Mites + broken shell won't heal

[catriona]

I have two snails, which i've had for about a year. One of them seems fine and is growing really quickly but the other one hasn't grown for months and he's half the size of the other one. His shell is broken (there's a big chunk out of it at the bottom) and it's not growing back. He doesn't seem to be eating cuttlefish bone.
A few weeks ago i started to get mites in the tank. I don't know where they came from and there were only a few at first but the tank ended up overrun with them. I cleaned it out today and relaced the peat but i don't know if the mites will come back. When i lifted my smaller snail out there were mites all over his shell (i washed them off) but there weren't any on the bigger one.
What should i do?

[coyote]

Hi Catriona, sorry you're having these problems with your snails. Have you tried grating the cuttle and sprinkling it on his food? Have you tried liquid calcium? I recall reading posts made by people who've had good success with liquid calcium.

Here's some information from the main website about mites:
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/mites.html#start
You may need to get some Hypoaspis to battle the mites:
www.petsnails.co.uk/documents/hypoaspis_miles.html

Here's more info on slow growth from the website:
www.petsnails.co.uk/problems/slow_growth.html#start

You can also click on the links for broken shell info.

Best of luck with your snails, and please let us know how he's doing.

[catriona]

He's not really eating his food either. I moved him into a tank on his own in case the bigger one had been bullying him but it hasn't made any difference yet.
I haven't seen any mites since i cleaned out the tank so hopefully they won't come back.
Where can i get liquid calcium?

[Dusk]

Liquid calcium is sold for reptiles, so try petshops, or I know the snail shop (www.snailshop.co.uk) sells it both from their webpage and on eBay

[coyote]

I found it in the marine aquarium section of my local pet supply store. The sales clerks had no idea what I was talking about. I had to hunt for it and go show them myself.

[catriona]

He ate cuttlefish bone last night (i put it beside him in the shelter) so i think he might be getting better

[coyote]

That's a good sign! I hope he continues to improve.

[catriona]

he's been eating cuttlefish bone + beansprouts (which my snails seem to love). he hasn't eaten anything else i put out though + he's still not very active but i think he's getting better.

[Rachel]

i'm glad he seems better

[coyote]

That's good he's eating the cuttle. Keep offering him a little bit of all kinds of things. I hope he keeps on improving.