# What is Ideal PH for Assassin Snails ?



## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

I have a shrimp tank where I have a lot of assassin snails. I use to use tab water in it. But my shrimps are not happy with it and I'm slowly switching to RO water. It looks like my assassin snails don't like it. My PH use to be 7.2 now it dropped to 6.4 and assassin became way less active. What should I do, move them to fish tank that has 7.2PH or keep them in the shrimp tank and they will adjust. Any help and or advice is appreciated


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I could be wrong but I do believe the snails need the minerals in tap water for their shells to grow. RO water has very little minerals


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## ppaskova (Apr 27, 2010)

pyrrolin said:


> I could be wrong but I do believe the snails need the minerals in tap water for their shells to grow. RO water has very little minerals


So I should move them to tab water tank ? Also does it mean that if I get regular (like Ramshorn) snail in the RO water tank it will not survive there and I don't need to worry any longer to keep assassins there ?


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## bob123 (Dec 31, 2009)

Snails need calcium in their diet. Go to a pet store and purchase a cuddle-bone this is what budgies and canaries use to keep their beaks trimmed. Break off some small pieces and drop this in the tank and snails may graise on the bone.


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## mari.mo (Feb 26, 2013)

I didn't have much luck with cuttlebone because it floats.. I purchased some aragonite substrate for my snails so hopefully they enjoy it.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Fwiw, cuttlebone will sink, but it takes some time to do it. If you weigh it down, it will waterlog faster. I prefer to give snails one of those 'vacation' fish feeder blocks. I had one from the auction recently meant for Plecos.. my snails literally devoured it. They have some fish food inside and are made of plaster of paris, essentially. That's a form of calcium and it works really well for snail shell growth. Even my shrimp nibble on them from time to time. I've seen shrimp pulling tiny bits off the feeder block and eating it. You can even make your own, plaster of paris is pretty cheap to buy.

Most of the snails need water that's hard and alkaline to have healthy shell growth. So if your tank is acidic, snails won't do as well in it and chances are they won't live nearly as long. Their shells will erode away. So you might not need your assassins for that tank any longer. But I'd put them in tap water for sure, they aren't going to do well in the RO.


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