Trap door snail dead?

[tinasmith1971]

I just moved my sons gold fish into a larger tank along with his buddy a trap door snail. 3 days after I moved them into the new tank the snail was about 3/4 of his way out of the shell. Never saw him do that before. Tapped on his shell and he went back in. But over the past 2 days he's been about 1/4 of the way out of his shell and hasn't seemed to move from the one spot. Did I kill him by moving him into a larger tank or could he be playing dead? I thought the " playing dead" happened when they were inside there shell.
I haven't taken him out to check or smell him yet (don't want any bad news) but I know I have to. Just wondering if anyones snails have acted this way and lived?

 

[jsoong]

Hi & welcome to AA!!

This is an apple snail, I presume ....

My apples normally are out of the shell with tentacles fully extended, so 3/4 of the way out sounds OK. The current situation is suspect. I would take him out & see if there is any sign of life. Touch the mantle, the trapdoor should close tightly.

How did you move tanks? Did you move the filter, substrate & decorations? You need to do that to move your nitrifying bacteria, otherwise you tank will have to go through a cycle. It is possible that there is high ammonia in the tank. Snails are more sensitive to water conditions than the gold, but the gold might get into trouble next. It is best to test your water & do water changes accordingly.

Read all about the nitrogen cycle here:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/24/1/Nitrogen-Cycle-/Page1.html

 

[tinasmith1971]

Well, I checked the snail this morning (and I'm not sure if he's an Apple or not)He closed up and floated to the top. I checked him an hour later and he was crawling around the gravel. So, so far so good. I did move all the plants and decor into the new tank but since it was a bigger tank I had to use a new filter system. I also transferred some of the old gravel and mixed it in with extra new gravel to fill the bigger tank. I'm about to test the water so I'll keep you posted. I was just concerned because I never saw him "hang out" for so long.