Ever hear of a "salt rock"? with BONUS PUFFER QUESTION!

[Matt Shepherd]

A friend of mine just passed on a translucent blue-tinged crystal he
calls a "salt rock," telling me if I put it in my puffer tank it will
slowly release the appropriate amount of salt in the water for them
over time.

It doesn't seem particularly water-soluble, nor does it taste like
salt.

Anyone here know of such a thing?

BONUS PUFFER QUESTION:

I now know, thanks to this NG, that puffers need to eat snails on
occasion to keep their teeth under control. How often should they have
snails to snack on?

SUPER PUFFER BONUS ROUND:

And when I give them trumpet snails, they seem to suck out the
delicious insides without eating the tough outsides. Sort of like my
approach to a stale jelly donut. Is this adequate for the
tooth-cutting needs, or do I need to find more edible snails?

Thanks,


- Matt
www.man-man.org

[RedForeman ©®]

mid posted...

"Matt Shepherd" > wrote in message
m...
> A friend of mine just passed on a translucent blue-tinged crystal he
> calls a "salt rock," telling me if I put it in my puffer tank it will
> slowly release the appropriate amount of salt in the water for them
> over time.
> It doesn't seem particularly water-soluble, nor does it taste like
> salt.
> Anyone here know of such a thing?

I think your friend's been smoking too much 'something', but no, I don't
think that is correct....

> BONUS PUFFER QUESTION:
> I now know, thanks to this NG, that puffers need to eat snails on
> occasion to keep their teeth under control. How often should they have
> snails to snack on?

I would venture to say daily....

> SUPER PUFFER BONUS ROUND:
> And when I give them trumpet snails, they seem to suck out the
> delicious insides without eating the tough outsides. Sort of like my
> approach to a stale jelly donut. Is this adequate for the
> tooth-cutting needs, or do I need to find more edible snails?
> Thanks,

If he's not crushing the snail shell, his teeth aren't benefiting from that,
so I would not let him get away that easy.. don't feed him MTS, go for pond
snails.... plentiful, and the multiply like, well, snails... I can send you
a bunch if ya like... hahaha...

[Robert Flory]

"Matt Shepherd" > wrote in message
m...
> A friend of mine just passed on a translucent blue-tinged crystal he
> calls a "salt rock," telling me if I put it in my puffer tank it will
> slowly release the appropriate amount of salt in the water for them
> over time.
>
> It doesn't seem particularly water-soluble, nor does it taste like
> salt.
>
> Anyone here know of such a thing?
>

Yep there is, there are many deposits of salt under ground. Gulf coast,
Paradox basin in NM, Wyoming overthrust, Montana, Permian basin and the Salt
Range of Pakistan to name just a few of the places I've had personal contact
with rock salt. Pure NaCl tends to be clear, a bit of KCl mixed will give
you pink.

DONOT put it in the tank, it will rapidly disolve and produce a hypersaline
tank killing most everything. It SEEMs less soluble because it is not
ground up, but it will dissolve in a short time .

http://www.saltinstitute.org/14.html

http://www.greatsouth.net/p-M439.html

Bob
gray bearded geologist of some 35 year prof. experience.

[Matt Shepherd]

"RedForeman ©®" > wrote in message >...

>
> If he's not crushing the snail shell, his teeth aren't benefiting from that,
> so I would not let him get away that easy.. don't feed him MTS, go for pond
> snails.... plentiful, and the multiply like, well, snails... I can send you
> a bunch if ya like... hahaha...

You know what? I can't breed snails for the life of me. Seriously. I
have a little aquarium with gravel, I put some fish food and snails in
it, and... nothin'. It's been well over a week now. The snails just
don't seem to breed or multiply or anything.

I'm thinking maybe I should pick up a dozen or so from the LFS and try
again. Any recommendations on how to ENCOURAGE the little suckers to
breed?

- Matt
www.man-man.org

[RedForeman ©®]

let me send you some plants, then you'll undoubtedly have snails...
hahaha...

but seriously, pond snails don't take no time to reproduce, you just gotta
have a few, then several weeks later, you'll find them all over.. use some
algae wafers or shrimp pellets, and you'll find them all over them....

as for MTS, I can't STOP them from multiplying..... my office mate has a 5g
and it's chock full of 'em....

"Matt Shepherd" > wrote in message
om...
> "RedForeman ©®" > wrote in message
>...
>
> >
> > If he's not crushing the snail shell, his teeth aren't benefiting from
that,
> > so I would not let him get away that easy.. don't feed him MTS, go for
pond
> > snails.... plentiful, and the multiply like, well, snails... I can send
you
> > a bunch if ya like... hahaha...
>
> You know what? I can't breed snails for the life of me. Seriously. I
> have a little aquarium with gravel, I put some fish food and snails in
> it, and... nothin'. It's been well over a week now. The snails just
> don't seem to breed or multiply or anything.
>
> I'm thinking maybe I should pick up a dozen or so from the LFS and try
> again. Any recommendations on how to ENCOURAGE the little suckers to
> breed?
>
> - Matt
> www.man-man.org

[Trygve Lillefosse]

On 24 Oct 2003 07:08:01 -0700, (Matt
Shepherd) wrote:
>A friend of mine just passed on a translucent blue-tinged crystal he
>calls a "salt rock," telling me if I put it in my puffer tank it will
>slowly release the appropriate amount of salt in the water for them
>over time.
>It doesn't seem particularly water-soluble, nor does it taste like
>salt.
>Anyone here know of such a thing?

I think he is thinking of "Utah Ice" witch does not contain salt, but
will buffer the carbonate hardness.. Uh, i think.:-)

Not quite sure if I remember this correctly. But try googleling for
Utah Ice.

SEE YA !!!

Malawi, The Fisher King aka Trygve Lillefosse
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