Found a Big Mystery Snail Clutch This Morning

[Stef]

On 6/29/2023 at 12:06 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Looks like 2 here?

Ahhh, that was a broken off piece from the main clutch from when I removed it from the tank lid. 
 

Do you recall how long you offered hard boiled egg yolks?  I’m still doing a combo of yolks, first bites, solient green. 
 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:18 PM, Stef said:

Ahhh, that was a broken off piece from the main clutch from when I removed it from the tank lid. 
 

Do you recall how long you offered hard boiled egg yolks?  I’m still doing a combo of yolks, first bites, solient green. 
 

I did only the first week.  But I didn't have the other foods that you have to offer.  I'm sure you're ok with the first bites, soilent green, and the catappa leaf.  My little ones loved to attach to moss also.

[Guppysnail]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:20 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I did only the first week.  But I didn't have the other foods that you have to offer.  I'm sure you're ok with the first bites, soilent green, and the catappa leaf.  My little ones loved to attach to moss also.

I agree the yolks are an emergency food but make the water yucky faster.

[Stef]

Thank you. Wasn’t sure if yolk stuck to walls better than the others. It’s all sort of falling to the bottom. Tank is brand new with old/seasoned sponge filter. Seems like walls are too clean to have stuff stick to. Babies seem to prefer the walls. Kids 🤷‍♀️

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/29/2023 at 1:52 PM, Stef said:

Thank you. Wasn’t sure if yolk stuck to walls better than the others. It’s all sort of falling to the bottom. Tank is brand new with old/seasoned sponge filter. Seems like walls are too clean to have stuff stick to. Babies seem to prefer the walls. Kids 🤷‍♀️

Do you have any bacter AE on hand? (You don't need to specifically buy it)

If you have it already though, it would be a good wall coating.

[Cinnebuns]

On 6/29/2023 at 12:06 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

but was massively OCD and spending a lot of time maintaining it

That's exactly why I think it failed for me. With my chronic health issues I can't predict if I can get out of bed tomorrow or not. I sometimes will be fine for a few weeks and sometimes not. I can't always predict it and line it up with when they hatch. Thats why the tank works much better for me. Too often I was doing great with a box then hit a crash and it caused me to lose them all. That's one amazing part of this hobby though is there are many methods that work you can choose which is right for you!  I like the keep that in mind sometimes when advising people and will add on things like "this is a method I haven't tried but..." or "this hasn't worked for me but I know many use it successfully..."

On 6/29/2023 at 1:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Do you have any bacter AE on hand? (You don't need to specifically buy it)

100% bacter ae. Or any botanicals really. Also any live plants but especially mosses. 

One time in a snail group on fb i was criticized for using bacter ae in a box for mystery snails. They were like "a snails needs aren't the same as a shrimp"  yes, thats true, but this is one that does cross over lol

[Stef]

On 6/29/2023 at 2:51 PM, Cinnebuns said:

100% bacter ae. Or any botanicals really. Also any live plants but especially mosses. 

I don’t have bacter ae or moss but have a bunch of marimo balls. Also have a few anubias plants that are glued down that I can easily transfer over. They are so small I fear if they go on a plant I’ll never find them when doing a wellness check. 
 

Big thanks for all tips and shared experiences. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/29/2023 at 3:51 PM, Cinnebuns said:

That's one amazing part of this hobby though is there are many methods that work you can choose which is right for you!  I like the keep that in mind sometimes when advising people and will add on things like "this is a method I haven't tried but..." or "this hasn't worked for me but I know many use it successfully..."

Exactly. Some people use a plastic tote also.

On 6/29/2023 at 3:51 PM, Cinnebuns said:

One time in a snail group on fb i was criticized for using bacter ae in a box for mystery snails. They were like "a snails needs aren't the same as a shrimp"  yes, thats true, but this is one that does cross over lol

Oh jeez. Yeah the Reddit people also, like one person will give some (wrong) “advice” and then there will be a bunch of comments under it from people that agree with it. 🙄

On 6/29/2023 at 4:28 PM, Stef said:

I don’t have bacter ae or moss but have a bunch of marimo balls. Also have a few anubias plants that are glued down that I can easily transfer over. They are so small I fear if they go on a plant I’ll never find them when doing a wellness check.

Driftwood is good. It has biofilm. (But so does the catappa leaf.)

[Cinnebuns]

On 6/29/2023 at 3:28 PM, Stef said:

I don’t have bacter ae or moss but have a bunch of marimo balls. Also have a few anubias plants that are glued down that I can easily transfer over. They are so small I fear if they go on a plant I’ll never find them when doing a wellness check. 
 

Big thanks for all tips and shared experiences. 

Marimo balls are perfect!  That's what I used when I did a box. 

[Stef]

So I came home from work and found the left over egg yolk had white hair-like mold spores.  Ugh. Tested the water and had .5 nitrite too. There was no ammonia. Assuming the little seasoned sponge doesn’t have a big enough colony to handle the excess food. I turkey basted out as much of the egg and other food. Then did two back to back 50% water changes. The first wc still detected nitrite, so did another round. All 6 Snabies still seem ok. For food I just added a teeny pinch of Repashy solient green powder. 
 

So how crazy of an idea is this?  Has anyone tried putting a single small ramshorn in with the babies for say like an hour or two to help eat up excess food and then pull it out? Like a “rental snail”. There’s a lot of powdered food stuck on the bare bottom tank. It doesn’t swirl up with the siphon up easily. Was not expecting nitrite so soon, so just thinking how to have food available 24/7, without nitrite poisoning them while I’m at work. Right now a single daily wc may not be enough.  
 

