i keep mine in hard, alkaline water. Yes me and beserker got them in the same shipment from same supplier. The one i've got left was my smallest one at about 9" so i'm worried the same thing is in store for him! I do have 2 other wc endli's that i've had for nearly a year from 5" and our now 14" or so and have had no problems with them but they were from a different supplier (wildwoods).
. Had the little guy for about 3 months and it was eating like a pig.