The Snail.....is it dead?

Watcher74

Watcher74

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Feb 5, 2004
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I bought a type of snail about a month ago. Not sure what kind, maybe a type of Apple Snail, but the Apple Snails I saw there were much larger, at least 3-4 times larger than the one I bought. Has a muted dark and light red striped shell if that means anything at all. For the first two weeks he was all over the place, occasionally sucked up in his shell but for no longer than a day.

For the past two weeks he hasn't moved. He has sat in the same spot for almost two weeks now without moving. I can see his shell hole cover and it is pulled tightly in the opening, not slack at all. All the fish are fine, no problems that I have noticed.

I keep the temp at 79, PH stays around 7.2-7.5, no ammonia, no nitrites. 30% water change weekly. 20 gallon tall, 10 neons, 1 angelfish, 1 Boesesami(sp?) rainbowfish. Only additives was a melafix treatment for a week but several days after he quit moving. I can see no injury to his shell.

So is he hibernating? Or is he dead?
 
As long as he's closed up tight, he's still alive. The operculum comes loose when the die, very quickly. Try doing some water changes, and see if he perks up.
 
i had a prob with a mystery snail of mine...it just sat upside down with its foot
out of the shell and wouldnt move or stik to side..or really anything unless i touched it but then it got all fungusy and died

also b 4 it got like this it was at the surface like it was trying to escape or somethin ..thats why i hvae a tight lid


so what happened? did he not get enough air
he ate every thing he could get to b 4 fish got it so he wasnt starving

tank conditions werent optimal i admit (still cloudy from some dumb ,or dead, tetras going up my filter and dieng so......
 
A sure way to tell if the snail is dead. Take it out of the water and smell the section he would come out of. If it is dead the smell will be horrible. If not, there will be no foul smell. Check again in 3-4 days if there was no smell and it doesn't move.
 
they do smell terrible...

A snail tips:

after about 5 days of a mystery snail been dead (and probably other spiecies) the little round, flat shell that covers up the opening on their main shell when they are inside, will fall off. Also, snails always smell a little bit so dont get rid of it unless it really smells. One more thing, dont flush it down the toilet because it can get jammed since it has a hard shell.
 
Have you fed it at all? I didn't know you had to feed snails when I first got mine. He was really active the first couple weeks, then nothing. I threw in a leaf of lettuce and before you knew it, he had his antennaes sticking out...somehow he could just "sense" the food. Once I started feeding him regularly, he's only idle during the day (they are mostly nocturnal). Definitely don't throw him out until he's REALLY gross smelling...they have a way of "playing dead"!
 
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