Just an update on Brooklyn and his shell. For a few days I've noticed Brooklyn curled up in his shell behind the filter. I thought he was just napping since I saw occasional movement and a breathing tube every now and then, and before going into the corner he was eating just fine. I didn't think anything of it. During routine maintenance today I decided to play it safe and inspect him. It was a good thing I did because I found what looks like an old growth fracture. The fissure from the first pics in the thread healed over, then burst open again. You can see in this picture that the new growth is attempting to seal the fissure and I'm not positive but it looks like the fissure might be sealing in the old growth as well. Brooklyn was retracted as far into his shell in the tank as he is in this picture.
I've placed him in a breeder trap, lowered the temp to 72, put some calcium-enriched snail jello, and turned off the lights. He is just barely poking out of his shell now and might be nibbling at the jello, too early to tell. Is there anything more I can do besides wait and watch? The tank temp was 74-76 before I lowered it, which I thought was low enough for healthy shell growth. Was I wrong? Is this genetic or a some failing on my part? If you can't tell already, I'm very, very worried.
I've read Donya Quick's Snail Health article and an old growth fracture is one of the cases that calls for patching, but I just wanted to double check and I'm not yet sure if the fissure is sealing on its own. I would really, really,
really prefer not to have to perform surgery on Brooklyn
edit: I've just checked (moving slowly and without turning on the lights) and he is nibbling at the snail jello. This gives me some hope.