Thoughts??

Edited June 30, 2023 by Stef
Adding pics

[Stef]

Hi folks, thought I’d update my snabies status. I have 4 survivors of the original 6. Two are ivory and two are blue. One of the blues is still really small while the other three are about small pea size. 
 

Things in their tank are really messy and there’s a lot of debris. I’m cleaning daily. This morning, the largest ivory baby has some spiky things near the front left edge of the shell (left side of the photo but his right). Is this shell growth or something nefarious? @Chick-In-Of-TheSea  @Cinnebuns,@Guppysnail

I’m still feeding powdered Repashy, first bites and crushed up flake. I’ve tried small bits of mashed up green bean, but they’ll plow right over or around it. They are just 5 weeks old. 

[Guppysnail]

Spikes are good. They grow these then it fills in. That looks like a beautiful healthy baby snail. Congratulations 🎉 

[Stef]

@Guppysnail thank you, that’s a huge relief. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/15/2023 at 3:14 PM, Stef said:

I’ve tried small bits of mashed up green bean, but they’ll plow right over or around it. They are just 5 weeks old. 

See how they do with boiled zucchini. It will need a plant weight or something because it will float.

[Stef]

I’m concerned for my almost 7 week old snabies. They don’t move much. They still do not eat prepared foods or blanched veggies. They only “wake up” if I disturb them while siphoning old food. They are usually found in the same place from the night before and laying on their backside or side. If I touch them they flinch so I know they’re alive. When they wake up they still dont glide around. They just open up and stay put and then I find them later tucked up in their same spots. They are never on the glass wall. 
 

Is this normal @Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Cinnebuns
 

The pic below was after I cleaned and placed all three on the leaf. 

[Guppysnail]

They may be lacking minerals they need for muscle function in the water. What are your ph kh gh. 

[Stef]

On 7/29/2023 at 10:16 AM, Guppysnail said:

They may be lacking minerals they need for muscle function in the water. What are your ph kh gh. 

Ph 7.2

gh 300

kh 60

 

Tetra strip test from yesterday. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Stef

[Guppysnail]

That looks fine. It may still be missing some mineral. I’m not real sure. Try putting plant weights on dry almond leaves and dropping them in. Very young snails eat mostly biofilm. Add some piedered fry food. Sera micron is the best. First bites will do. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/15/2023 at 3:14 PM, Stef said:

I’m still feeding powdered Repashy, first bites and crushed up flake

What are you using for your calcium source?

What do your other water tests look like? And temp? 
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Stef]

On 7/29/2023 at 11:26 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

What are you using for your calcium source?

What do your other water tests look like? And temp? 
ammonia, nitrite, nitrate 

I have calcium chips from Crayfish Empire. They get mold spores the next day so I take it out. Uneaten food grows white mold spores too. I also have nano blocks and they get so moldy too. 
 

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 10

temp 77-78F

4 gallon cube tank with small seasoned fine sponge filter.

 

I have lots of IAL and first bites food, but thought they’d be on to bigger stuff by now. I received an order of pellets and cookies and snello kit from Crayfish Empire for later and for the adults. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Stef
Adding photos of mold on nano block and calcium chup

[Stef]

The moldy pics were from a few weeks ago. The inactivity is from the last 5 days or so. When I got home today and cleaned them out, I tried rubbing a calcium chip in the water as opposed to just dropping it in. They woke up a bit but move like they’re frozen. Water is murky from the rubbed chip. Added extra IAL too. Tested water again and all within ideal ranges. Fed powdered Repashy (solient green) and first bites. Also soaked and mushed up a crayfish pellet. 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Parameters are great. I don’t understand the mold thing; that’s a concern. Perhaps a 30% water change, and then if feeding in the morning remove & replace the uneaten food in evening instead of next day. I would stick to the powdered foods since they are not eating the blocks, and remove what you can with a turkey baster or use an airline as a siphon to vacuum up the powder that sits on the bottom.

I know it’s tedious, but that is how I did it. I was doing it in a breeder box at the time.

See if their activity improves after the water change @StefIt could just be a matter of too much powder in the water column. 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Stef]

Hi @Chick-In-Of-TheSea I’m actually changing 50% of the water every day. Because I’m using a small python hose to siphon out the moldy food, a lot of water comes out too so it ends up being a 50% water change. Plus, with my work schedule, I’m cleaning and feeding after work and so food sits a solid 24 hours. Maybe I need to switch that up and do mornings instead like you suggest 

Question- would spring water help to add minerals to the water?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/29/2023 at 9:52 PM, Stef said:

would spring water help to add minerals to the water?

Not sure. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ve always used tap. 

[Stef]

Posting an update on my snabies. Of the surviving 3 (2 ivory, 1 blue), I think they’re big enough to move out of their 4 gallon and into my established 10 gallon that I’m prepping to be their permanent home. By prepping I mean removing all adult ramshorn snails. The 10 gal is lightly planted and used to have nothing but ramshorns and a juvenile BN Pleco that was rehomed and one adult gold mystery snail. 
 

Question for @Guppysnail @Chick-In-Of-TheSea @Cinnebuns any any other members please chime in. With the current size of the babies (plump thumb) will the other full adult gold mystery snail potentially cause any harm to the youngsters?  Not knowing their sex, could the larger gold snail (if male) harm the younger/smaller babies (if female) if they mate??  Should I wait until the babies are bigger?  The 4 gallon is getting cramped as there’s an additional 13 snabies from another tiny clutch I didn’t expect anything from after incubating (the clutch itself was only pea size) but I got 13 little magentas I think!