# The case of the disappearing mystery snail



## fishme (Nov 29, 2015)

About 3 months back, I bought a blue mystery snail. He started cleaning the tank of algae and would take a break for about a day or 2 and slack.

Generally, he stayed in 1 corner, my betta fish stayed in another corner. Once or so he did travel into the betta fish corner (by floating there, was a bit weird to see him float but from I understand they do that) but from what I have seen my betta ignored him.

So I had him for about 2 weeks or so, and he again went to slacking in his own corner. A week passed, no motion, at about a week and a half I took him out to take a look. And I did not see him there, I did read up under some cases they could retreat deep into their shell. So I put in him a smaller container to keep an eye on him easier. Soon after his door fell out of the shell and in a few days black liquid came out of the shell. But no snail.

So the mystery snail was gone somehow. The mystery I am trying to figure out is where did he disappear?

Everyone in my family is blaming my betta fish. But as I said from what I seen my betta ignored him. And since he still had his door, he should have had no problem hiding in his shell in worst case scenario. The tank has gravel, no sand, so I don't see him leaving his shell and burrowing anywhere. And even if he somehow fell out and my betta were to have eaten him it would have probably took the betta a few days to eat him. I would have noticed the betta traveling to that part of the aquarium overall, but I did not. I also kept daily checks on the snail so I would have seen parts of his corpse if he did fall out (gravel is colorful, lime, sky blue and pink, so a snail body would be easy to notice)

I want to get more snails, but first want to prove my betta's innocents. The guy wouldn't hurt a fly ( unless it fell in the water  ). And also make sure they actually live, not comfortable putting them in if it means their death/disappearance.


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## LittleStar (Oct 2, 2015)

*Betta Didn't Do It*

Well here's a pic of one of my 5.5 gallon tanks and I have a Betta (Ruby) plus Platy (Star) who adore each other, plus a mystery snail (Emit). They all get along perfectly and never chase or harm each other. Ruby ignores Emit entirely and certainly never pecks him. Emit is quite active in my tank and is often right where Ruby is. I don't think your Betta ate your snail. It is possible as I've read that too much of a chemical that a snail can't tolerate will dissolve it. But you would see signs of that like swelling and lots slime. Anyway that's my .02!


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## hellobird (Nov 11, 2015)

The "black liquid" you saw was very likely the remains of your snail friend. Lots of things can cause a snail to close up and die, usually it's related to water quality (too much ammonia/nitrites/nitrates). How big is your tank?


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## Strawberry12 (Mar 6, 2015)

Yep, my thought was that black liquid was rotting snail. 

What are your parameters? Water change schedule?


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## sailbond (May 18, 2015)

Unfortunately your snail has died, I agree with the above that the black liquid was probably the remnants of your snail.

Just so you know as well, snails don't leave their shells. They can't fall out or burrow anywhere. They live in and are attached internally to their shell. 

Before you get another snail be sure your tank is ready. How many gallons is it? Temperature? Cycled? You should test your water quality and your tank should be completely cycled and stable before you add a new snail. 

You also need to feed mystery snails. They generally don't eat much algae and require supplementary feeding. Algae wafers, fresh veggies (Kale, spinach, zucchini are all good choices), or some homemade snail jello or biscuits. You need to be sure your water is hard enough and the snail is getting enough calcium. Adding a small piece of cuttle bone to the tank is great for calcium.


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## fishme (Nov 29, 2015)

My first guess was that the snail dissolved, but was not sure. Thanks for clearing up that my betta is not a murderer like my family claims. And yeah even when the snail was right in front of him he would ignore him completely.

As far as water quality goes, I don't have too much stuff to test, but last test I did I had:

Temperature: 78
pH: ~7.6
Alkalinity: ~80

The tank size is 3 gallons.

Unfortunately I do not have anything to test ammonia/nitrites/nitrates at the time. I have an aquoponics system going with the tank, so the Zym Bac bacteria should be converting it for the plants to eat. (Though I think at the time, the air pump got a bit clogged so it was operating at probably 1/4th)

As far as eating goes, I did see the snail eating the algae. He also had access to fish food that falls on the ground and the seeds and plants that fall inside.


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## Whippet44 (Sep 28, 2015)

3 gallons?
Apple, or mystery snails as they are called, are absurdly messy kritters that can grow up to 6 inches in diameter! They produce a heck ton of ammonia, and should have 2.5 gallons minimum to themselves.


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## Whippet44 (Sep 28, 2015)

Oops, derpy me! What I meant to say was that they get to about the size of a golf ball


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## sailbond (May 18, 2015)

You really need to invest in a water testing kit so you know your water quality. Also 3 gallons is fine for a lone betta but I wouldn't add any tank mates in a something that size. 

As noted above, mystery snails get quite large and are EXTREMELY messy, they will overwhelm a small tank.


