Mysterious Ramshorn Snail Deaths

[Laser]

I'm not sure if anyone can figure this out but I figure I'd post about it and see if anyone had any ideas.

I had been breeding ramshorn snails for my figure 8 puffer and it was going very well. I was feeding them kale and they were devouring it everyday. I was doing 2 to 3 water changes a week to try to keep up with the waste output of the snails and to replenish the calcium content of the water. They were laying eggs like crazy and they all began to hatch.

I continued to feed them and keep up with the water quality. Suddenly the snails stopped eating the kale. I was confused at first but I continued to clean it up with a water change and offer new kale but the snails never bit. The snails became lethargic and eventually ceased moving altogether.

So now all of the snails are dead and I have no idea why. I may try to breed pond snails instead but I honestly didn't expect to have trouble breeding ramshorn snails. If anyone has any ideas of what I had done wrong I would appreciate it.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

Did you put any chemicals into the tank

 

[Laser]

Nope, only prime.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

Oh well I have no clue then I was thinking maybe you added something with copper in it

 

[Andy Sager]

Let's look at this 2 ways: #1 You used Organically grown kale. The problem here is that you may have gotten a head of Kale that had some organism or "organic pesticide" that infected the snails which was why they all stopped eating the Kale and subsequently died. The other thing is that even snails need a variety of foods. The Kale my have overloaded in their system and caused them to die off. ( My guess is the first part since they all stopped at the same time.)
#2: you didn't use organic kale. You may have gotten a batch that still had a pesticide on it which is why they all stopped eating it at the same time. It may have had a lingering aroma or flavor that the snails just didn;t like. The long term effect of this was they stopped eating and since they weren't feeding, died from starvation actually and not the Kale.

Just some things to think about.

Hope this helps