help with starved snail

[sarah5775]

I went away and my parent's were taking care of my fish. In one of my five gallon tanks I have a snail with a betta. I think its an apple snail btu I'm not sure. Anyway, they fed the betta and all the other fish but didnt' feed the snail. I just found this out after talkign to them because he was huddled in one corner of the tank not moving. I picked him up and he's still alive but barely seemed to have the strength to close his 'door.' I'm really upset about this - the poor guy.

I just dropped in algae pellets and put one right under him. I heard you can feed them vegetables. I have cucumbers, carrots, and green beans. As well as frozen veggies. Are any of these ok? Please let me know as soon as possible, I really want to save this poor guy. It's been over a week since he's had food except what the betta didn't eat.

 

[Pleco]

Can you take a picture of the snail? apple snails will eat a veggie at first sight. my 7 mystery snails eat up anything that is edible in my tank

-Pleco

 

[sarah5775]

I just looked at snail pictures. It is, in fact, a giant ramshorn. Will they eat veggies too?

 

[onah]

yeah, u just need to see what he likes and dislikes, try something new everyother feed see which one gets devouered the most overnight maybe....

 

[fish_4_all]

Try a dollar size piece of Romaine lettuce, mine used to eat a whole leaf in a couple hours, a dozen quarter sized ones. He should come out and go right for it if he is still alive. Clean, fresh treated water will help and keep a steady temperature to try and help him recover. My Colombian Ramshorns never ate algae wafers.

 

[Mosaic]

Columbian ramshorns love vegetable matter. Just a little too much, to be honest. Don't put plants in that tank.

To be honest, I keep a columbian in with my betta too, and I don't really feed it much besides what the betta doesn't eat, and he's doing great. But I do overfeed just a bit. As long as it got a hold of a few pellets while you were gone it should pull through.
Snails can be inactive for a while as part of their normal behavior. And many of them won't pull their bodies in far enough to close their door unless really threatened. Try giving him a little tap and see if he can pull himself in farther. If he's inactive for a lot longer, or his body's hanging out of his shell, then you have a problem.

 

[cJw]

This thread comes at a great time for me, as my first ever snail is acting funny also. 'Terry', as my 2.5 yo daughter decided to name it , seems to have been inactive more than active in the two weeks we've had it in the tank.

At one point, I actually saw the gold barbs harassing the poor snail - it almost looked like they were trying to eat it! Anyone ever heard of this?

Anyway, nowadays, 'Terry' doesn't move much; since Saturday, it's been in the same spot! I did notice it's 'door' is more closed this morning than it was yesterday... should I be worried?

(duly noted about the veg feeding - i haven't done so since Terry moved in. :| )

 

[joannde]

When snails close up shop it usually means that they are suffering from either ammonia or nitrite poisoning, or nitrates are high or they are otherwise "not feeling well". Remove the snail and put it in a very shallow dish of cool (NOT cold) water. This will take down any swelling they may have. Leave them in the water for 20 minutes. Put it back in the tank after that. If its still not moving after an hour or so do the cool water treatment a second tme.
Good luck with the snails - I love the critters.

 

[Mosaic]

Check your water. Not just ammonia and nitrite, but ph too. My snails were much more sluggish when the ph was below 7.2-7.4 and the water was soft. I added a little calcium and they've been happy since.