We keep killing snails...

[MyFirstName]

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DS has so far had 2 lots of 2 zebra nerite snails. His sister has let him have them in her tank.

All 4 have died pretty quickly.

They seemed to settle in pretty quickly and zip around chomping on the algae. By about day 2-3 not moving much. By a week in maybe the odd clamp onto the glass. Then nothing. Nada.

Have had to resort to the sniff test and they have sadly died.

So not keen to put any more snails through it - or poor DS (6yo) unless I can see some hope of them lasting more than a fortnight.

Tank is 44l
Stats are PH7.5, Ammonia 0, NitrIte 0. Nitrate around 20 (same as tap water). Have recently tackled phosphate problem (tap water very high) and this is now much healthier. In the tank is 2 male guppies and 3 endlers.

What could be cause the snail-i-cide? Have googled but not coming up with any answers at all. Just seems to link to the smell to see if they have really died trick which is not a memory I wish to revisit

Hmm, tough one! Do you know your hardness? I wonder if there are heavy metals in the water- I know copper is bad for some inverts. What water treatment are you using? Most of them are meant to bind heavy metals so they don't harm your livestock.

We have the heaviest water in the world. Evah! Will check later what stuff am using. I leave it for at least 8 hours to work/water to warm (leave the bucket by the range) when doing a change. Should I leave for longer?

No, you shouldn't need to leave it for that long, water conditioner works pretty quickly. It should say on the label whether it neutralises heavy metal, but I would have thought they all do.

I've heard you can solve the heavy water problem by moving to the moon. HTH.

www.amazon.co.uk/Fluval-Aquaplus-250ml-Conditioner-Aquariums/dp/B00FPIZ930 is the stuff we are using at the moment. Not sure if I can face another £10 water testing kit though . Having Looked it up a bit we replumbed the whole house...and new plumbing can increase copper levels a bit. I think. [Sigh]

It says that it neutralises metals. If the level is high then a double dose might make a difference.

Are you feeding them aside from having the tank algae to eat? Maybe they are starving? Can you take your water into a local aquarium shop to get it tested?