Hi guys!

a friend of mine wanted to know if she has damgaed her little snail. she bought it from the pet shop and when she was about to put it in her tank she dropped the bag by accident. :crp the snail now has a white raised lump on his shell which she didnt notice on him when she first bought him. she says he is moving around and seems ok. do you think she needs to treat it with anything??

as long as there is no missing shell parts he is okay.. just make sure water quality is good and there is enough calcium in the tank to help him repair himself.

how does she check for calcium levels and what should they be and if they are low what does she do to increase the levels? sorry hamstaman....when it comes to snails i know nothing

well there is this site www.applesnail.net

I dunno if there is a thing that checks calcium levels but if you notice the shell is thinning and cracking that means there isn't a sufficent amount!!! You could put clean eggshells in the filter(if low on budget) or you could by Kent's Calcium (A liquid calcium used for tanks:D)

Hope this helps and always glad to help

Ramy

By the way check out that site and look at different diseases they can gte on their shell... if you see a picture that looks like what your snail has it'd be easier to figure out how to fix it (considering teh site will tell you what the problem is and what to treat it with lol)

Thanks so much hamstaman! i will email my friend with details

Hamstaman is right on target!

As long as you can't see the snail's body through the crack, it will be o.k. If you can, it is possible to repair the hole in the shell using a piece of shell and some glue. Doesn't sound like that is going to be necessary here.

In addition, ph is very important for shell health in snails. If the ph is too low (acidic) the shell will become pitted and weak. Ph for snails should ideally be 7.4 or higher.

Hope this helps!

Laura

thanks Laura for your reply. everyone at this forum are so helpful. i really appreciate the advice

it's our pleasure:D

This might be overkill, but here is a more up-to-date list of disease/disorders/conditions that apple snails can have: http://free.hostultra.com/~applesnails/health.htm

There are shell-patching directions there, which it sounds like the snail may need. Raised lumps are usually caused by a piece of shell missing and the body poking through because there is no pressure to hold it "in". Sometimes the tissue will calcify on its own, but not usually if the tissue is sollen outside the shell.