if it leaches heavy amount of tannins. But once it slows down, then adding it is fine especially if you have hard water.

It varies therefore ivories may or may not be rare. I had an ivory snail that laid a clutch resulting in dozens of ivories. It was a 50:50 ratio between golds and ivories.
 

Mr.Collings

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 19, 2010
31
0
6
London
Lupin;4352790; said:
Driftwoods turn your water acidic. It's not something you consider with snails especially if it leaches heavy amount of tannins. But once it slows down, then adding it is fine especially if you have hard water.

It varies therefore ivories may or may not be rare. I had an ivory snail that laid a clutch resulting in dozens of ivories. It was a 50:50 ratio between golds and ivories.
Uh oh lol, didn't know it would turn the water acidic x.x
I guess i will Really have to keep an eye on the ph level for a bit, if it starts to drop i will take it out...

But i don't understand the whole colour thing still... So can an actual ivory change colour from gold to white? Because it Was completely gold :S lol....
 
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