Mystery Snail Not Right

[Steve A]

One of my Mystery Snails does not look right.

In the last week sometimes it is laying on its side and I will upright it,  It has been hiding in its shell for several days and sometime it will have just  a bit of a feeler sticking out and it has not been moving very much.  It has not moved at all in the last 24 hours.

Last week I did suck it up when vacuuming the tank but I have a foam plug in it so I don't suck up any fry  so it was just held against the foam.  Could that have injured it?

[Colu]

What are your water parameters do add mineral blocks to help with shell growth as lack of minerals can cause snails to be sluggish and not very active  or it could be old age how long have you had the snail

[Jawjagrrl]

On 10/9/2021 at 8:47 PM, Steve A said:

One of my Mystery Snails does not look right.

In the last week sometimes it is laying on its side and I will upright it,  It has been hiding in its shell for several days and sometime it will have just  a bit of a feeler sticking out and it has not been moving very much.  It has not moved at all in the last 24 hours.

I had a nerite snail behave the same way despite water parameters being ok and the other snails ok in the same tank. It was an adult when I purchased it, so no idea how old it was. After 3 days in the same spot I moved it into a plant bowl and started checking for a bad smell, and on day 4 it was definitely gone. I think it was just geriatric though. Notnsure about mystery snails. But nerites are about a year from what I've been able to research.

[Steve A]

On 10/9/2021 at 8:20 PM, Colu said:

What are your water parameters do add mineral blocks to help with shell growth as lack of minerals can cause snails to be sluggish and not very active  or it could be old age how long have you had the snail

I have 2 of them, they are about 1.25" dia.

Here are my water numbers
PH 7.2
Ammonia  1.5
Nitrite   0
Nitrate  5

I have not added any minerals, guess I will go get some as the other one seems to be doing fine for now/

[Colu]

What's your KH

[Steve A]

On 10/9/2021 at 8:27 PM, Jawjagrrl said:

I had a nerite snail behave the same way despite water parameters being ok and the other snails ok in the same tank. It was an adult when I purchased it, so no idea how old it was. After 3 days in the same spot I moved it into a plant bowl and started checking for a bad smell, and on day 4 it was definitely gone. I think it was just geriatric though. Notnsure about mystery snails. But nerites are about a year from what I've been able to research.

Is there any physical things to look for inside the shell?

On 10/9/2021 at 8:29 PM, Colu said:

What's your KH

KH is 71.6

GH is 125.3

[Colu]

You can get thining of the shell or slightly different colour to the new growth I think your KH is on the low side for mystery snails I would add some wonder shell or mineral blocks and you can feed them shrimp king snail stixx they have added calcium

[Steve A]

On 10/9/2021 at 8:36 PM, Colu said:

You can get thining of the shell or slightly different colour to the new growth I think your KH is on the low side for mystery snails I would add some wonder shell or mineral blocks and you can feed them shrimp king snail stixx they have added calcium

Thanks, the newest section of its shell is a pale color not the bright yellow of the rest of it.

 

[laritheloud]

You have 1.5 ppm ammonia?

In any case, your snail might not come back from this. Whenever I had one odd snail behaving like this, they would always pass shortly after. Have you noticed any whitish discharge from the snail's foot?

[Steve A]

On 10/9/2021 at 9:10 PM, laritheloud said:

You have 1.5 ppm ammonia?

In any case, your snail might not come back from this. Whenever I had one odd snail behaving like this, they would always pass shortly after. Have you noticed any whitish discharge from the snail's foot?

No the foot looks like it is still up inside and sort of shriveled up.

I forgot I do have 1 lb of crushed Coral in one of the filter chambers.

 

[Guppysnail]

The new shell growth will be lighter. Each time a mystery snail is moved to a new tank the new shell will form a line and not look identical to the original. The shell is formed from the nutrients in the water and affected by ph/kh/gh and not 2 tanks are identical so it will look different. The new growth happens rapidly if purchased from a pet store where the do not get enough to eat. 
snails will tuck into their shell for extended periods of time when conditions are unpleasant it is a defense tactic. They stick antenna out occasionally to determine if conditions have improved. The 1.5 ammonia will make uncomfortable/harm mystery snails. They are not like bladder snails that are indestructible. Once your snail starts laying on its side for extended periods you need to step in. 
remove the snail and place in a dish bowl etc that has been thoroughly rinsed (not plastic it absorbs and then leeches chemicals. Use clean conditioned water. Wondershell in the dish will help if they ate suffering from mineral deficits. I hope this helps and your friend recovers. 
As @Colu mentioned mineral deficiency could also be contributing 

Edited October 10, 2021 by Guppysnail

[Jawjagrrl]

On 10/9/2021 at 10:20 PM, Steve A said:

No the foot looks like it is still up inside and sort of shriveled up. 

That's how my nerite was. Online searches suggested that a dead snail might fall out of it's shell, but mine never did. 
 

Hopefully you've be able to get your ammonia levels back down - any levels are especially hard on invertebrates and likely why it isn't doing well. I generally don't like doing big water changes since I've altered my chemistry a bit from my well water as you have with your coral, but with ammonia at that level I would - and test often to see how you're progressing on that. Be prepared for a possible nitrite spike (which is also stressful for them) as the ammonia gets converted. 

[Steve A]

On 10/12/2021 at 10:04 AM, Jawjagrrl said:

That's how my nerite was. Online searches suggested that a dead snail might fall out of it's shell, but mine never did. 
 

Hopefully you've be able to get your ammonia levels back down - any levels are especially hard on invertebrates and likely why it isn't doing well. I generally don't like doing big water changes since I've altered my chemistry a bit from my well water as you have with your coral, but with ammonia at that level I would - and test often to see how you're progressing on that. Be prepared for a possible nitrite spike (which is also stressful for them) as the ammonia gets converted. 

Thanks, I did go back and look at my amonia and the decimal was in the wrong place, it was  .15 and now it is back to 0.

I have noticed the snail has not moved in 3 days so I guess it is no longer with me.

[Jawjagrrl]

On 10/12/2021 at 12:15 PM, Steve A said:

Thanks, I did go back and look at my amonia and the decimal was in the wrong place, it was  .15 and now it is back to 0.

I have noticed the snail has not moved in 3 days so I guess it is no longer with me.

Great news on the ammonia, sorry about the snail. Keep in mind if it is attached to any surface by suction and not just resting on a flat surface, it's alive. One of my nerites sat in one spot for 4 days last week. Never moved, but was stuck to the wall. Now it's all over the place again. 

If yours isn't attached to anything, carefully remove it and give it a sniff. Dead snails break down fast and smell pretty awful. If it has passed, it's important to remove asap as it will raise your ammonia levels again. Hoping it has just gone derp like my nerites often do.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/12/2021 at 12:15 PM, Steve A said:

Thanks, I did go back and look at my amonia and the decimal was in the wrong place, it was  .15 and now it is back to 0.

I have noticed the snail has not moved in 3 days so I guess it is no longer with me.

This will sound odd but smell it. Put it on a wet paper towel for 30 minutes and sniff. You will KNOW. Even a recently passed one is pungent after 30 minutes on a wet paper towel.  They do hibernate when conditions are not ideal so being tucked for a week they may still be just fine.  When they passed they go loose most of the time and the foot will let go and hang out. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Guppysnail