# Mystery Snail Problems



## Chupy (Mar 9, 2014)

I've had a mystery snail for several months now. I got it the beginning of summer and it's now October. I had one before that for 10 months. I haven't been home a lot between being a full time commuting college student and working part time, but I have noticed that when I am home, my betta won't leave my mystery snail alone. I never had this problem before. He took interest in my snail when I first put the new one in the tank, but the first snail I had was there before I got my betta and he never bothered it. Just recently have I seen him swimming around the un-moving snail. I haven't seen my snail move an inch for the past week. After two days of sitting in the little cave I have in the tank, I picked up the cave using a net and smelled, but the snail didn't smell bad so it wasn't dead. I put it back but it still hasn't moved. When I got home tonight, I thought it wasn't in its shell. I feared my betta had attacked it and it had somehow become detached from the shell. But it was curled up tight with the trap door almost a half inch inside the opening of the shell. I fed my betta scooped up the snail with the net and smelled it to see if it was dead, but no smell. If it dies, I don't want it to be in the tank long. Does he have long? Is there a reason a mystery snail would act like this? I know floating can be normal, but I haven't seen him go up for air or anything. No floating, no crawling to eat or breathe or anything.


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Sometimes snails can just go dormant, is there any way for you to try to get the snail away from the betta to see whether or not is the beta causing it or if the snail was just dormant?


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## Chupy (Mar 9, 2014)

I just isolated my snail. The betta knocked my snail right side up but the snail was still tight inside the shell. He kept pestering the snail after that so right now my snail is in a giant glass 2-quart measuring cup my mom had with a folder covering most of the top. I had a one gallon bowl from years ago but I couldn't find it so that was the next best thing.


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## Charc14 (Aug 27, 2014)

I do have a question for you, what color is your snail? And what color was your old one?


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## Chupy (Mar 9, 2014)

They're pretty much the same color. My first one was a little darker, but both ivory.


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## Charc14 (Aug 27, 2014)

I was thinking maybe he is being territorial because the snail is a bright color like himself. But not positive


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## Freedom (May 17, 2009)

Put in a tasty treat for the mystery snail. Blanch a 1/2 inch thick slice of sweet potato. That should bring him out, and it is healthy for him.


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## 2boys2fish (Jun 13, 2014)

Is your ammonia ok? My snails ball up and lay dormant when they ammonia is too high. As a matter of fact, I use to watch them to tell when to check my ammonia before my tanks were fully cycled, because they head straight to the top when the ammonia goes up, then ball up and fall down and lie dormant if it keeps going up.

the snail could be balled up because of the betta, or it could be balled up because of an ammonia problem. They are very very sensitive to ammonia, so if you are keeping him somewhere small with no filter, then be sure to change the water every day. 

but if it's the betta, then it will come out soon after it feels safe. I had a betta treat snails bad like that, it took a bit for the snail to come around. I kept it in a bowl for a while, and it was so sensitive that it'd ball up as soon as it detected me *walking into the room*, no matter how quietly. but snails can learn, because now they barely flinch, even if I have to put my hand in the tank for something.

but i agree, enticing it out with something blanched is good. mine favor squash or better yet, zucchini. but don't expect much of the water hasn't been changed fairly regulary. Mine would go to the top of the bowl every night like clockwork when it's time for a water change because that's about the time his ammonia levels would be getting too high.

soometimes, bettas that are ok with snails are suddenly not ok with them. both of mine went buck wild all of a sudden at one point, flaring up at everything for no reason. My crowntail started beating up on his nerite snails so bad that I had to seperate them. (My other betta never went too wild on his snails. they are all still together.) someone here told me that it could have something to do with a large weather front of rain that was going through at the time, that might be triggering them to behave territorial and aggressive. so maybe that might have something to do with it.


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## Chupy (Mar 9, 2014)

I tried coaxing him/her (I haven't checked to see what sex it is) out with some blanched sweet potato but it just ended up turning the water cloudy overnight and I had to change out the water in the temporary home. The small bowl of water was really cold when I went to change it, probably due to the sudden weather change. It was over 70 degrees yesterday and today it dropped down to around a high of 50 with lots of wind and rain. Right now it's in the 40s. I didn't want my snail to freeze so I placed it back in the heated tank, but in a little cave decoration. My betta doesn't go in there at all so hopefully he won't bother my snail. I'll be monitoring everything from here on out. I had just did a half change of the water so there shouldn't be a problem with ammonia. Thank you everyone for your advice.


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## Chupy (Mar 9, 2014)

*Update*

My snail is dead.

Just a warning, this is kinda graphic :

I just checked up on my snail and looked in the cave to see the trapdoor not attached to the shell, just laying next to what looked like an empty shell. I scooped up the cave and carefully dumped its contents into the two quart container I had set up when I had the snail isolated. When the snail fell in, particles that didn't even resemble a snail fell from the now empty shell. Could it have died long ago and the trap door just sealed everything in there to decompose? I didn't notice my betta bothering my snail until it was already shut tight in the shell. Could my betta have known the snail was dead and that's why he was bothering it? I couldn't smell anything when I moved it and I checked for a smell every time I moved it.

I took my betta out and I did a full cleaning of my tank. He seems not as aggressive when I approach the tank. He's always been a little territorial when I approach but never as bad as he had been these past few days.


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