Snail Cloud

[FlyingFishKeeper]

Hi, a little more than a month ago my mystery snail died, they had been showing signs of being unhappy for a while and had been floating, it really stings since it had been showing its unhappiness, and I hadn't killed anything before it. I'm not quite sure what caused their death since there were several possible factors, and it was soon after being brought back form the LFS. My question is what a white fuzz around it might've been, I'm not sure how long it had been dead, although when I pulled it out of the tank the trapdoor and pieces of flesh came off. I'm guessing it might be stress slime, but I haven't been able to find any pictures of what it would look like online? Thanks

Edited February 13, 2021 by FlyingFishKeeper

[Kirsten]

Sorry to hear you lost it. Never fun.

White fuzz sounds like some kind of algae, fungal or bacterial growth and whatever came out of the shell was probably decomposing waste and snail flesh, since the trapdoor also fell off, which in my experience doesn't happen very soon after death. So I don't think these conditions have much to do with the snail or why it died, just the tank ecology trying to clean it up.

But I hope this doesn't keep you from trying again. Test your water, review guides for mystery snails, and see if there are any improvements you can make for the next one.

[FlyingFishKeeper]

Thanks, I think for now I'll let the tank fill in a bit more so that anything like snails or shrimp I do add can take cover from tank mates so there's less stress and it can take up any extra bioload they may add. Plus doing SUPER NERM research before I get anything else lol.