Sick Snails?

[spinjector]

Ok this is gonna sound silly, but I think I have a sick snail.

I have one of those yellow "mystery snails", and it has been sitting on the bottom of the tank clamped into its shell the past few days. It opens up a bit now and then, and other times clamps its door shut and just sits. It's not very large (about the size of a small walnut), or very old, but has grown about one-half inch of new shell since I got it six months ago.

I thought maybe the water needed changing, so I went through my tests and found nothing amiss, except as always my NO3 was somewhat high (lots of fish). So I changed the water, and about an hour later it came out of its shell for a bit. It started to suck onto the glass like it was going to go algae-munching, but acted like it tasted something funny on the glass, changed its mind, and went back into its shell.

I am wondering if this is related to my Flourish fertilizer. I read another thread recently where someone used PMDD and the copper in the TE killed all his amano shrimp. Could the copper in my Flourish be making the snail sick? I have a good crop of Malaysian Cone Snails in there and they all seem fine.

Thanks!

[Blinky]

Doesn't sound silly at all, I had an apple snail and she was quite a pet, it's easy to get attached to them. You can check out www.applesnail.net for loads of info.
TMK it's normal for these snails to retreat into their shells for periods of time, sometimes floating. If your other snails are fine, I'd guess it's not a water quality issue. These snails have a huge appetite, is s/he adequately fed (are you spot feeding, or is algae the only food source)? Are there fish or shrimp picking at the snail? Mine used to hide if she was getting harassed by the fish.
If s/he doesn't move for a while, take the snail out of the tank and smell it. If it smells clean, s/he's probably alive and fine. If the snail has died, you'll know - it smells terrible.
Sorry I can't offer more, hope your snail's okay :)