Smaller type of surface skimmer

This blog has been stopped updating since 3 years ago, also no more any further upgrade of the tank since then. Day by days some of the plants already decease and algae growing fast on all over the glass wall, luckily the filter system is working good until now, the water in the tank still clear.

Last week suddenly in the mood of wanted to remove the ugly algae and redo a bit, it tooks me almost a day to clean, trim, and replace a new smaller type Taiwan brand surface skimmer. But after a week of using it, I can tell this small space saving product is as good as the huge surface skimmer, highly recommended to hobbiest.

I will try to update more in this blog to keep track of the so called new tank. Added in a new planet name Helanthium Bolivianum, hope fully is suits to keep in such a small tank like this.

Apple snail & shell detoriation

Snail spawns on the a leaf

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Baby snail's size about 2mm

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Teenager snail size about 6mm

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Turning to adult, size is bigger approx. 1cm

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Snails & shrimp was playing together.

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This is serious! Shell detoriation of an adult snail.

The most important thing to remember is that the rigidity of the shell is provided by a strong, calcified inside, with a protective protein layer at the outside. It's the latter that prevents the chemical detoriation of the calcium at the inside. Once the protective outer layer is damaged, the calcium layer is exposed to the water. This shouldn't be a big problem, as long as the water is rich in calcium and is not acid, but once the pH of the water drops and the water becomes acid (pH below 7), the calcium starts to dissolve. As long as this process advances at a slow speed, the snails is often able to enforce the calcium layer, although only at the inside. The outside of the shell is dead material, and cannot be repaired by the snail itself, so once damaged, it will stay that way. The oldest parts of the shell (the shell top) and those places that are often hot when a snail fall on the bottom are also the places that are most vulnerable as the protective outer layer is often damaged at those parts. Problems arise once the shell is detoriated that much that holes are formed, exposing the soft tissues below. In case of large holes, the snail can get problems with keeping the mantle cavity open, with lung collapse and other problems as result. Nevertheless, smaller holes an pose a problem as well, especially in a crowded tank, as other snails and fish won't hesitate to eat the exposed tissues. Luckily, snails do have some kind of repair system: they simply calcify the exposed tissues to protect them.

Fianlly! new generation of apple snail

After the last "Woo~hoo" of the snails, now can see some youngs crawling in the tank. Hopefully it grows in a healthy manner and seeing more and more young generation. It is very cute with a tiny round and transparent shell, and very hard working eating those algae day & night. It's size getting bigger just in a week and can't really imagine how fast it grows. Anyway, what can we do is waiting them to grow.

Apple snails' happy hour!!

Woooo...hoo! What were these 2 lovely snails doing? Hold in that position almost half an hour and climb on each other....I think 2 of it crossover, do hope to see baby snails in my tank soon.....