Keeping pets will have you filtering through innumerable pieces of information just to make sure your little ones are happy and healthy. While this could be a fun and interesting ride, it can turn dangerous when you start to realize conflicting tips. And when you’re dealing with pets as fragile as mystery snails, you barely have more than two tries before your snail dies from wrong advice. Sometimes, it’s difficult to decipher which information is correct or not, which is why we will be discussing whether or not brackish water is good for mystery snails and why.
Mystery snails cannot survive in highly brackish water. If they are hardy and healthy, they may endure and survive a salinity level of 0.5 to 0.6 parts per thousand. Mystery snails are freshwater species mostly found in shallow lakes and slow-moving rivers where the salinity is less than 0.5. If they can, they will gravitate away from brackish water instead of enduring the salinity.
To fully understand how mystery snails fare in brackish water, we must comprehend what it means for water to be brackish and what it entails for your mystery snails.
What Exactly Is Brackish Water? Breaking It Down
Brackish water is a body of water that measures an average salinity. It is too saline to be freshwater and yet too low in salinity to be considered saltwater. There are even more levels of salinity observed by water bodies, and they are measured by parts per thousand. To know how saline a body of water is, a salinometer is used to identify how much salt is in a thousand parts of the water. So, 0.5 ppt simply means your aquarium has 0.5 parts of salt in 1000 parts of the water you’re measuring.
Brackish water is found where rivers meet seas, which would give a few miles of dilution ranging from highly to minimally diluted. Either way, your mystery snail wants absolutely nothing to do with it! Unlike mollusks like nerite snails, mud snails, and marsh periwinkles, mystery snails have a difficult time living in salinity and prefer to live in freshwater habitats alone.
Why Do Mystery Snails Prefer Freshwater To Brackish Water?
Sea-dwelling snails have a special mechanism that prevents them from getting dehydrated. Their muscles contain the same amount of salt as the sea, which instantly adapts them to their environment. Mystery snails, on the other hand, contain the same amount of salt in their bodies as freshwater does, which is below 0.5 ppt. So, if you place them in brackish or saltwater, they will lose their internal hydration and suffer further consequences.
It simply boils down to the biological nature of mystery snails. In essence, most mollusks do everything possible to retain hydration which will be difficult or impossible to achieve for a mystery snail in saline environments.
5 Ways Brackish Water Negatively Affects Mystery Snails
Mystery snails do not have the adaptation to survive in saline environments and will struggle with living in them. If you are wondering what will happen if you place your snails in a tank of brackish water, perhaps you want them to cohabit with brackish water pets, here are the potential results:
1. Excessive Mucus Production
When mystery snails are stressed, they produce excessive slime in an attempt to keep themselves safe. It could be due to anything like the presence of parasites, unfavorable temperature, and most especially, high water salinity. Brackish water will cause your snails to produce slime in a way to coats themselves to protect their delicate muscles from the salt.
2. Shell Thinning
Shell thinning is usually associated with a lack of stable calcium but can also be experienced by mystery snails in saline environments. The salt slowly strips its shell of valuable nutrients causing it to thin and wear off. Along the way, you’d start to notice dents and cracks along the curves of the shells which is highly dangerous to your snail. Ultimately, your pet may die from a shell collapse.
3. Longer Periods Of Inactivity
I like to perceive mystery snails as high-standard pets because the moment you give them anything other than their comfort, they will immediately enter aestivation. Mysteries will sleep through any discomfort if they deem it too much of a hassle to handle, including a saline environment.
If the brackish water is considered too salty for them, mystery snails will seal their trapdoors (operculum) preferring not to interact with their environment until they feel safe enough to wake. If anything, it’s more stressful for your pet than it would be for you to have an inactive snail in your tank.
4. Lack Of Reproduction
Following inactivity, mystery snails will cease mating or egg-laying due to the salinity of their brackish environment. They reproduce under the best conditions and even if they mate, they can withhold laying eggs until their environment becomes favorable for them. If you desire to have baby mystery snails, you must remove them from the brackish water else they simply will refuse to multiply.
5. Decreased Lifespan
Mystery snails can live up to 3 years if they’re properly cared for. One of the quickest routes to their death is an improper living environment, which is why creating the correct habitat for them is crucial. In summary, exposing mystery snails to brackish water will shorten their lifespan tremendously.
Acclimating Mystery Snails Into Your Brackish Water Aquarium
If you already have aquarium pets in a brackish tank and are looking to include mystery snails into the habitat, you must acclimate them else they could die from shock. Suddenly changing environment is stressful for snails, and in some cases, the stress becomes overwhelming and fatal.
The best route to follow is the drip acclimation technique. It involves dripping brackish water on the mystery snails in a separate container until they slowly adjust to the change.
First, you must ensure that the salinity isn’t more than 0.6 ppt. Mystery snails are the worst to place in brackish water, but if you must, a mildly saline environment is what they can handle lest they die. Here’s how to acclimate them:
- Place your mystery snails in a container with fresh water preferably the water it’s been living in or has been delivered in.
- Now, tie knots on the airline or place a valve to help monitor the flow of the water through the airline. You need a drop per second for your snail including a little suction to bring the water through the pipe.
- Put one end of the airline into the tank and the other end into the container holding your mystery snails.
- After the container holding the snails is filled, reduce the water volume in half before filling it with brackish water through the airline again. This would take up to 2 hours or sooner to complete. In the end, you can introduce your fully acclimated snails into their new tank.
The Ideal Water Environment For Mystery Snails
Mystery snails live their best lives in freshwater. They have no use for extra salinity and will be better much living without feeling dehydrated. The equivalent of their species living in brackish water is similar to living in a desert with limited access to water and scorching temperatures. It will definitely be challenging and uncomfortable despite being livable!
Ideally, mystery snails need the following water parameters to live long and healthy lives:
| Parameters | Ideal Range |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 70 – 80 (°F) |
| pH | 7.6 – 8.0 |
| Ammonia (NH3/NH4+) | 0 |
| Nitrite (NO2-) | 0 |
| Nitrate (NO3-) | 0 |
| Copper (Cu) | 0 |
| Water hardness | 150 – 300 ppm |
| Salinity | 0 |
Best Common Aquatic Snail Species For Brackish Water
Instead of mystery snails, there are marine mollusks adapted to survive in brackish water. Examples of brackish-tolerant snails are:
- Nerite snails. Although predominantly freshwater mollusks, nerites have a higher chance of surviving salinity than mystery snails. They’re also great at algae cleaning and will help maintain the algae growth in your tank.
- Ramshorn snails. Ramshorns reproduce crazily and are hardier than mystery snails. They can live in brackish water measuring up to 1.00 ppt! However, you must properly acclimate them or else they’ll die from the shock.
- Malaysian Trumpet Snails. These hardy little nuggets are native to Asia and are found in mostly freshwater areas, but can also dwell in brackish ponds or rivers.