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## fishme (Nov 29, 2015)

I thought mystery snails(pomacea diffusa) generally remain small, and the ones that get up to 6 inches were their Apple snail(pomacea canaliculata) cousins?

Is there a snail or something else that is small and eats algae? Nerite snails maybe?

Also, shouldn't Zym Bac handle the ammonia and nitrites? But I will definitely get a testing kit.


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## NickAu (Sep 28, 2015)

> Is there a snail or something else that is small and eats algae? Nerite snails maybe?


No, You should not be getting a snail to clean your tank, That is your job as the fish keeper. If you want to keep a snail do so for the right reasons, Because they are cool pets. And make sure you feed them. Having said that, I think every tank should have Malaysian Trumpet Snails.




> By: Ryan Wood​ The Malaysian Trumpet Snail is a great to have in any aquarium. There are some with different patterns, shapes, size, dark or light colored. It is a beautiful snail to see up close in person. In some forums as well as blogs the Malaysion Trumpet Snail is instead used as the acronym MTS.
> ​ There is a lot of bad rep that all snails have received. A lot of hobbyists tend to think that having any type of snail in their aquarium is horrible and all must be removed immediately. There are even chemicals that are solely meant for killing snails in the aquarium. I highly recommend that you never use any chemical meant to kill snails in a tank with shrimp. Snails are not bad for your aquarium. Overfeeding your tank is what causes snail outbreaks. Most snails will actually leave your plants alone and instead eat the algae off of the leaves as well as glass. Do not think that a snail is a pest, they can be extremely useful in any aquarium.
> ​ The Malaysian Trumpet Snail is actually a benefit to any aquarium for several reasons. It will not eat your plants at all. This snail also will not "muscle" your shrimp off of food meant for the shrimp. The Malaysian Trumpet Snail feeds on detritus and leftover food that is underneath the substrate. It actually burrows in the substrate and moves around throughout. You will rarely see this snail during the day. Occasionally it will emerge from the substrate. A cool thing is that sometimes you will see the substrate move and you will know that there is a Malaysian Trumpet Snail underneath doing its cleaning duties.
> ​ The fact that this snail burrows and eats detritus is an excellent perk to having it. Another great perk is that while it is underneath the substrate moving it is at the same time aerating the substrate. Substrate aeration is a great benefit to planted aquariums as it promotes air exchange and root growth. They will not disturbed any plant roots or move wood/rocks around your aquarium.
> ...


If you are having algae issues you need to look at the root cause, Eg too much light, Over feeding ETC, Algae problems in the tank can take many weeks to identify and fix.


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## burn84 (Apr 13, 2010)

fishme said:


> I thought mystery snails(pomacea diffusa) generally remain small, and the ones that get up to 6 inches were their Apple snail(pomacea canaliculata) cousins?
> 
> Is there a snail or something else that is small and eats algae? Nerite snails maybe?
> 
> Also, shouldn't Zym Bac handle the ammonia and nitrites? But I will definitely get a testing kit.


Nerite snails are the way to go. My Zebra nerite snail is an AWESOME algae eater (recommended by one of the users here, but I cant seem to remember his/her nick, their avatar was a picture of a zebra snail) BUT i realized that they poop A LOT, well makes sense really as he has to digest the algae and it has to come out somewhere right? hehehe. So be sure to gravel vacuum properly to get rid of the poop during your weekly water changes. Now my tank is spotless and algae free. Do supplement from time with rocks that have been exposed to sunlight in a glass container (with dechlorinated water of course) or something so that algae can grow on it. One time my glass was fully covered with algae, I just put the glass into my tank and my Zebra nerite cleaned the entire glass up and its poop was all nicely accumulated in the glass. Made my weekly water changes easier hehe. Get a lid too for your tank as Zebra Nerites are tidal snails and can get out of the tank from time to time (I found mine on the floor once, bought a glass lid the next day).

Malaysian Trumpet Snails are great algae eaters too BUT they reproduce like crazy. In my 10gallon, I have tons of MTS and to control their population I added a few Assassin Snails in there with the MTS and that seems to keep the MTS population in control.


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## NickAu (Sep 28, 2015)

MTS get can get out of control when there is lots of food around, Normally I do not see many on the glass when the lights are on in the tank, The ones I do see I remove by hand, Crush them and feed them to my fish or put them in a poted plant free fertiliser, No idea how many are in the tank I once counted 40 on the glass at night.

Now consider this, With that many MTS not 1 single speck of food lasts long enough to get a chance to rot, My tank filtration/good bacteria/ growing plants has no problems handling the extra load, My water parameters are always excellent, I have yet to see ammonia above 0, I also know my water must be fine because my Betta is healthy and happy, My shrimp are breeding faster than the Betta can eat them and my Kuhli Loaches have bred in my tank, I have seen 4 babies and they are so cute.


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