Mystery Snail Tried to Kill My Oto :(

justintoxicated

justintoxicated

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Dec 19, 2005
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So I got home late tonight and clicked the lights on my tank on for their second feeding.

Looking around the tank to my terror I saw my new oto 1/2 sticking out of a snails shell which had closed on him trapping him 1/2 inside.

I watched for a minute to see if the snail would release him, and the Oto's tail twitching in pain. I could not bear it but when I picked the snail up it closed down on the oto even more and the oto's tail began to twitch even faster, it was going to die if I didn't do something. As I watched the Oto's intestines were being squeeze out of his anus (no joke)

I pulled out a flat head screwdriver and tried to pry up on the trap door of the snail but I could not budge it.

I ended up ripping the lip of his shell off and busting off a small piece of the trapdoor. The Oto was released and nearly jumped the tank when he got free, it looks like his intestines went back inside his body (they were just popping out a bit). I don't know whether the snail or Oto will live now.


The snails shell is messed up pretty bad, I kind of had to brake the entire newest part back and not there is a slight gap between the trapdoor and his shell (you can see him hiding inside). Should I crush him or might his shell regenerate? (I probably removed 1/4th of an inch of his shell or more)

The Oto's fins are shredded a bit but he is swimming around the tank as usual. it looks like his intestines went back inside when I released him.

What should I do? Did I do the right thing? I feel so cruel :(
 
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TheMightyQueenPixie said:
Snails are not predatory... The otto most likely tried to "explore" the inside of the snails shell and he closed up to defend himself.... If the snail lives id find them separate homes...Damaged shell will grow back, but it you did any damage to the mantel of the snail it is a gonner...
Click to expand...

What is the mantel?

I have alot of mystery snails in this tank and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened. usualy the oto's just clean the outside of their shells. I don't think that Oto will be poking around snails anymore, assuming that it lives.

I thought I might be killing the snail for no reason when the Oto's tail stopped moving I thought it might have died...
 
Both the oto and snail are still alive, The snails shell is busted up pretty good though and has a crack in it (Had to break it apart with my fingers :(


I fell very mean for doing this but I did not know what to do and I have never heard of this happening before.

The oto is still alive but it's anus is swollen and I can see some blood where his organs were being squeezed out of him last night. He is not eating like the other but still schooling with them. I have my doubts about his survival :(
 
As nutty and crazy this might sound (and yes, I know, Mystery Snails
are not predatory), I've seen similar stuff like this about 2 months ago.

I bought a Golden Mystery Snail and 6 Tetras and the guy at the store
just threw them altogether in one bag. By the time I got home, the snail
had wrapped itself around 1 of the Tetras and had halfway eaten it... and
the Tetra was still alive. So I wrote this off as a weird case of them being
really close in a bag. Next day, Gary (the snail) had eaten another Tetra
in the same manner. A bit later that same day (and I'm not making this up)
I saw Gary climb one of the plants, move up a branch and drop onto
a bigger fish underneath it. Luckily, the fish moved at the last second.
Gary turned around and went straight up that same plant, onto that same
branch and waited there... because that spot is a popular 'mingle' spot for
my bigger fish. I might be completely off the deep end (no pun intended),
but at that point I was convinced that I had bought the Charles Manson
of the Mystery Snails.

Next day I took Gary back for store credit...

:shark:
 
What seems sad here is that if a fish gets caught by a snail, then in my opinion, the fish was not healthy to begin with. As for the origional case, i agree that it was the snail deffending himself, although gone terribly wrong. The best thing for the OTO in question, would be to seperate him to another tank if that is an option. He will have a better chance of survival if he is less likley to become stressed by other tank mates. I also agree that this is very bizzare. I love my Mystery snails, and couldnt imagine the things that crossed your mind when you found the oto in the snails shell. I hope your fish and snail come out of this and Good luck with your future fish keeping.

Janell
 
actualy I think seperating him might be more stressful, nothing in my tank really bothers my Oto's other than this snail.

He is eating and swimming aorund but still has smething sticking out near his stomache, I feel he may pull through but will understand if he dies.

I have less hopes for the snail. I agree defending itself but screaming at the snail open up or I will crush you. jsut didn't work, it only mad him squeeze harder (so in some sense it may be my fault if they both die since it may have released the oto before horibly crusing it even worse)

They are both still alive as of now, But since I destroyed the entire edge of the snail (where it grows) I'm not sure it will be able to heal from the damage, I have sceen no signs of improvement.

I still don't know what the mantel is but I took a pic I will try to post it.

The Oto that got caught was among the healthiest in the tank, I think he was cleaning the snail when I flipped the snail out by turning on the lights.
 
The Oto Passed away this week, I found him lsast night stuck the the prefilter sponge on my fluval 204.

RIP

I tried to make his last days as comfortable as possible. Although he continued to act normal his stomach bloated I think he had an infection from having his intestons squeezed out of him temporarily.

The Snail is still alive and has developed a thin new shell, it will be left with an ugly scar caused by me from the incident. I put him into the vivarium where the water is cooler to slow down his metabolish.
 
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