Assassin Snails Dying

I have a heavily planted 55 gallon tank with a large bladder snail population. I started adding assassin snails around 2 months ago to rid myself of, or at least control, the bladder snails. I'm doing a water change today and I find 2 empty assassin snail shells. There's plenty of empty bladder snail shells which I never found until I added assassins so I know they're eating. There's also lot's of leftovers for them to eat from all my tetras, corys and hatchetfish.
ph is 6.5, nitrate fluctuates depending on how many days since a water change but it's within an acceptable range. I dose seachem excel daily to control algae. Could that be a problem for assassin snails? Also, I was wondering if I should test for calcium since they're small. I know they need calcium for their shells to grow. The bladder snails grow to a pretty large size. Could a calcium deficiency be their problem? They're all pretty active moving around the aquarium all the time. I don't want to add anymore without making at least a small change in tank conditions.

 

Hmmm. I read that there are mixed opinions on the safety of Seachem Excel and invertebrates. I'm not sure, I'd do some reading about this in your place.

 

Hmmm. I read that there are mixed opinions on the safety of Seachem Excel and invertebrates. I'm not sure, I'd do some reading about this in your place.

I've heard the same but Seachem claims it is safe for invertebrates right on the bottle. They could be wrong. I just don't get why the bladder snails would multiply like crazy if that's the case. It figures, the snails you want die while the ones you don't want thrive. The Excel really keeps algae in check so I don't plan on stopping it. Any time I do, algae starts to show up. I know there's a balance issue but I just haven't figured it out.
One other thing. I use 100% RO/DI water. I use Seachem Equilibrium to restore minerals. It does have calcium. I'm just wondering if people who keep snails see a need to test for calcium. I never kept snails but I actually like the assassins. The bladder snails aren't bad at all. They help keep the plants clean. I just don't want them all over the tank which does happen.

 

My water is hard to keep snails in because it is so soft. I use both Seachem Equilibrium and Alkaline buffer 2 times a week to keep my GH/KH high enough and the pH stable. I would check your GH/KH.

 

My water is hard to keep snails in because it is so soft. I use both Seachem Equilibrium and Alkaline buffer 2 times a week to keep my GH/KH high enough and the pH stable. I would check your GH/KH.

I have to admit that's something I don't check often. I just hate the API test and I don't know of a better one on the market. On the rare occasion when I do test, mine shows on the soft side. I didn't know snails don't do well in soft water.

 

After 10x overdosing my tank with Excel and continuing to OD for days afterwards I noticed that my pest snails had some shell damage and some have a ring now where the old growth was when I dosed. My tank is still full of red algae btw so not worth it. I don't think any of them died though

 

I used Excel to kill a bad case of BBA. That's a tough one. A lot of people use it to fight algae. I'm not sure what red algae is but I wouldn't consider using anymore Excel than what's recommended. I'm sure my plants will start to melt if I used more.

 

I used Excel to kill a bad case of BBA. That's a tough one. A lot of people use it to fight algae. I'm not sure what red algae is but I wouldn't consider using anymore Excel than what's recommended. I'm sure my plants will start to melt if I used more.

Most of my plants did melt I have Black Beard Algae and Staghorn Algae.. they are both part of the red algae family. for some reason my tank is stubborn in a lot different ways. I never even heard of someone 10x overdosing with Excel... when I was poking around it seemed like 5x was as far as people went. I did 5x the next day, 3x for two days after, then several days at 2.5x. Didn't work!