# Is My Mystery Snail Dead?



## SaltAndLight (Jun 15, 2013)

My sweet little ivory mystery snail was happy and fine a few days ago. Doing his thing. Crawling around, hanging onto side of tank, ect. Then about 2 days ago, it was just laying on its back with its body hanging out. I've seen my other snail do this, so I thought, he's probably just doing the strange things that snails do. Then, I noticed he was laying there like that a little to long, so I thought, maybe he cant get off his back. So I turned him over onto his foot. Then, the next day, he was on his side, doing that weird, hanging out the shell thing. I poked him a little bit just to see if he would react and he did. Didn't retreat into his shell, but moved. So I left him alone.
This morning he was semi-closed, his foot partially hanging out. I took him out the tank. Smells fine. But when I pull on his trap door, he doesn't pull his foot back. If I try hard enough, I can probably pull his whole body out if I want - he's simply not reacting. I took him out of the water to see if maybe he would search for water...So far, no movements.
Sounds bad, right?


----------



## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

SaltAndLight said:


> My sweet little ivory mystery snail was happy and fine a few days ago. Doing his thing. Crawling around, hanging onto side of tank, ect. Then about 2 days ago, it was just laying on its back with its body hanging out. I've seen my other snail do this, so I thought, he's probably just doing the strange things that snails do. Then, I noticed he was laying there like that a little to long, so I thought, maybe he cant get off his back. So I turned him over onto his foot. Then, the next day, he was on his side, doing that weird, hanging out the shell thing. I poked him a little bit just to see if he would react and he did. Didn't retreat into his shell, but moved. So I left him alone.
> This morning he was semi-closed, his foot partially hanging out. I took him out the tank. Smells fine. But when I pull on his trap door, he doesn't pull his foot back. If I try hard enough, I can probably pull his whole body out if I want - he's simply not reacting. I took him out of the water to see if maybe he would search for water...So far, no movements.
> Sounds bad, right?


He sounds alive, but not well. I would put him into a small QT tank, or jar with a lid to watch him over the next few days. Give him some blanched veggies (cucumber or lettuce) and see if he gets any better. He'll either die, or he'll get better. Unfortunately, I do not know any way to treat a snail, or even diagnose one. Maybe, someone else on here does though I would imagine it would be very difficult.


----------



## SaltAndLight (Jun 15, 2013)

Thanks so much for responding. Unfortunately, he's certainly dead. I took him out for a few hours to see if he would search for air...but he didn't. And his flesh started turning grey and began to have a stink to it. When I would pull back the foot of his shell, his body looked deflated. I don't have a clue what could've killed him. Maybe my betta had something to do with it, but I've never seen him so much as LOOK at the snail...sigh...Oh well  R.I.P Elle


----------



## Graceful (Apr 30, 2013)

Oh no  So sorry. I was rooting for the little guy.

Maybe he was just old.


----------



## Elliriyanna (Jan 25, 2013)

snails have a very short life span only about a year and this is sped up at higher temps. I doubt it was anything, Unfortunately they are not bred for quality.


----------



## SaltAndLight (Jun 15, 2013)

Yeah, maybe he was....He was already pretty big when I got him. About an inch.


----------

