Snail is having some problems?

[thunderwaved]

In the past few days, I haven't seen my snail. I looked around and he was hiding behind a decoration.

I put a piece of lettuce on the rocks, picked up the snail and moved him on top of the lettuce.

A hour later, I checked on him, his foot was totally sucked in. Leaving a millimeter gap between his foot and the bottom of his shell.

I pulled him out and touched his foot, it was still sucked in.

Checked him a hour later, his foot was slightly out of his shell. On the lettuce, but his foot was flat, so it wasn't griping it.

About 10 minutes later, I checked on it again. His head was out of his shell (not totally).
Scared, I touched (while in the water) and he pulled back. I also took him out and sniffed him, no sign of a dead snail!

I'm really scared, he was doing fine a few days ago, eating a lot of lettuce.

The ammonia levels are about 1ppm and I'm adding prime every 24 hours to de-toxifiy it.
Don't know if prime is the one to blame.

Tempreture is around 80. When I put my arm inside the tank, it doesn't seem to be 80, but my 5 thermometers (4 outside, 1 inside) say it is. (Don't know who to trust).

 

[bengoshi2000]

Let me begin with a disclaimer: I've never kept snails and don't know a thing about them. That being said, 1ppm ammonia seems high. I base that on the numerous comments on this and other boards that anything over .25 ppm WILL hurt your fish (and I'm guessing snails as well).

Others with more knowledge than I will be able to give a better answer if you tell us more about your tank: Size, when/if it is cycled, types of tankmates, plants...etc.

If you read around in the unhealthy fish board, you'll find the use of chemicals (like Prime) won't get your ammonia levels down. IIRC, Prime only binds ammonia for a brief period of time (24-36 hours maybe)? I'm going to guess that adding Prime directly to an inhabited tank may cause problems. I've only added prime to water that I intend to introduce into a tank after a partial water change (pwc).

The surest way to reduce ammonia is to do a partial water change. A 50% water change will cut your ammonia by about half. You may need to do this for several days to keep the ammonia levels in check.

The next question that needs to be answered is "why are your ammonia levels so high?"

 

[dkpate]

It is a mystery snail? Sometimes they can go dormant for a few days. I always use Prime in my water, and mine is fine. Do you have metals in your water? Snails are sensitive to copper and you can get Kordon Rid Metals to take care of that.