# What IS this?!



## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

So, one of my two snails has been acting weird and not moving much for several weeks, but didn't show any other symptoms. But now I looked in to check on him just now, and he's expelled some sort of noodley stuff, and a lot of it!! What the heck is it and what do I do?? Is my betta and other snail safe from whatever this is??


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

On second glance, it seems to segmented but strung together like poop. Is that what it is? How could he have pooped so much and what does the strange texture mean? Or is it something else?

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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Wow, that's odd. Parasites, maybe?


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## Hopefish (Feb 9, 2016)

Eeeeeeek! No wonder I'm not into snails!
I know absolutely nothing about snails, but I'd certainly isolate the little critter and vacuum out all that!


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

I removed both snails because the other one was next to the sick one and also not moving when I came to scoop him out. I vacuumed out as much as the stuff as I could get, and it broke apart a lot and looks disgusting! Doesn't seem to worms, at least not in the traditional noodle-like sense.









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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

I did a water test after sucking all the stuff out, and before putting new water in. 
GH 40
KH 30
pH 6.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
(my ammonia test kit is a separate kit and I didn't use it because I have less tests and everything else seemed normal)

This is about where the parameters usually are, maybe a little lower pH than usual, (I think it was 7 last time I tested, but that was quite a while ago, so it wasn't a rapid drop)


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

If all that in the picture is from the snail, and the snail is doing better than before, maybe it was constipated? What kind of food do you have them on? I would definitely keep the poor guy isolated from the others for now just in case it is ill, but I know I've had poop come out in varying colors and shapes, from bright green to almost black and between entirely segmented and not. I've even had a strand of my hair appear in it once or twice!


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## PuppyMintMocha (Sep 18, 2016)

Must just be poop, then. It was just a shock to see so much from one snail, and in combination with him not moving around much for a couple weeks, I'm still concerned. They mostly eat algae and leftover betta food with an occasional piece of algae wafer, but I've recently been told I should also feed them vegetables, so I'll probably be buying some veggies for them next time I'm at the store.

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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

Oh I know. Sometimes it's just never ending and it's like HOW DO YOU CONTAIN SO MUCH CRAP? and you're busy wrangling out a tube so you can siphon it out like oh my god.

And when I had Honey, she liked some blanched cucumber. That was the only fresh veggie I'd give though. Just nuke a slice of it in a cup of water for like. A minute or something.


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