# Yellow mystery snail shell problem



## yellowmystery (Apr 16, 2013)

First time with snails and am lost as to what to do with my male snail which is losing the outer part of his shell. I think it is called flaking off. He is becoming quiet which is not normal for him. They have lots of tank plant greens, water is hard with a temp around 70 degrees. I feed them algae wafers, flaked fish food and people veggies and bits of shrimp. The plants are thick enough that both spend most of their time in these plants moving around and sleeping. I put in a cuttle bone a couple of days ago. Someone said they put marine glue on the damaged part of the shell which I have not tried yet, not sure if this is a good idea. The female shell has not started to flake. The tank size is 5.5 gallons with a small star shaped air stone. I clean the tank filter every day. I keep the tank light on during the day and off at night. They are both a year old. Any suggestions to what I have done wrong in their tank? Thank you.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

You should post here:
Freshwater Invert Discussion - Aquarium Forum


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

moved to proper forum


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## DirtyJob (Apr 29, 2013)

Post your water parameters when you get a chance because anyone that wants to help you is going to ask for more details. 

You say the water is "hard' but are you basing this on pH tests or kH/gH tests? I ask because the later is what would effect your snails shell health/quality. In any case feeding them veggies like you've been doing will get them some of the calcium they need for good shell growth (especially Spinach & Kale). The cuttle bone you've been adding is fine, I add crushed calcium vitamin tablets & spread them on the plant leaves as a supplement, both do the same thing (provide extra calcium). I've never tried using "marine glue", I've heard of people using cyanoacrylate to repair shells with mixed results. I've never used cyanoacrylate (the gel kind works better) for anything other than decor purposes (affixing plants to driftwood etc). 

It may be as simple as old age, pomacea diffusa snails only live about a year or so, 2 years tops! If your snail is about a year or older it might just not be processing the nutrients it gets from it's food as efficiently & that is why you are seeing it's shell "flaking" while the other snai'ls shell shows no signs of deterioration.


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