Cap has come off Sulawesi snail?

[KatieBunky]

Hi everyone,

So I was just doing a daily check of all of the fish in my tank & I noticed the "cap" that protects the snail when it goes inside it's shell has come off. I have 4 other Sulawesi snails in the tank, 2 are babies, & they're absolutely fine. I've added some cucumber into the tank to hopefully get some calcium into her. Is there a reason the cap has come off? Will she grow it back?

As you can see in the pictures, it's all come off but there is no blood.

Typically British!

 

[shellyx]

She should be fine, why it's came off i don't know? That happened to one of my female tylos and she lived till she was nearly 4, so she should cope ok. She's a pretty looking snail!

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[Fishfur]

Just fyi, that cap is the operculum, often referred to as a door. They can sometimes come off due to trauma, getting caught on something perhaps. If the snail is behaving normally, eating and whatnot, it may well be ok. It may possibly even regrow the door with time. Keep an eye on it.

Btw, are they Poso Rabbit snails or one of the other species ? Just curious, from the shell, it looks like a rabbit snail.

 

[KatieBunky]

*breathes a sigh of relief* oh thank goodness. She's currently pregnant as well- which is one of the many things I find awesome about these snails, so I went into major panick mode. I have no reason to see why it has come off, she was near my Feather finned Squeaker at the time I saw it so maybe he thought she was food or something... no idea, just glad to know she'll be okay.

@shellyx thanks for the compliment she's the mother to the two babies in the tank & as I mentioned earlier, expecting another... "WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!" came to mind when I saw she was missing her door.

@Fishfur thanks for that handy piece of info, I just didn't know what to call it so I called it a cap :L XD I was going to call it a door, but I was unsure. When I discovered it I just panicked so I went to the fridge, cut a big chunk of cucumber, put it in the tank & put her on it. She then started eating it & seemed to be okay.
I think they're just plain rabbit snails. I do have another thread about my snails breeding if you want to take a look at that. My lfs just labelled them as "Sulawesi snails" but it seems like they're just rabbit snails. My lfs currently have some stunning orange skinned ones & their shells are perfect, unlike mine XD

Thank you both so much for answering, that's really helped

Typically British!

 

[Fishfur]

Poso is the name of the lake they originate from. It's one of a number of lakes in the Sulawesi region. Recent research says that if the snail is a solid colour, it's from lake Poso. The ones that have various other kinds of markings and non solid colours are from other lakes. I've seen Yellow and Orange rabbits, and some that are sort of a sickly greenish shade too.

I have two Orange Rabbits too, but there aren't any plants I care about in their tank, so the fact they like to dig them up and chew the crowns off swords is not a problem, at least not now. I too like the way they move around and behave, but I sold my yellow pair and their kids because they were destroying the tank they were in. It has several other snail species, including Faunus snails and two species of the MTS, and while the Rabbits were entertaining, I got really tired of them digging up every plant and eating the leaves off my American Swords. One day, I may get them their own tank, where I can just give them plastic plants to play with .

Oh, and it's quite normal for the tip of the shell to be eroded away. It's actually fairly rare to see a shell that's completely undamaged. I think I've only seen one or two, out of many tanks full of these guys, that didn't have at least some tip damage.

 

[KatieBunky]

You're full of handy snail information haha

My snails have never dug up any plants of mine or eaten leaves, but I do have gravel in the tank so I suppose it's harder for them to dig thing up in gravel. I have a large bit of bog wood with plant tied onto it & they love climbing on it & eating the algae off the leaves.

I didn't know it was normal for shells to be damaged. My baby snails have perfect shells which is nice to see

Typically British!

 

[Fishfur]

Yep, the kids always have perfect shells. They just don't stay that way. I honestly don't know if the tips erode or suffer mechanical damage, but almost all of them lose their tips eventually.

The yellow ones I had that dug stuff up did it in Schultz aqua soil, which is pretty much just gravel, a baked clay type meant for pond plants. Not fine textured at all. They had no problem digging right down to the glass [ almost 3 inches deep substrate] and as they humped around down there, they pushed up every rooted plant. The American swords look like grass, with a thin leaf sort of like a Vallisneria, and they chewed almost all the leaves off each crown until I removed the Sword plants. They didn't eat any other plants, just those Swords.

Frustrating, cause I really like the snails. But the plants were suffering and I keep a little floating frog in that tank too, and the frog was having a hard time, with so many big plants floating up, she could barely find room to poke her head up. So they have a nice home now with someone who isn't bothered by their habits. I have wondered if it was a quirk of one of the snails, but there was no way to tell if it was one of them or both of them. sigh...

 

[KatieBunky]

I came downstairs this morning fearing the worst, an empty shell. That's what I found. The snail was in the same place it was last night, she hadn't moved an inch. I thought to myself "one of the bigger fish have eaten her", right?

WRONG!

I started to scoop out her shell & this little face emerges from inside, she was still in there! She'd just gone completely inside her shell to protect herself I was so relieved. She's up & moving now... kinda, I guess she feels a bit poopy at the moment.

Just glad she's okay ^_^

Typically British!

 

[Fishfur]

Here's hoping the lack of a door won't affect her life too much. Snails can regrow some types of shell damage so she may be able to regrow a door.

I would guess it depends on whether the growth cells the door originated from, [ like the matrix of our fingernails], is still there. If it's still there, regrowth may well be possible. Wishing you luck.

 

[KatieBunky]

Thank you, I hope she can regrow it

Typically British!

 

[KatieBunky]

Update:
Unfortunately my snail died today. There have been no more baby snails. A bit of a sad day. But hey that's life is suppose.

Typically British!

 

[Fishfur]

I am really sorry to hear that. Was hoping it would be ok.. perhaps whatever took the operculum off did some internal damage too, or maybe they cannot survive for very long without a functioning operculum. But it is, as you say, life, though we don't have to like it.

 

[KatieBunky]

Thank you for your sympathy, I thought she'd be okay too

Typically British!