can my snail recover?

janetdc1

janetdc1

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Aug 25, 2007
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I think I put my mystery snail in my 30 gallon tank too soon- I thought I had removed the copper and most the salt by means of big water changes over the past few weeks- so I tried the little guy in there- for the first 24 hours he was SOOOO happy! climbing all over the place, looking his beautiful self, then he sort of shut down-for 48 hours- not moving much at all- not eating- so i took him out and put him in a 2 1/2 gallon tank all by himself again-
I got some special floss for my fish tank(mollies and platies) to remove any copper that is in there and the floss turned dark blue in a matter of hours, so I know there must have still been lots of coppersafe in there- I am on my third floss now and it is finally staying white for quite sometime -
anyway, my question is can my snail recover from copper poisening? he seems to crawl up to the water's edge but still doesn't seem interested in food. I am changing his water again tonight. Would he prefer a shallow water area for a while? Is there anything I can do to help him? I feel so bad about this! I really like him!
Any helpful ideas would be appreciated!
thanks!
janet
 
I'm no snail expert but I've heard it said that once copper is used in the aquarium, the hope for inverts is pretty much over for good with the tank. If you are showing up so much copper still, I would lean towards that being a correct thought. However, I have used coppersafe in my 75 gallon on one occasion and my shrimp and snails were never the wiser.
 
Although I have never used it, I just read in Aquarium Fish International about using Zeolite in your filter to remove copper, potassium, ammonium, sodium, strontium, calcium, magnesium, and iron. It says it often bonds to calcium over ammonium which can cause a "crash".....not sure about the repurcussions in your tank, but if your desperate it may be worth looking into to remove the copper. Definately may be worth more research if you are up for it. Its a clay compound and the variety typically used (according to the article) in the aquarium hobby is called clinoptilolite. Not sure if this is helpful or not, but I remembered reading it when I saw your post about copper....
 
Now I am wondering if it is just the snail- I just realized I have some pond snails in there that are thriving-and growing-
It says on the coppersafe bottle it stays in the tank for a month- still, I have done weekly water changes(platys and mollies in a 30 gallon and they poop an awful lot!LOL!)
so I thought maybe by now it would be fairly dilute. The "floss" I used is some kind of special copper remover-I forget what it is called and of course i threw out the package, but it sounds like it may do the same as the zeolite. I am off to the fish store tomorrow to get some more-
my snail, in the meantime, still is living, -I really hope he pulls through- I guess I could put him in with my goldies- though he seems to like this bowl all by himself with some nice plants- I will leave him in there for a while-
I may just set up a snail tank-that would be cool...hmmmm, I'm running out of room!LOL!
anyway, I will look into the zeolite, also-
my fishies have been so healthy for a long time now they shouldn't need any meds and I don't plan on adding any new ones.
wow- sorry this was long....
thanks everyone-
 
well, I don't know how good of a gauge pond snails are to be honest. I have them living in my sick tank with heavily salted water and they are thriving, this tank has also been treated witha gamut of meds and its not effected them at all. Mystery snails are much more sensitive to meds as well as nitrates than pond snails are. He should be ok in the bowl until you figure this out. Good luck!
 
msjinkzd said:
well, I don't know how good of a gauge pond snails are to be honest. I have them living in my sick tank with heavily salted water and they are thriving, this tank has also been treated witha gamut of meds and its not effected them at all. Mystery snails are much more sensitive to meds as well as nitrates than pond snails are. He should be ok in the bowl until you figure this out. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks!
He is already much better today! Still hasn't eaten, but moving all over, and-do mystery snails lay their eggs above the water line or below? Because there appears to be a small clutch just below the waterline- they look clear-with little brown dots in them-are these eggs?
Anyway, "earl" seems much happier= I am going to do some more big water changes in the big tank, and use some more of the floss I was talking about, plus I read on applesnail.net that it is really important to use a good conditioner that works on metals in the water-I guess some are better than others?
I am happy he is doing better, though-(or-"she"-if there are eggs!LOL)Guess I'll have to change the name then, eh?Ha!
J
 
some mystery snails lay above the water, some below...it depends on their species. The majority sold as mystery snails lay their eggs above the water line. If you look at www.applesnail.net there are lots of pictures of eggs of both types. Around here, most people will tell you that Prime water conditioner is the best.

If its a her...Earline?

Glad to hear he/she is improving.
 
[Around here, most people will tell you that Prime water conditioner is the best.

If its a her...Earline?

[/QUOTE]

lol! Earline it is!
thanks, and it's off to get Prime water conditioner.
I have a nice 10 gallon I believe I'm going to set up now with a filter and heater- for my little snail.
I'm liking the idea of an invert only tank.
thanks!
 
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