# my buoyant snail??



## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

The other day my snail died, and algae immediately started retrieving, so I got another snail, and this one doesn't sink. It's a mystery snail/Apple snail which is the same thing my other snail was, but my question is, why does it float!?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ummm, it's dead? Unless it's moving and gliding across the top of the underside of the water, then it's dead.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

No, it's not dead, - it moves around SUPER slow- and I have seen it leave it's shell door before, but maybe it has air trapped in its shell?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Oh okay, then that's possible. Is it upside down? You can flip it upside right in that case and it should be okay. But I don't have much experience with snails otherwise!


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Well I have tried getting the air out, but I think the actual snail itself is blocking the air.I have tried flipping it, it it isn't working. Right now it's on the filter intake tube. And I usually have to put the betta leaf super close to the surface so the snail can attach to the glass, and get around.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Weird! well I've got nothing then lol


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Floating definitely doesn't mean dead - in my experience mystery snails can do that sometimes. I have read that they do this because they are not happy with their environment, and are attempting to float in the current to another area. When asked, my snails neither confirmed nor denied this, so I don't know if that's why they do it or not. I'm inclined to believe it though.

They don't need help - they'll come out when they come out. It is the snail that is making itself float - if it didn't want to be floating it would just sink to the bottom.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh, well I literally just put it in almost a day ago, so that doesn't really surprise me  I hope eventually it does end up liking the environment, because my old one really did.

Do you know perhaps what type of environment they DO like?? And really it hasent explored enough, but I think it just didn't like that it was moved from its comfortable tank, into a bag, and then into another tank. Idk


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

alwaysaBettaLover said:


> Oh, well I literally just put it in almost a day ago, so that doesn't really surprise me  I hope eventually it does end up liking the environment, because my old one really did.
> 
> Do you know perhaps what type of environment they DO like?? And really it hasent explored enough, but I think it just didn't like that it was moved from its comfortable tank, into a bag, and then into another tank. Idk


If you had one that did well then I would expect this one to do well too. It stands to reason that it was stressed being moved - hopefully it settles in. 

I don't really know what they do like, though I'm sure the information is out there.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh ok!! Thank you so much I was scared it was messed up or something.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Also wanted to say that you were right, and a few days after I put it in,it's now sinking, and perfectly normal scaling the heater for its algae stash


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Glad to hear it. Do you have cuttle bone in the tank? It's good for providing calcium for the snails shell. It floats, so you;ll have to anchor it somehow.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Err...a cuttle bone???? What's that


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Its the bone from a cuttlefish. You'll find them in the bird section of a petstore.

Cuttlebone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh! I wil try to get one on my next trip to petsmart


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

I have one snail who floats all the time. He's floating right now, in fact. They'll come out.


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## 24carat (Jun 11, 2013)

My mystery snail does that occasionally. He'll sink and then pop right back up. He's very active now.

When I first got him, he acted a lot like yours did. I had quarantined him for two weeks and when he went into the large tank he became a super snail. I didn't realize how fast he could be.

His shell was looking rough (like a thick old nasty toenail) but once I put in the cuttlebone, I noticed after a while his new shell growth was looking very nice.


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## alwaysaBettaLover (Mar 28, 2013)

Sweet! Mine is definitely coming out of his shell. Lol


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