Snail health

[Valkyrie]

Crazy question.
I just learned that for my freshwater snails I can drop in a piece of cuttlebone into their water and they will snack on it and it's supposed to help prevent their shells from degrading. As I just lost a pink ramshorn and his shell fell apart in my hand, I've dropped in a chunk that I cleaned. He was only about 6 months old, so that made me very sad.

So the question, can I do that in my saltwater tank for those snails or would it be detrimental to other inhabitants (fish, corals, emerald crab, etc.)?

TIA

 

[Reeferdood]

Not necessary whatsoever, the snails that most reefers keep have very thick shells unlike the Ramshorn.
Sorry about your loss...

 

[mcarroll]

Saltwater also has much higher hardness levels than your freshwater tank. (More than likely.) (The reason for the thicker shells in saltwater snails, as far as I know.)

I think you can find freshwater snails from harder water that will also have tough shells.

Only the abstract is available for this, but even that offers an explanation of what probably happened in your tank. Low calcium and almost surely low pH.
Effects of low pH and low calcium concentration on the pulmonate snail Planorbella trivolvis: a laboratory study

 

[Valkyrie]

Thanks for the input.
I'm glad to know that my SW snails won't meet a similar fate.