# Can snails thrive in very soft water???



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

I wanted to get some nerites, but my water is "very soft" and they are supposed to have hard water conditions : ( 

What should I do?


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Nerites might be a different story, but I've had malaysian trumpet snails, ramshorns, and pond snails all in rather soft water. PH is just as important. In an acidic pH the shells will dissolve. If you feed the snails things like algae wafers they can usually get enough calcium to keep up with the dissolving.


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

thekoimaiden said:


> Nerites might be a different story, but I've had malaysian trumpet snails, ramshorns, and pond snails all in rather soft water. PH is just as important. In an acidic pH the shells will dissolve. If you feed the snails things like algae wafers they can usually get enough calcium to keep up with the dissolving.



so i need to supplement a lot of algae wafers?


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

You'll certainly need to feed them something. Cuttlebone is another one that people swear by, but I've never used it.


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

thekoimaiden said:


> You'll certainly need to feed them something. Cuttlebone is another one that people swear by, but I've never used it.


cuttlebone? I'll look into it : D


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

ok, it says it is gonna raise my ph quite a bit : (

is that really safe? its already pretty high : (


----------



## thekoimaiden (Oct 19, 2011)

Do you know the exact numbers for your pH, GH, and KH?


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

I used some test strips on the water I'm gonna put my new betta in, (the test strips are all I can get where I live, and I just need to keep a general eye on the water) and it says my pH is 7.8-8.4 (alkaline), my kH is high, and my water hardness is very soft.


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

Please help! I might have my only chance to go to petco tommorow, and after that, I can't go for a long time cause its far away. So would the algae wafers be enough? I have no problem getting cuttlebone as long as its SAFE to add with my betta in there.


----------



## Darkicydevil (Apr 30, 2013)

bump?!


----------

