I have noticed that often salt water shelled mollusks in the aquarium tend to have their periostracum degrade as well as the shell. One particularly striking example was of a Charonia varigata that lost the entire perio and the shell turned a grayish green. When the animal added to the shell, that portion had the periostracum for a while and the shell had the normal coloration, but gradually, the periostracum began to disappear and then the shell began the degrade. The animal was healthy as far as we could tell and the pH of the water was always monitored (I don't remember what it was). I always wondered what the artificial lights did to the algal growth - what bloomed more rapidly in the aquarium. Anyway, I'm not around live animals right now and I don't know where my notes are, but I just thought I would share this observation.

Sarah



>>> [log in to unmask] 06/19/01 02:51PM >>>
A tiny variation on the subject......I have a live hairy Triton in my aquarium
and his periostracum seems to be peeling away from his shell.  Does anyone
happen to know what could be causing this?  (Sorry...can't quite bring myself
to kill him just to have his shell..sigh~)
Mary