mystery snail

[fish 'n' fries]

Well, I'll be quite sad if the blue all flakes off. I wouldn't have bought it if I knew that. It doesn't look coated to me...(I may have to fish it back out to look now!) I've put in some cuttlebone. It doesn't appear interested...but at least I'm trying! Should put some more calcium in the tank at least.

 

[Mosaic]

Well, if the shell that grows after the addition of calcium is blue, then you'll know its the snail's natural color and not painted. As it turns out, my blues are actually yellow. :\

 

[hc8719]

There is some speculation that some snails you buy in bigger stores have been painted to make them more attractive, especially the blues and ivories. After a while, the paint flakes off. I got one from a lfs that is quite clearly coated with something. It's a very thin filmy-looking layer over the old growth.

thats what my blue is looking like thin clear green.

he's grown quite a bit, i think you may be right, as they grow it flakes off

EDIT: from what i understand, snails cant "regrow" that top layer (if it is natural) it can only be prevented/stopped

 

[Mosaic]

Right. They can regenerate the under layer of the shell, but not the top. It's possible that that under layer is actually green and you see it when the top layer is damaged, but I'm not entirely sure about that. You just have to wait for some healthy new growth to determine whether its natural color is the color you bought it as.
But I think calcium deficiencies usually cause pitting or holes in the shell, not flaking. What I mean is you won't see little flakes of the shell in the tank. The shell just dissolves.

 

[Pleco]

My mystery snails must be frisky little things.. i find eggs at least every other week. Shame i have no place to raise the eggs though.

-Pleco

 

[joannde]

BTW - blue mystery snail shells are actually ivory - its the color of the snail body showing through the shell that gives them the blue look
http://www.thesnailstore.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=7

 

[fish 'n' fries]

Ahh, that is rather what mine looks like. I did pull him out to see if he looked like his shell was painted and I don't think so. Part of why I'd got him was because I though the body color was so lovely. Thanks for helping me feel less guilty about possibly buying a painted animal!

 

[Mosaic]

Thanks for helping me feel less guilty about possibly buying a painted animal!

Lol, I don't think its quite the same as painted fish though.

 

[shayfish]

BTW. snails have a balast in them, they can cause themselves to float from teh substrate to the surface at will, and can rest on anything since htey can make themselves neutral...bah cant think of the word...they basically make themselves weght the same or close to the density of water, so any surface an support them.

You wil lalso see them use this ability to 'skydive' from the top of the glass to the substrate

I just have to metion that I have been seeing this, and it is really cool! I am impressed by their ability to be buoyant. I just watched my big black one sail from the glass at the top of the tank and land on the leaf of a corkscrew val (very small!!), sit for a moment and then slide right back onto the glass!

On an unrelated note, what is the life span of a mystery snail and why do they usually die? I had my first casualty tonight ( ) and I can't really figure out why. It was my little gold one which was turning out to be my favourite...

 

[Jarred Darque]

Well, Apple snails can grow as large as a softball, so if they die before that, the most common deaths of my snails have been powerheads. Yes...powerheads. I have had 3 die to them so far, get their heads stuck in them and it eventually gets sucked off.

I have had one die in the tank, I would check water parameters, that is the only thing I can think of really. Other tan that, any fish that may have nibbled him to death?

 

[Jason the Lost]

The Blues and Ivories I bought from a local Petsmart a while back both had their shells flake off.

 

[Mosaic]

It's the cana (plant eater) snails that get baseball size. I think the bridgesii snails get around golf ball size. I know people who have had theirs for 3 years, so they can live at least that long. Why they would die early is kinda tricky and I'm sure some people know better than I.

Bummer about the powerheads, Jarred! Sounds like you need to put up a barrier of some sort.

 

[joannde]

A snails lifespan depends upon the temperature - higher temperatures speed their metabolism and lifespan. In our typical aquarium temps of 75 - 80 snails generally live 12 - 18 months.

As far as causes of death - the most common cause is starvation. They are also very susecpable to ammonia and nitrates. My most common causes of death were (a) high heat for ich treatment and (b) climbing out of the tank, hitting the tile floor, and smashing their shells beyond hope.

 

[shayfish]

Hmm... I guess this one is a bit of a mystery. My water parameters are good (0-0-20), so that shouldn't be it, and there's no fish in my tank that would have been nibbling him. I had raised the water temp about 1-2 degrees as the start of an ich treatment (although I'm not entirely sure that I have ich, so I'm going to raise a bit and see... just have one fish acting kind of funny). He was even trying to climb up the gravel vac during my PWC yestertday and seemed to be cruising the tank for a while after. Then I came home and he was floating, dead at the top.

I'm a little worried about my water I guess... I hope I don't lose my other 2!

 

[joannde]

are you sure he's dead ? snails DO like to "go for a float" occassionally. if he's dead he'll smell (like a bad pond). if he doesn't smell he's probably not dead.

 

[shayfish]

Well, I picked him out of the water and poked at him until I was convinced he was dead. He was

 

[joannde]

I'm sorry for your loss

 

[Jarred Darque]

If I think asnail is dead, I let it sit for a week I have had them play dead for a few days. They seem to do this when they want to focus more on growing their shell and they have been eating well. Soemtimes they do it floating, most of hte time on the substrate.