Should I Add Calcium for My Nerite?

Hi, everyone. I just noticed some discoloration on the back end of my nerite's shell, and I'm wondering if I should get some calcium supplement (cuttlebone is, I think, what I see recommended often?). I don't have very hard water (I don't have a hardness test anymore), and plus I keep some light tannins in the water with cholla (which the snail loves) and leaves. I'll be adding alder cones when they come in the mail this afternoon, too. The snail's not behaving oddly. It eats on or inside the cholla for many hours and then sleeps for about 8. I just want to catch a potential calcium deficiency problem before it gets worse.

Tank: 10g (since Sept 2020) cycled. Has filter and heater (76-78 F). I condition with Prime. It's fully planted with plenty of natural food (nerite doesn't like algae wafers much)
I've had the snail since early Dec 2020

I've got one 1 betta and 2 cories that leave it alone

Parameters: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10, pH 7.2

It's been upside down on the log a lot, so it sometimes has poop stuck on its shell until it wakes up and moves. Like in this picture. It just woke up, though, so I tried to get a pic of the front of the shell. But it's under the log so it's dark.

 

Adding a chunk of cuttlefish bone to the tank will do no harm. Do not use the ones that are dyed pink or any colour.

 

Thanks! I just don't want it to disappear into the log for a few days (as it does sometimes) and come out with a giant hole or crevice in its shell.

 

Update: I chucked an entire piece of cuttlebone into the tank the day after my last post, and I'm happy to say that my nerite has almost completely regrown the part of its shell that was wearing away. I didn't see any real difference until this morning, and I'm very happy.

 

Thanks for the update with a good news story, we can all use those stories more often.

I add small chunks of cuttlebone because after a couple of months it turns grey and has a black substance growing inside it ( that’s what it looks like) . Replacing the chunk is my way of dealing with something I have not researched. At 10 cents a chunk I am unlikely to ever bother to research if what I see is just harmless black algae.

 

Yes it's currently rimmed with algae that looks like the roots of my frog bit. I think I'll break it up at my next water change and leave a chunk in now that my nerite is healed. The bladder snails love it, but I really don't need more of them.

 

What I do is I went to my local drugstore and bought calcium citrate tabs for humans but they dissolve very easily in water