White Fuzz Appeared on Mystery/Apple Snail Shell?

[faded.mallard]

Hi all,

I just noticed this morning that my female mystery/apple snail has some white fuzz growing on her shell. We know she's female because she's been laying eggs on and off since early August. 

My water parameters are where they should be and I have live plants. My temperature stays between 76-78 degrees F. I also have a betta fish in the tank (it's 5 gallons) and added a whole almond leaf last week for preventative measures. I do have a tiny bit of an ammonia spike since I'm currently also trying to revive some dead Christmas Moss that I purchased from my local fish store a week ago. I did a water change two days ago since measuring this spike.

I have been using crushed coral in my tank since May, when I got my snail. She also primarily eats Kat's Aquatics Calcium + Nutrition and Fluval Bug Bites Algae Crisps. I'm worried if she's getting enough calcium, despite my efforts with the crushed coral and snail food. 

The medications I have on hand right now are: API Aquarium Salt, Kordon Ich Attack, Seachem Kanaplex, Seachem Focus, and Seachem Equilibrium. 

I appreciate any help and advice in advance. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Guppysnail are the snail experts round here!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

That looks like biofilm to me.  Newish tank?  I would not worry about it, but if you'd like you can gently just rub the film off with your finger.

[faded.mallard]

Great! Thank you for tagging them! 🙂 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/28/2022 at 3:40 PM, faded.mallard said:

Great! Thank you for tagging them! 🙂 

Welcome! Always happy to help instead of just moving onto something else if I’m out of my depth!

[faded.mallard]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:39 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

That looks like biofilm to me.  Newish tank?  I would not worry about it, but if you'd like you can gently just rub the film off with your finger.

Hi!

My tank has been established since January, so maybe the water change affected her somehow?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:41 AM, faded.mallard said:

Hi!

My tank has been established since January, so maybe the water change affected her somehow?

Hi @faded.mallard and welcome to the forum! 

I doubt it was caused by water change.  Looks like buildup.  My snail has algae on her shell because she's been in the tank for a long time.  If there is nothing affecting her foot and she is eating normally and moving around normally, I would not worry.

Side note: snails cannot be medicated.  As soft-bodied invertebrates, meds harm them.  Good quality water is the most important thing for them. 

Great job with feeding a calcium rich food.  If you can get some protein into her diet as well, it helps with her operculum, and she would really love veggies, especially boiled or canned green beans (no salt).

[faded.mallard]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:50 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hi @faded.mallard and welcome to the forum! 

I doubt it was caused by water change.  Looks like buildup.  My snail has algae on her shell because she's been in the tank for a long time.  If there is nothing affecting her foot and she is eating normally and moving around normally, I would not worry.

Side note: snails cannot be medicated.  As soft-bodied invertebrates, meds harm them.  Good quality water is the most important thing for them. 

Great job with feeding a calcium rich food.  If you can get some protein into her diet as well, it helps with her operculum, and she would really love veggies, especially boiled or canned green beans (no salt).

Okay, that makes sense. She is moving around normally and has been munching on her Kat's Aquatics tablet. 

What do you recommend feeding for protein? I'll also definitely order some green beans for her today!

Thank you!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:54 AM, faded.mallard said:

What do you recommend feeding for protein?

I just let mine eat sinking fish food.

[faded.mallard]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:58 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I just let mine eat sinking fish food.

I guess I never thought of that, haha! 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Which Kat's aquatics tablet do you feed?  I see there is one that says calcium + protein.  Maybe yours already has protein in it.  But I wouldn't buy more stuff.  Try the sinking pellet.  They aren't picky.  Mine eat everything; they are like little vacuum cleaners.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[faded.mallard]

On 10/28/2022 at 8:59 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Which Kat's aquatics tablet do you feed?  I see there is one that says calcium + protein.  Maybe yours already had protein in it.

I use the Calcium + Nutrition one 🙂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:01 AM, faded.mallard said:

I use the Calcium + Nutrition one 🙂

Ah ok. That one has 8% protein.  You could supplement with fish food to bump it up a little.  I let my gang eat Hikari cichlid gold sinking pellet. It has 40% protein.  You probably already have some fish food on hand that would be fine for them.  They enjoy flakes, but you may have to stick your hand in and then let the flakes go so they get to the bottom.  They also eat brine shrimp and bloodworms.  I find those hard to feed though, because my fish are a bunch of piggies and gobble them all up.  Because I extra spoil them, I make a Snello recipe for them.  Lots of varieties on YouTube for that one.  I just keep it in the freezer and drop a cube in like once or twice a week.  Of course, there are easier options than this!  LOL  I'm pretty sure my snails eat better than I do. 😳

Edited October 28, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[faded.mallard]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:13 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ah ok. That one has 8% protein.  You could supplement with fish food to bump it up a little.  I let my gang eat Hikari cichlid gold sinking pellet. It has 40% protein.  You probably already have some fish food on hand that would be fine for them.  They enjoy flakes, but you may have to stick your hand in and then let the flakes go so they get to the bottom.  They also eat brine shrimp and bloodworms.  I find those hard to feed though, because my fish are a bunch of piggies and gobble them all up.  Because I extra spoil them, I make a Snello recipe for them.  Lots of varieties on YouTube for that one.  I just keep it in the freezer and drop a cube in like once or twice a week.  Of course, there are easier options than this!  LOL  I'm pretty sure my snails eat better than I do. 😳

I do have the Xtreme Community Crave flakes and my betta absolutely hates them. I might try to feed them to my snail. I've also seen her take a few bites of some frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms that my betta couldn't catch, haha 🙂 

On 10/28/2022 at 9:13 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ah ok. That one has 8% protein.  You could supplement with fish food to bump it up a little.  I let my gang eat Hikari cichlid gold sinking pellet. It has 40% protein.  You probably already have some fish food on hand that would be fine for them.  They enjoy flakes, but you may have to stick your hand in and then let the flakes go so they get to the bottom.  They also eat brine shrimp and bloodworms.  I find those hard to feed though, because my fish are a bunch of piggies and gobble them all up.  Because I extra spoil them, I make a Snello recipe for them.  Lots of varieties on YouTube for that one.  I just keep it in the freezer and drop a cube in like once or twice a week.  Of course, there are easier options than this!  LOL  I'm pretty sure my snails eat better than I do. 😳

I do also feed her Fluval Bug Bites Algae Crisps, which I just found out has 43.5% protein. Maybe I should feed her those more often 🙂