Terrestrial snail?

[Aubrey]

07/28/2020

I found this little guy hanging out in the emersed moss in my tank a few days ago. It looks like a pest snail, but I've only ever seen it above water on floating plants and wood that is above the water. It was hard to get a clear picture because it's so small and I couldnt get close enough without getting my phone wet, but the foot appears to be rougher in appearance than any of my aquatic snails.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Aubrey
Update

[Daniel]

I am no snail expert, but I think that one is aquatic. It kinda looks like a bladder snail.

[Diego]

It looks like a pond/bladder snail, not a terrestrial snail. It is not uncommon to see those snails above the water surface feeding on alge or dead plants. Many snails have "dry" periods (like nerite snails) when they hang outside water for long periods. Usually there is moisture involved or they keep water trapped inside their shell.

[Aubrey]

I dont have bladder snails in that tank, but I do in others. I didn't want to disturb it very much but curiosity got the better of me, so I plucked it out and put it next to a bladder snail for comparison. It's definitely not the same as the bladder snails I have. I find it interesting how life finds it's way to water. It must have came in on a plant I got a week or so ago.

[Diego]

Very interesting! Does the shell of the misterious snail coil anti-clockwise? Even more rare!

[shkote]

It looks like an Amber snail from the photos. Would explain why it's creeping around your pond. They look a lot like pond and bladder snails, but the eye stalks give them away. 

[Aubrey]

Two months later and the little guy is still hanging around. It stays on the moss and wood above the water line and travels across the floating plants to roam around the rim of the tank. I check for it everyday, multiple times a day. I worry that it will wander off and get lost in my apartment. I guess it eats the dried out moss. I also guess that there are minerals in the dried up moss, like calcium, because the dried moss is crusty. I felt like an update because I didn't really expect it to stay around this long. There is nothing keeping it from leaving. 

[Andy's Fish Den]

I have them in most of my tanks, Ill see them crawling up out of the water quite often, and my biggest tank is a rimless one I will even find dead snails on the floor next to the tank. I've seen them actually crawling out of the tank and they try to go down the outside of the glass but end up losing traction or whatever since it's dry and fall off. 

[shkote]

You could always build a terrarium for the little guy if you're too worried about it, though it seems to like it's new home too much to leave. Amber snails like to stay close to water. 

[Aubrey]

Update: It appears that the snail has reproduced.