# Calcium Nitrate



## Westyggx (25 Mar 2012)

Hi all, i noticed alot of my snails started to die and their shells went white, so i bought the above from APF. Does anyone know the correct dosage etc and will this cure my issue?

Cheers


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## Matt Warner (25 Mar 2012)

Hi. I don't know what the exact dosage should be but I wouldn't of thought you would need a lot. Just increase the dosage slowly until you see an improvement.


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## Westyggx (25 Mar 2012)

Wont be able to tell until i get some more snails.. they all died.. poor things.


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## Matt Warner (25 Mar 2012)

Are you sure it was a calcium deficiency which killed them. Do you live in a really soft water area then?


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## Westyggx (25 Mar 2012)

Matty1983 said:
			
		

> Are you sure it was a calcium deficiency which killed them. Do you live in a really soft water area then?



I dont know it was calcium difficiency mate but Alistair had the same issue and he said it could be that, worth a try anyway. I lost a shed load of shrimp a few months back too so could be that. Not sure on the water hardness in my area to be fair i will have to check.

Cheers


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## Alastair (26 Mar 2012)

It's super soft water here and the snails I had would start getting holes in their shells etc and lots of then dying. I checked the water report and started to add a tsp of calcium nitrate in my 5foot and noticed a marked improvement. Your already adding back magnesium in your macro mix. On your tank mike I'd just add just under a quarter teaspoon  see how that goes. Mix it in a glass of water first as its like pellets and doesn't desolve straight away 


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## dw1305 (26 Mar 2012)

Hi all,
Any calcium supplement should help. I get a bit if shell attrition in rain-water, in some of the tanks I can keep MTS and Red Ramshorns, but in others with more tannins, the Red Ramshorns shells just dissolve away and the upper spirals of the MTS shells are mainly missing. I can't keep Assassin snails at all, and I think they must require harder water.

The most effective way is to get some more calcium is in the snails diet. You could try a block of chalk, egg shell, an oyster shell or bit of cuttle "bone" and feeding the snails some cabbage/spinach/kale etc, and these techniques do work to some degree, but once you are below about pH6 even the MTS can't grow shell quick enough to survive for long.

cheers Darrel


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## Westyggx (26 Mar 2012)

Thanks for the reply guys I'll give the calcium nitrate a go and see how we get on.


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## Westyggx (27 Mar 2012)

Ok just dosed a quarter tea spoon, how often am i doing this?

Cheers


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## Alastair (27 Mar 2012)

After every water change mate 


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## Westyggx (27 Mar 2012)

Alastair said:
			
		

> After every water change mate
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk



Nice one bud! Heres hoping the snails pick up!


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