Abstract:
This study was done in order to confirm whether the gastropod Faunus ater, which
were taken from the enclosed lagoon of UMT, could purify the water and sediment.
For the purification of water, dissolved oxygen concentration, biological oxygen
demand, total solids and turbidity changes were studied while the change of the total
organic carbon was done for the sediment. Besides all the parameters, the stomach
content of the snails and the water used were observed after the experiment. Three
different tanks that consist of different numbers of snails were used in the experiment.
Tank 1 was act as a control without animals while there were 5 individuals in tank 2
and IO individuals in tank 3. There was a significant changes in the concentration of
dissolved oxygen and total solids in the water and total organic carbon in the sediment
that have been observed in all tanks after the experiments. Meanwhile, there were no
significant changes that could be found for the biological oxygen demand and
turbidity value after the experiment. For the observation of the snail stomach, the
presence of green algae and microorganism could be seen while there was
accumulation of particulate matter in the water that placed in the tanks after the
experiment. So, it was proven that the snail can purify the water by reducing the
amount of total solids in the water column and at the same time purifying the sediment
by reducing the concentration of Total Organic Carbon.
