My heart almost stopped...

[Melody]

Turned on my light for the 44 gal and under my log is a HUGE blob of grey fuzzy goo... I panicked and did my head count and found no one to be missing... ????? 8O well after closer inspection I figured out it was one of my trap door snails (found his empty shell) I just did my water change and without draining alot more water and CLIMBING into the tank I cant get him out because of his location. Do you think it would be OK to just leave him??? They are mostly all water anyways, and from the looks of it, everyone thinks hes pretty good. Any insight???

 

[grimlock3000]

Get the snail out, do whatever you need to to make it happen. If it is grey and fuzzy, it is probably rotting already. You do not want to leave a pile of dead snail in your tank for any length of time unless you can avoid it.

If you are unable to get it easily, this is a good time to re-aquasacpe the tank to avoid future problems. There should be no locations in your tank that you simply can not get too easily. What if your favorite fish was trapped in that area? Would you just leave it there???

 

[Melody]

Well no.....I wouldnt leave my fav fish to his own demise... .
Now I feel like a bad fish friend.... Ok... getting my buckets...net, pans... dechlorinator.... ug... stupid snail... I just did this a few days ago. Well I need to look on the bright side, Im gonna have some prestine water!!!

stupid snail... :?

Thanks!!!

 

[grimlock3000]

What if you just drain enough water to reach right in there and grab the dead snail? Or maybe use a net or small tank tool.

 

[Melody]

small tank tool???? Whats that...??

 

[grimlock3000]

Think long plastic tongs that you can use to move stuff around in a tank, without reaching your hand in there.

 

[oscarbreeder]

They sell them at most LFS.
They come in real handy trying to reach the bottom of my 180gal.

 

[webmoose]

yuck dead snail! I agree get him outta there!?? Put on your scuba gear if you have to.. hehe

Moooose

 

[TankGirl]

I agree. That snail could foul your water short time.

 

[glasstapper]

ask her about the creepy crawlies,,, ask her about the creepy crawlies!!!

 

[Melody]

Ok well after draining about 10-15 gal of water and chasing the "blob" around the tank with the vacuum my lovely Pictus Cat came along and chomped about half of it, still chasing the blob and my Gourmie started fighting over it....... STILL chasing "The Blob" and then the tiger barbs hit it.... ARGH!!!!! the last tiny bit hit the gravel and the Pictus Cat swam by and scarfed it up..... 8O welll........... no more snail! But I gots GREAT water!!!! It now looks like my fish are floating on air. Your darned if you do and darned if you dont.

 

[TankGirl]

I'll ask her about creepy crawlies when I'm darned good 'n ready - hopefully it will be a long spell before that's necessary....

The problems come when the thing does not get consumed, and sits there rotting, so I'd skip feeding a day or two and go on 'bout your business. I'm glad the "blob" is history!

 

[Melody]

ahhhhh, I didnt even think aobut skipping a couple of feedings, good idea. I KNOW it was there less then 12 hours, and the "fuzzy" look it had I think was that the other fish had been nibbling, but not much because it was just the ambient light in the room and they were still a little sleepy, maybe the cat fish or the eel. It didnt have that nasty white fuzz on it, it was more tissue like... ick... Im getting the creeps just thinking about it. but I now have a really cool shell that Im not sure what to do with. Thanks all!