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Mystery Snail Stuck?


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We have a Mystery Snail that I keep finding upside-down. I’ve left it for 3-4 days before and it doesn’t move. If I move it and place it upright, I’ll find it upside-down somewhere else in the tank a few hours later. One time it spent a few days climbing some stem plants we have, but then I found it upside again where it stayed for a few days until I moved it.

 

Should I just leave it? Can it flip itself back over?

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In my experience they can easily flip them selves over when they are done taking a nap. 😄 If they stay in one spot for a few days I will pick them up out of the tank and give them a sniff. Might sound odd but if they died for whatever reason your nose will defiantly let you know.

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I've also discovered that mystery snails can be the "canaries in the mine" for something being off in my water quality (particularly nitrite) when they have behavior similar to this. Have you done any testing?

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@Kyrra thanks for the suggestion. I don’t believe there are any typical water quality issues. The tank has been cycled for a few months, ammonia and nitrite are 0, nitrates are usually 20 and never more than 40 ppm and I do weekly 25% water changes. I have Ember Tetras, Otos, and Amano Shrimp in the tank all doing great.

Unfortunately I found the snail dead earlier this week.  

The only thing I can think of: I did do a full dose of Seachem Excel a few days before this. I was doing smaller doses for a while and realized I should be doing more for my tank size according to the label. I’ve since stopped using it after researching how that product actually works. Is it possible I poisoned the snail and it was on its way out from that point forward?

I hope to try another Mystery Snail soon. It added a nice contrast of color to the tank and it was fun to see where it ended up each day. I might try a different store.

Edited by Justin Campbell
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Could be the Excel 🧐. And you're sure it was eating enough? My mystery snails eat almost the same as my goldfish! I feed them repashy super gold with calcium mixed in and some Hikari crab pellets almost every day. They are big eaters and I never found algae to be enough for them. I suppose this is the hardest part of the hobby, not being able to tell exactly what happened and it happens so quickly! I did get some lovely mystery snails from a hobbyist on Facebook and they were way cheaper than the store. I hope you do end up getting another one, they are my favorites!

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