What's Wrong With My Snail? :(

[Lozzamogz]

Hi all,

I have a cold, freshwater tank containing a goldfish, two female Platies, 5 ghost shrimp and 3 Red Spotted Snails.

Recently, I keep finding one of my snails lying on its back in the gravel. The snail himself is within the shell. I pick him up and turn him the correct way round (worried the shrimp will harass it otherwise) and after a few hours, it will have moved around the tank as per normal. Next thing I know, it's on its back again. This scenario has happened several times over the last few days.

Does anyone have an idea as to what could be happening? The water condition is fine and all other tank residents seem healthy.

I know it's 'just a snail' but I love my tank residents and want to do anything I can to help this little guy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Laura


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[emerald76]

Filtration, feeding schedule, pic of the tank, size, heating/temperature, and actual numbers for parameters, and a photo of the snail


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[Lozzamogz]

It's gone 1am where I am and I'm messaging from my bed. I will send all the info in the morning and take photos. He is currently in an 'alive phase' after I turned him over 1/2 an hour ago.

If anyone has any ideas in the meantime, I would be grateful to hear them.



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[emerald76]

Some snails fall or get knocked off things, land upside down, and are incapable of righting themselves


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[ricepattyfish5]

My snails are always worrying me because they are always acting like they are dying. But the fact of the matter is, they just fall or if they suck themselves back in a certain way then they can topple over. as long as their door isn't hanging open for anyone to bother him, he should be fine. If you don't see him move for a few days and you are getting worried, take him out of the tank and sniff him. If there is a smell, he passed. You'll know the smell -- trust me. But otherwise, don't worry about it. I'm sure he is just fine and that's just how he is!

 

[Mattyfelts]

platies and ghost shrimp have different temperature requirments than goldfish and shouldnt be houses with each other.

Pictures of the snails could help

 

[Fishfur]

Ghost shrimp are capable of tolerating quite cold temperatures, they are not tropical species. They'd be fine with goldfish, assuming the fish don't eat them.

Nerite snails, which are what you have, sometimes have a problem turning themselves over, though I've yet to have one that didn't manage it eventually. They are tidal species from brackish waters and sometimes spend quite long periods of time out of water, even climb onto the tank rim. Sometimes they may fall back in, and if so, may not turn over for some time. There are several species, the spotted, Zebra stripe, Thorny or Horned, among others.

Are you finding eggs from the snails ? They don't have genders and usually lay small beige eggs on any surface at all. They do not hatch in fresh water, only in salt conditions.

There isn't really any way to know if the snail actually has a problem, and there would be little to nothing to be done even if we did have a way to find out. We don't know enough about them. If you see him on his back, turning him over is not a bad idea. I hope he'll be ok, but he might possibly have something wrong that will catch up with him at some point.

I've got nerites that have lived for a few years and some that lived only a few months, and no idea why the difference exists.