# HELP: Discovering empty shells of assasin snails



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Hi Guys

This is fully cycled 2 years old 10Gl tank with life plants, shrimps and assassin snails. My snails in the tank for about a year and wore multiplying very nicely. But lately I started to discover more and more empty shells. Although I still poses good number of assassin snails of different sizes (from babies to adults).
Any idea why I'm discovering empty shells ?


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

assassin snails kill snails even their own kind, if you dont want them killing each other maybe consider adding Malaysian trumpet snails for them to eat. You can usually find people giving them away for free, ive got tons if your ever in the stoney creek area.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

mrobson said:


> assassin snails kill snails even their own kind, if you dont want them killing each other maybe consider adding Malaysian trumpet snails for them to eat. You can usually find people giving them away for free, ive got tons if your ever in the stoney creek area.


I never new they will eat each other. As they wore multiplying in my tank but now, when I got over 20 of them they start eating each other. I moved 10 to my new tank. Another interesting fact. I have a friend whom sometime ago I gave baby guppies. Now he has over 40 in his tank and his tank conditions not as good as mine. He also moves them around from tank to tank and he is not cycling them at all. He does not have the same problem I do.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

As far as I know, Assassin snails do not cannibalize each other, unless they are already dead.

There may be another factor at play that is causing your snails to die, however.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

Darkblade48 said:


> As far as I know, Assassin snails do not cannibalize each other, unless they are already dead.
> 
> There may be another factor at play that is causing your snails to die, however.


i thought they would for population control, but im no snail expert 

have you used any copper based meds lately?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

I have trouble keeping them in tanks with co2 injection. They become sluggish and their shells disolve rapidly weeks to months after being added. During this time they still eat and reproduce though.

Maybe not helpful in your situation, yet I wanted to share something I've been noticing.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

mrobson said:


> i thought they would for population control, but im no snail expert
> 
> have you used any copper based meds lately?


No. I never used any medicine in this tank


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Will said:


> I have trouble keeping them in tanks with co2 injection. They become sluggish and their shells disolve rapidly weeks to months after being added. During this time they still eat and reproduce though.
> 
> Maybe not helpful in your situation, yet I wanted to share something I've been noticing.


This is interesting. I do not use CO2 in my tanks but I do use plant food. I use in this tank (10Gl) 1Ml of Flourish, 1Ml of Flourish Iron and 1Ml of Flourish Excel once a week, when I do a water change. Can this be a problem ?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Fertilisers aren't going to be a problem. Tom Barr has proven that most fertilisers aren't dangerous unless in very extreme excessive levels.

While Gluteraldyhyde (ingredient of Excel) can be dangerous at high levels, the product is already diluted to 1.5% and you are dosing a very small amount (enough for a 2G tank) very infrequently- so I cannot accept that this is the cause of your problem.

Competition, canibalisation, or too-low-ph seem like far more possible causes to your problem than ferts or liquid carbon.


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

Will said:


> Fertilisers aren't going to be a problem. Tom Barr has proven that most fertilisers aren't dangerous unless in very extreme excessive levels.
> 
> While Gluteraldyhyde (ingredient of Excel) can be dangerous at high levels, the product is already diluted to 1.5% and you are dosing a very small amount (enough for a 2G tank) very infrequently- so I cannot accept that this is the cause of your problem.
> 
> Competition, cannibalization, or too-low-ph seem like far more possible causes to your problem than ferts or liquid carbon.


My PH in that tank is around 7 (Fish and shrimps living there for a while without a lot of issues) Well the only other two thinks I can think about are:
1. Competition, cannibalization - as originally I got assassins, when I had some small snails but today i don't have any. The only food they can get is the waffels (if they fast enough with competition with shrimps and curry cat fish) or actually a dead fish. When the fish dies in that tank I almost never can find bodies. other than that they don't have any other food (maybe some flakes, sometime)
2. I had / have a little worms (like slagos) in the tank that live deep in the gravel or sometimes on the leafs of the plants. Can they drill into the snails ?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Not sure if theyll eat whatever worms you have, my guess is that would be right up their proverbial and dietary 'alley'.

I know that frozen bloodworms are a favourite of assassin snails. Something to consider feeding.


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