My friend bought a snail for her tank from a pet store. It looked fine when she got it, except for green algae growing on the shell.
Now, the shell looks messed up.
The shell looks damaged, like chunks off of it, but not going all the way down to the snails "meat." She said she never hit him with the siphon or dropped him or anything.

What could have cause this, and what might be done? Is the algae eating away at the shell? or perhaps a lack of calcium. It is happening on what I would assume is the older growth, uhhhh, like on... the lower part of it's "back" but above where it begins to curve under.

did that make sense?

sammie

Snails have to be kept in Ph of at least 7.4
They need food(fresh veggies/fruit,etc rich in calcium)and depending on the nutrients in your water,sometimes you even may have to use a liquid calcium to supplement.
Any time that these needs aren't being met,it can cause damage to the shell,make new growth thinner,or actually erode enough to where there's a hole formed in the shell.
If a snail floats down and hits an Ornament or something,and has a weak shell to begin with,that could also cause broken pieces of shell.
Ask what her params reading,ask what she feeds her snail,etc,and let us know & we'll go from there to help her.

could you maybe get a picture so we could get a better idea of exactly what it looks like. thanks

What are types of veggies and fruits that are high in calcium?

Well I went over there today and noticed that she took the snail out of the tank and put it in a big plastic pickle jar (or some plastic jar) cause she was going to make her fiance put it in the freezer cause the snail had gotten worse. I talked her into letting me take it home.

(Can he die from this if it gets too bad? I guess that depends on if the shell actually opens up on the part that the snail is actually inhabiting. Cause you know how the back end of the shell is all sectioned of internally, right?)

Boy, from the first time I wrote the post, the shell got worse. Well, actually it was probably always that bad and just didn't look like it because the green alge covered it up. But now the algae is gone, and I got to hold the snail and check him out closer.

Okay, remember how I said there were a couple of damaged spots? yikes, well, the true damaged area is huge. It runs from the snails mid-"back" all the way down under where the shell "curls."

His shell seems "soft" to me. Its hard to explain. like the outside part of the shell is a bit mushy, but the bottom part that is stil left is still firm. Kind of like the shell is eroding layer by layer. The part that is left is gray in color, not brown like the normal shell. Also, when I first took him out and held him under a bright light, I noticed that this gray area seemed pearlescent. Does that make sense?

I don't have a digital camera, but if I can remember the next time I go up town, I was already planning on getting a disposable to take pictures of my fish. I just keep forgetting to buy one. Once they are developed, and if they come out, I could then get my mom to scan them and I could put them on here.

The water in the jar was gross---> poop all over. So I cleaned it really good when I got it home and gently put the snail back in. I can't stick him in my tank right now because there is medications in there, and I have a live plant he would eat. At the same time I have some fish in an 18 gallon tub (while the other fish is being medicated in the tank), but am fearful of putting him in there for fear that 1) the snail would climb out and get lost since there is no lid and 2) the GF would damage him even more due to his soft shell.


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This is the friend I loaned my test kits too. Her fish were always dieing and even I couldn't figure it out. Anyways, I think she got too frantic about it all and therefore used up my test kits! I need test kits right now myself, so I ordered them all from fosters and smiths.

I did have ph left though. I know the ph is above 7.4 (my water that is, not hers). I don't know the accurate measure though, because my test kit always comes out a darker blue than the color blue shown on the package for it's highest range. Make sense? I ordered a high range test kit, so I'll now how high it is specifically soon.

From what she said, the snail was like that when she got him from the pet store. So I would have no clue what that water was like. I didn't think of asking her what her test read when she last used my kits. Event though her tank was cycled and she was changing 50% weekly, her fish kept dieing and we are at a loss as too why.


SaMMiE

Oh, I was also wondering if I can feed him broken egg shells from chickens?

sammie

If you can get a bottle of Kent's Liquid Calcium, it will help to prevent further damage. I can't guarantee that the shell witll totally heal, but the liquid calcium will help it from getting worse. I always started my tanks with a tsp per 10 gallon and added about ten drops nightly in each 10 gallon tank.