Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I was wandering if the pond snails in this experiment should be fed and what they should be fed.

Hi,

Most freshwater snails eat algae or water plants as far as I know. You did not say in what you were growing the snails. Are they in an aquarium? Are there water plants? If you live near a pond, lake or stream you could get some duck weed, water lettuce, or hydrilla and put it in the aquarium and that should keep your snails happy. You could also look for a rock or piece of branch that has some algae growing on it and put that in.

What are you planning to use for 'acid rain'? Do you have pH paper to measure the pH of your aquarium? You can get test kits at pet stores that sell aquarium supplies.

Post again if you have more questions.

Good luck!

Sybee

Thanks for replying
My project includes duckweed in with the snails but the acid rain is supposed to cause the duckweed leaves to stop growth not the snails. As for the rock with algae couldnt that put an unwanted variable in my experiment. I have everything i need for the acid rain though. Btw i am doing the project acid rain and aquatic life on this site.

Ok. Now that I know what project you are doing I understand better what you were asking.

I did not see any mention of food for the snails unless they are expected to eat the duck weed. But, if they do that then you would not be able to measure the effect of acid on the leaves by counting them. Since the experiment only runs for five days, feeding the snails is probably not necessary.

You are correct that adding the algae would be adding another variable to the simple system, but in the Make-it-Your-Own section of the project guide it was suggested to try adding Daphnia, algae or even minnows. It would be ok if you wanted to try adding some algae for the snails, but it is not necessary. The low pH will affect the snails and the duckweed regardless of whether or not there is algae in the water. I was just trying to make the conditions a little more like a pond for snails.

If you have an aquarium you could put the surviving snails in there, otherwise I hope you have a pond nearby to let them go after you are done with them.

Sybee

Is it Ok to use Pond snails for this experiment, because it is hard for me to see them die and also I am not sure if it is considered humane treatment! Do you think daphnias are better, but not sure if it is easy to check if they are alive? Alternatively, Can we use shells along with plants to check the ocean acidification? I plan to use ocean water for the experiment, instead of preparing it with Ocean salt. Do you think it is a good idea to do so?

While ocean acidification is one idea that I am considering, can I use the same concept to study the effect of sunscreen on aquatics? Can I just add different amounts of sunscreen in ocean water and check the effect on the aquatic plants? In the event the plants do die, can I infer the effect could be the same on aquatic animals? Do you advice using two types of plants in the jar or just one type in all the jars? Do you think I can use shells too?
Can I check if the PH of the water varies in the above experiment?