# What do you feed your snails?



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

I assumed they just ate the algae, but after I lost another, I am thinking they need to be fed something else? I don't know the names of these snails. White or black, about as round as a nickel. What should I feed them, how much and for how long? Thank you for your help!


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Snails are scavengers you dont feed them, if there are fish in the tank being fed, there is food for the snails and they are dying from something else. Do u use aquarium salt or water conditioner?


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> Snails are scavengers you dont feed them, if there are fish in the tank being fed, there is food for the snails and they are dying from something else. Do u use aquarium salt or water conditioner?


I do have as bit of salt I am trying to cycle through. Had to put it in (long story) a little while ago. Think the salt did him in?


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Could be, i dont know what type of snails they were


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> Could be, i dont know what type of snails they were


Yeah I am not sure. I know it DID NOT reproduce asexually, that I saw, if that helps.


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

snails are pretty easy to ID, their shells are dead give aways, look it up, google snail species


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> snails are pretty easy to ID, their shells are dead give aways, look it up, google snail species


He looked like a mystery snail, but he was much smaller than the one I saw that was wrapped around a thermometer.


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

tell me some more about your tank. size, content, age?


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> tell me some more about your tank. size, content, age?


22 gallon hex, I bought a puffer that didn't work out, and I was instructed by the guy at the LFS to put in 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt, so I've been trying to get that out by doing a 25% water change once a week.


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

food isnt an issue, for a snail to die of starvation sounds a little out of the norm to me, check your water conditions, that is most likely where your problem is


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

I dont like to generalize but the guy at your LFS might be an idiot. Puffers arent the easiest fish to care for and are actually known to eat/harass snails. If you dont have a test kit to check your water anything you do is most likely going to be unsuccessful. There should still be enough microscopic algea to sustain the snails even in a fishless tank. The aquarium salt might have done them in, when i was younger i was instructed by my LFS to put in aquarium salt to help out some struggeling tetras, but it sent my corys into stress and caused one of them to die. You cant filter salt out of the water either, not even with activated carbon you need to do water changes to get it out.


----------



## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*The only snails I have are pond snails and I feed them Flourish Excel, sprayed directly from a syringe. They bubble up and die muahahahaha. 

For your mystery snails.. all invertebrates such as shrimps and snails do not like salt. It is possible these are killing him. Also, do you have a source of copper in there? Some fish food contain copper which are hazardous to invertebrates. And also, you can feed him blanched zuchinni.*


----------



## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I have loads of mystery snails. They need calcium to keep their shells in good shape, and I feed mine spirulina sticks, fresh veggies and such. They can't tolerate salt or any type of meds that contain copper as stated above. 

You probably have a young mystery snail. My babies aren't much bigger than a pencil lead. And I have adults a little larger than a 50 cent piece.


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> I dont like to generalize but the guy at your LFS might be an idiot. Puffers arent the easiest fish to care for and are actually known to eat/harass snails. If you dont have a test kit to check your water anything you do is most likely going to be unsuccessful. There should still be enough microscopic algea to sustain the snails even in a fishless tank. The aquarium salt might have done them in, when i was younger i was instructed by my LFS to put in aquarium salt to help out some struggeling tetras, but it sent my corys into stress and caused one of them to die. You cant filter salt out of the water either, not even with activated carbon you need to do water changes to get it out.


How many water changes do you think? I have test strips for nitrates and PH, but none for salt. I've been doing 25% once a week to try to take care of it


----------



## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

Test strip kits suck. For like around 25$ get urself an API master test kit with the liquids. Im sure 25% a week is sufficent, is there anything still living in the tank? Right now in an unestablished tank i wouldnt worry about feeding the snails right now. I would focus on getting the water conditions right and establishing your tanks ecosystem. Once the tank is up and running with fish and maybe plants, there will be more than enuff for your snails to thrive on. We've all made mistakes wheni t comes to caring for our fish, the important thing is to learn and move on


----------



## justcrash (Jun 27, 2010)

mk4gti said:


> Test strip kits suck. For like around 25$ get urself an API master test kit with the liquids. Im sure 25% a week is sufficent, is there anything still living in the tank? Right now in an unestablished tank i wouldnt worry about feeding the snails right now. I would focus on getting the water conditions right and establishing your tanks ecosystem. Once the tank is up and running with fish and maybe plants, there will be more than enuff for your snails to thrive on. We've all made mistakes wheni t comes to caring for our fish, the important thing is to learn and move on


Oh no, I have plenty in the tank. 6 daneyos, 1 glofish (he's pink, named him pinky), an Oranda (the Brain), a cory cat (Noodle) and a whiptail cat (Devo), all appear to be doing fine. I just am sad I lost my little snail friends. How many snails can you have? Do they count as part of the "One gallon for every inch of full grown fish" equation?


----------



## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

they don't "necessarily" count towards to the so-called 1/1 rule but they do produce alot of waste. If you have more than one in a small tank, you definately want to keep up with the water changes.

also look into Ken's Foods for their Veggie Sticks, fresh veggies and even make your own snail jell-o to suppliment their diets.


----------

