Killin' snails

[Vol4Ever]

My cycled 10 gallon is doing great with fish. Amm and ites stay at 0 and ates stay manageable between my weekly 20%-ish water changes. Temp rock steady at 78.

Why am I sacrificing snails? I've gone through 4 now from 2 different stores. They are really active when I get them in the tank and then dead within 24-48 hours. I thought snails were super hardy, but my tank doesn't like them. From what I can see, none of the community fish have anything to do with them. They just die???

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Are you getting mystery/apple snails? I ask because they are known for not moving for days, even weeks, at a time. So if its not moving DON'T TOSS THEM they still could be alive. If you think they are dead smell them. If they smell really bad. They are dead. If not leave them in the tank and see how they go.

 

[Vol4Ever]

The first was a turquoise mystery snail, and it most definitely died. It was a visual confirmation, and I'll just leave it at that.

#2 mystery snail didn't have anything wrong visually, so maybe I flushed him prematurely. #3 is a mystery & #4 is a nerite, and they are both in the tank now. Their shells look solid and all closed up, but they haven't moved AT ALL in several days. I'll take your advice, and just let them sit a while longer. May try to fish them out with the net & give the smell test, too.

I hope you are right, though. Thanks!

~Vol

 

[Talvari]

Have you tried giving them a bit of a boost with algae waffers, fresh veggies, or even just calcium blocks?

I had a similar issue with my five gallon tank until I started adding a bit of vacation feeder block every now and then (they are high in calcium and other vitamins/minerals) and doing blanched veggies. Now my gold mystery snail went from a little more than half an inch to almost two inches across.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I have a bit of cuttlebone under the substrate for my snails. Same principle as the vacation blocks. Needed if your waters soft. It helps their shells. I have noticed feeding mine more often gets them to move a lot more too.

When buying them try and get smaller, younger snails. They will cope better with the change of water conditions. I also read that if you make sure you get one that is filling or almost over flowing out of it's shell when closed that it's healthier than one that is sunken in its shell.

I'm pretty sure I've accidentally thrown out live snails too. it happens to a lot of us. I had one floating, open and not moving for over a week. Finally decided it was dead while doing a PWC, threw it in the bucket and dumped all the water (and snail) into the laundry tub. Went to wash the sink out with hot water and it moved!! I felt so bad, thought I'd cooked it to death. I ran and dropped it into one of my other tanks and it started crawling away. Didn't act right for a week and I seriously considered putting it to sleep. It recovered though and is still happily living 2 months later.

 

[GodFan]

Are you drip acclimating? Also make sure your ph and calcium is high enough or they will dissolve.