Snail shell growth

[nuro]

ok, so i'm new at this. tanks been up for 2 months and i just added some clean up crew two weeks ago. one of my astrea snails snails' shell has what seems to be fragmented growth towards the end of it. I didnt notice that it came that way but it may have. any ideas what/why it could be.

 

[anonome]

Welcome to the boards.

Yes, snails will grow their shells, they obviously are not like hermits that steal bigger shells as they grow. Keep your calcium levels up, so they can continue to grow. Side note....each type of snail will only grow so much though depending on their species.....but I have seen extremly large margarita's for example. But, they need calcium to keep their shell strong.

 

[travis99]

Yup, they grow just like your fingernails. its all about the calcium. My snails are at leat 4 times larger than when i first put them in about a year ago.
Travis

 

[mcbdz]

Welcome to SWF
^^^^What they said^^^^

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by Anonome
http:///forum/post/2550705
they need calcium to keep their shell strong.

Alkalinity is equally important.

 

[steelgluer]

This one was as big as the nickle next to it when i got it one year ago.

 

[nuro]

im concerned about the shape, its kind of like its growing out of proportion.. theres like parts of it that are sticking out jaggedly.. its not uniform at all, ill see if i can get pics up tomorrow morning when the lights are on.. thansk for the info so far btw!

 

[nuro]

sorry it took so long but here are the pics.. sorry theyre kinda blurry, still trying to master the macro shot with the camera.

 

[bang guy]

From what I can see it's damage and not a growth pattern. Snail Shells grow only at the opening of the shell where the snail comes out. If the top of the shell is damaged by a rock or something it will never be fixed.

 

[nuro]

those are really sh!tty pictures, its actually outward growth, not like it got scraped or something, imagine them as those twig nubs you see on tree branches.