Snail Questions

[Dan T.]

Hello,

I'm new to the hobby and I have a question about snails. I would like to add a Mystery Snail to my aquarium. Any ideas on how I can provide the fish and the snail in particular a safe and healthy home. I'm concerned about the very low pH in the tank. Here's some background information. After reading articles and watching videos I purchased a 15 gallon Fluval Flex aquarium and stand from a locally owned pet store back in April. Prior to setting up the tank I called our local water authority and talked to their chemist about which disinfectant they use which is only chlorine. I set up the aquarium and removed the chlorine with API tap water conditioner. The substrate is Seachem black flourite sand with a top dressing of standard black aquarium gravel. I placed two small rocks and one small piece of driftwood in the center. The plants I choose are one Java Fern wedged into the driftwood, one Anubias (which has a narrow pointed leaf shape similar to the Java Fern) wedged between the two rocks, Cryptocorynes (added root tabs), Dwarf Chain Sword (added root tabs), Water Sprite (Aqruarium Co-Op) and Java Moss (Aquarium Co-Op). I dose the aquarium twice a week with easy green, easy carbon and easy iron. The light source, white leds only, is low power so it's on a twelve hour cycle. Weekly maintenance is a 6 gallon water change, a light scrubbing for any algae on the glass and a water test (API 5 in 1) - GH between 30 & 60, KH between 40 & 80, pH between 6.0 & 6.5, Nitrite between 0 & 0.5, Nitrate between 0 & 20. Every two weeks I prune the Water Sprite as it grows very rapidly. The filter compartment is filled with sponge with a bag of bio beads. I purchased extra sponge for the filter compartment. The heater, 50 watts, is placed in the filter compartment and is set to 78 degrees. After one month I purchased two neon tetras. Afterwards I added two fish every two weeks until the current population of eight neon tetras and four glo tetras. I feed once a day a varied diet of frozen, freeze-dried and flake foods only enough that the fish can consume in one minute. The plants and fish are healthy. I currently have no plans to add more fish.

Thank You,

Dan T.

[Cory]

You would want to add something like crushed coral to buffer up the ph. 6.0 is low for your fish and plants really.