Margarita Snail Flaking/Turning White

[nford1987]

I'm assuming that this is a bad sign. I've had a margarita snail for about a month, and I noticed that in the past few days it appears the coralline growth and patterning of its shell is flaking away to reveal a pearlescent white shell.

I've only used pre-made Saltwater and distilled water (evaporation replacement), I've been doing frequent water changes, and my other margarita still looks the same. It's still eating and moving around, if anything it wasn't very active for a few days, but it's gotten more active since I noticed this change.

 

[cloak]

Do you have any hermit crabs in the tank? Maybe one got a hold of the snail and instead of eating the flesh it just picked the shell clean.
As long as the snail is behaving normally I wouldn't worry too much about it. Definitely keep your eye on it though. GL.

 

[nford1987]

Now that you say it, I did see a hermit riding it earlier looking like it was cleaning the shell...

Also the pictures don't do it justice, the pearlescence is actually really pretty. But obviously I'd rather have a healthy snail than a pretty snail haha. I'm already annoyed enough that the LFS store owner grabbed a cool water species for me...