need help with snail

P

petlady

AC Members
Jan 16, 2005
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Pennsylvania
Well I thought my snail was dead. He was in his shell and just laying in the bottom of the tank this morning and later today (around 4pm) he was still in his shell and just laying there. I had to take all the fish out of my tank cause they all died from ich. Which the spots just showed up 2 days ago. So I thought it had killed the snail too. Since I wasnt sure I just took some of the water and put it in a mini tank and put him in it. Now I can see his antennae and I think he is sticking to the bottom some now. So I guess he is alive.

Why is it acting like this?

Can ich live on or hurt snails?

I cleaned the tank and am going to put new fish in it but dont know what to do with him. I have a dwarf gourami, a molly, and an otocinclus that I want to put in the tank. (and eventually add some more)

So what should I do with the snail?


Heidi
 
i didnt get a chance to treat for ich. My son pointed out the spots on monday. I didnt really look too closely cause my son is three and exaggerates/makes up stuff.....but on tues. i looked closer and seen what he was talking about. So then I posted on here tues. to find out what the spots were. I wasnt able to go get any meds tues., so i had to wait for today. But the fish were dead today. So I never got to treat for it. I just kept some of the water in a little mini tank and put the snail in there and then cleaned and scrubbed the tank and everything in it.

Can the snail still have ich on it or anything? It has been acting weird so I think something is wrong, but not sure what. I also know know if there is enoug algae in my tank to feed it....dont know how much they need or anything.


thanks.

Heidi
 
Ich needs fish to survive. But I would place the snail in its own space for a week or so at least to be sure it doesn't have any on its shell. Place some cut up veggie in with it for food (zucinni is good as is celery and spinach and broccoli). Change its water (50% or so ) each day if it is in a really small container. Keep it warm.
 
don't put any fish in the tank for at least a week and a half - the ich is probably sitting on the bottom of the tank in it's cyst form. When it hatches it has (i believe 48 hours) to find a host. If no host is found it will die. When it hatches it is in it's free swimming form called a tomite this is when it looks for new hosts. If you put new fish in then you will be providing new hosts. I would raise the water temp to 83 or so as this speeds up the life cycle of ich, then wait a week n a half or so. A gravel vaccuming won't hurt either to suck out anything laying on the bottom.
 
If I clean the tank and all the contents wont it get rid of the ich? thanks.

Heidi
 
don't clean "whole" tank

You shouldn't clean everything and try to start from scratch that would kill all the beneficial bacteria as well. Just wait it out like the earlier thread says.
 
Unless you really want to start from scratch, letting it sit for a week and a half is the best way to go, IMO. Regardless the tank will loose its cycle without any bacterial food for that length of time. You could put some rotting food in the tank to keep the bacteria happy.
 
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