Proper care of snails

Question
I enjoy haveing snails in my setup, they seem to do good for a while, then die? I recently added mystery and ram horn snails to my outside water lilly tubs they thrived and even layed eggs, so now that fall is here I have brought all of them in  includeing lots of young snails,and added to my 40gal Aqur. I really would like for them to thrive and do good. The ones I have had in the past, I noticed their shells turning white before they died, sorta like a shell will do when it breaks down and decays. I only have Platties and a few cory cats in my set up, I have plenty of natural alage and  live plants, do you have any sugestions, and do I need to check my water PH or any of that type stuff to maintain healthy snails.

Answer
Hi Susan
I'm not too familiar with snails.  But my first thought is lack of calcium.  Check your ph, if it goes below 7.0, the water turns acidic and this will break down their shells.  If the ph is low, the hardness and buffering capacity is probably low is well, meaning not a lot of minerals like calcium, magnesium, etc.  You can add calcium into the water by adding some crushed coral(can buy at the pet store, usually by marine aquarium supplies)to a mesh filter media bag or a pair of nylons/pantyhose with the leg cut off.  Knot it, and put it in the filter.  But, this may also alter the ph a little bit as well, the fish should be able to handle it, but you'll want to monitor your ph then to make sure it doesn't start fluctuating or changing dramatically.  That will stress the fish.  Not sure if this would work, don't really know why it wouldn't, but you could also try foods high in calcium like spinach.  They sell special "veggie clips" at the pet store, it has a suction cup on one end and clip on the other.  It sticks on the inside of the tank/glass, just clip the food on that.  The fish will probably enjoy it as well.

Or, if your ph is over 7.0, then my guess would be a water quality issue.  Your ammonia and nitrites should be reading 0 ppm, and nitrates under 20 ppm.  Snails are sensitive to water quality, and they can be messy, so frequent water changes are a definite must with them.  So, I'd first check all those levels, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph and see what they're reading then take it from there.  Probably still wouldn't hurt to vary up their diet with the spinach and such.  

Also, I found this site, seems to have a lot of info on apple snails on there.  I skimmed through and didn't see anything particular about their shells turning white though, but like I said, lots of info on them.  

http://www.applesnail.net/

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/snail.htm

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have more questions.

Christy