# Sick Mystery Snail?



## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

EDIT: Oops, typo in the title... embarrassing. I don't know how to edit that or if I can at all.

In my tank, I have two blue mystery snails, Cecil and Carlos.
Somewhere around two weeks ago, Cecil started floating at the surface, sucked into his shell. I know that this can be normal, so I left him alone until it had been a day and he still hadn't come down. I did something I heard might help where you flip them upside down under the water to release air that they couldn't get out, but that didn't help either. In about another day, he sunk back to the bottom, but now he's barely moved since then, and not at all the past few days. I pulled him out of the water once to check if he was even alive, and he tensed further back into his shell, so I put him back into the water. But again, he still hasn't moved at all. I know that it's normal for snails to go dormant for a few days at a time, but a couple weeks seems like long enough that I should be concerned, right? I also think that I see some excess slime poking out of his shell, which I think is a sign of sickness?
My betta and the other snail seem to be doing just fine, and I've been doing larger water changes than normal to try to keep everything extra clean. The Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were all zero the last couple times I've tested, and the ph at about 7.
There's also been a little bit of an algae outburst in my tank, and I'm not sure if that's because he's not eating it anymore, or something else. My other snail, Carlos, doesn't seem to be eating as much algae as normal either, but is still very active.
I don't know much about snail health, so is there anything I should check for, or treatments I should start?


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

Took him out again and got pics. He still hasn't moved.


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## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

how big is he? could be just old. he's not that deep in his shell. Usually they get VERY deep and their operculum starts looking puny and smaller in comparison. the water might be too hot. you could have put salts in the tank...those things won't show up on a water test. I will take some room temp water in a jar (fresh and clean) and pop him in there and if he starts moving around after a while you know your tank needs a water change. Not everything shows up on a test. Also you need to be feeding them besides just algae...and maybe you are, but you didn't mention it.


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

I think he's adult size, maybe a bit under 2 inches. I've owned them for about 5 months, but I'm not sure how old they were when I purchased them (I got them from pet smart as they were restocking, I don't know if there's a certain age they stock them at). and they've always been surprisingly active for snails as far as I know (I used to almost never see them resting in their shell for more than an hour or so)

I'm pretty sure the water isn't too hot, it's been 73-75 because the house has been cold. Back in fall, the tank would stay at 79-82.

They also eat my betta's leftover flakes and dried shrimp, and the occasional algae wafer. Is that enough? I'm sorry if I wasn't aware of something else they needed. 

Also, after taking those pictures, he did come out of his shell and is eating algae off the gravel. He seems to be ok, but it seems weird that he would stay motionless for over 2 weeks and then be fine after being picked up for a minute?

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## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

I put in zucchini peels and carrot chips and pepper (not hot). Cucumber works too. They like it rotting or old more than fresh and crisp. Try feeding them real food.

And they are pretty old. Petsmart gets them after a month at least and they only live about a year in a warm tank but they are active. Quarter size is when they mate -you never had eggs? You must have 2 boys.




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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

As far as I know it's not unusual for snail to retreat every once in a while. As long as he doesn't stink to high heaven you are a-okay.

Fixed your typo. ;-) It's perfectly fine to as a Moderator to fix any typo or whatever in a post/thread.


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

He seems to be moving around fine since I took him out for pictures yesterday, still much more sluggishly than my other snail, though.



fernielou said:


> I put in zucchini peels and carrot chips and pepper (not hot). Cucumber works too. They like it rotting or old more than fresh and crisp. Try feeding them real food.
> 
> And they are pretty old. Petsmart gets them after a month at least and they only live about a year in a warm tank but they are active. Quarter size is when they mate -you never had eggs? You must have 2 boys.
> 
> ...


Oh, I'll look into getting them some veggies as well, then. Do you just buy them fresh and set them out to get old?
I'm pretty sure I do have two boys. I've never had eggs, and I googled how to sex them, and I'm not positive, but I think I see sheaths on both of them. I'm glad though, I wasn't interested in having more snails, and would have felt bad disposing of the eggs. 



RussellTheShihTzu said:


> As far as I know it's not unusual for snail to retreat every once in a while. As long as he doesn't stink to high heaven you are a-okay.
> 
> Fixed your typo. ;-) It's perfectly fine to as a Moderator to fix any typo or whatever in a post/thread.


Ah, thank you for fixing that! And I didn't notice any smell when I handled him for pictures, so he must be ok. Thank you!


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## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

the other way to tell if they are dead is if they don't close up and the operculum just flops around. I have heard when they get all puffy it's ammonia poisoning but I think it's something else. Nobody really cares enough to do much research on snail health.


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