What to do with Injured Apple Snail?

[WeedCali]

i recently got some apple snails and one of them had a bad shell injurie leaving his inside hanging out and he was dead. i have another one with less damage but still has some insides haging out. hes not dead because he moves his antennae around and retracts them if a fish pokes at him but he just sits in the same spot not doing anything.

heres what he looks like.

any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[BettaFishMommy]

sometimes you can patch the shell but in this instance i would think it may not work, since the snail's organs are coming out of the shell and in order to patch it you would need to push the organs back in, risking abrasions or tears against the edge of the broken shell. due to the bulging, there may already be some rupturing of the organs.

IMO, euthanization might be the most humane route.

on a side note, have you gotten in touch with the seller regarding this? two snails with this problem in the same shipment could mean the seller is not packaging them the proper way for shipping (the rest of the shell looks fairly healthy so i wouldn't think it's calcium deficiency). could possibly also be the courier or postal people were abusive with the package (did the package say 'live animals/live fish/etc on it?).

 

[WeedCali]

i got them from MGamer for the cost of shipping. theres also another that doesnt have any shell damage but has the same behavior.

and how would i go about euthanizing it?

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i've read in another thread that the ice water routine didn't work too well (snail just became unconcious over and over).

clove oil might work?

i've never had to euthanize an apple, thank goodness, but hopefully others with experience will chime in.

as for the snail that is not damaged but is not moving, it may still be getting used to the new environment. how did you introduce it into the tank? drip acclimation or just tossed it in?

ps- bludgeoning would be a sure fire euthanize, but i know i could never bring myself to do it!

 

[Arembjorn]

ps- bludgeoning would be a sure fire euthanize, but i know i could never bring myself to do it!

I'm in agreement. In my opinion better than experimenting with other things, which will be drawn out and iffy. Swift and effective. Just be sure you are thorough, to avoid suffering. Ugly, yes... but ugly doesn't mean cruel.

 

[WeedCali]

Yeah i dont want to smash him. i would just feel bad. and no, i completely spaced acclimating them. the closest thing i did was put a little bit of dechlor'd tap water and a little bit of tank water in a 5g bucket and put the snails in there to see who was alive.

 

[Hellbore]

and how would i go about euthanizing it?

I vote a quick stomp of your boot on the concrete! Doesn't sound too nice, but it's quick and effective and assures the snail doesn't experience a long period of suffering! Just make sure you stomp hard and fast...
:jaw:

 

[WeedCali]

yeah i still would feel too good about that :\

 

[fishycat]

Augh, quick it may be, but I could never do that! You could try patching with a cleaned piece of egg shell... But I'm really not sure with internal stuff sticking out.

 

[VickiesZoo]

I couldn't do the stomp method. I'm having a visual of the splat. Yuck!

Ice water. Lots of ice, little bit of water. Let the water get really cold then drop it in. Immediately put in the freezer and leave it there. Don't check on it in 5 minutes, just leave it until rock solid. Then bury it or wait til garbage day.