NaturallyKait Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 I woke up this morning and saw one of our snails looked odd. It’s a nerite snail, and it looked...wrinkly? This snail typically stays exclusively to the glass (other than when he’s attempting to escape and ends up in the back chambers) and has always looked smooth like the whole body had suction to the tank. About an hour later he fell off the glass onto the sand bed. I righted him because he landed upside down and sat him on a rock for now, but I’m concerned he’s going to die. This would be the second nerite we had die. The first seemed to have issues with falling off of the glass constantly from the day we got it, but this one has been fine until today (had it about a week). Are they not very hardy? There’s lots of algae in the tank (still working through the diatom and algae stage right after cycling) , so it shouldn’t be a lack of food. I did test the water. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5-10 (hard to tell on the API test) nitrate. Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 They tend to be pretty hardy. How long have you had the snails? What was your acclimation routine like when you added them? Has your tank temperature been stable? Also, what is your water change routine like? Any other changes to the tank or around the house lately? Quote Link to comment
NaturallyKait Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 15 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: They tend to be pretty hardy. How long have you had the snails? What was your acclimation routine like when you added them? Has your tank temperature been stable? Also, what is your water change routine like? Any other changes to the tank or around the house lately? The first one we had for 4-5 days, it was temperature acclimated for 30ish mins and then drop acclimated. The second one we got a little over a week ago (was a week Saturday) to replace the first. He was just temp acclimated then put in the tank. Tank temp was completely stable for the first snail, the second one it’s been getting a little bit warm but no major swings, maybe 1-1.5 degrees Celsius change at the most now that it’s warming up here. I’m working on buying new lights so that I can take the lid off to help with that. Water change once a week (or I would do sooner if parameters got out of whack), I change 3-4gal and it’s a 13.5 gal Evo but really only has 9ish gallons in it if I remember correctly from when we first filled it. Salinity is stable at 1.026, benefit of the lid is I get next to 0 evap so salinity is really stable. As for changes nothing major. A clown goby was added the same day as the new snail, and on Saturday we added a trochus snail and a hermit just to continue helping with the algae (which still only put us at 3 snails and one hermit). The first snail had been added with an astrea snail but no changes between it being added and it dying. No changes in the house. Just did a water change on Saturday but it was fine after that until this morning. No cleaners or anything around the tank. Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted June 17, 2019 Share Posted June 17, 2019 You were right to turn it over when you found it, definitely keep an eye on it for movement today. Have you been opening windows in the house lately? pH swings are possible, but I don't want to send you on a wild goose chase. pH naturally changes from day to night, but opening up the windows can sometimes make it greater. There's nothing much to do about that, but it might explain the stress. It sounds like everything else is doing fine though, I'm not sure that I would intervene in any way at this point. Snails can be tough sometimes, pull this nerite out tomorrow morning if you don't see any movement. 1 Quote Link to comment
NaturallyKait Posted June 17, 2019 Author Share Posted June 17, 2019 4 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said: You were right to turn it over when you found it, definitely keep an eye on it for movement today. Have you been opening windows in the house lately? pH swings are possible, but I don't want to send you on a wild goose chase. pH naturally changes from day to night, but opening up the windows can sometimes make it greater. There's nothing much to do about that, but it might explain the stress. It sounds like everything else is doing fine though, I'm not sure that I would intervene in any way at this point. Snails can be tough sometimes, pull this nerite out tomorrow morning if you don't see any movement. Windows have been open maybe that’s it. Can’t really help that though, we don’t have central air (no one does here) so it’s either windows or the tank will get even hotter. My plan was to pull it tomorrow if it was still in the same spot (this snail only ever moves at night, so staying in spot all day would be normal, I’m guessing they’re nocturnal?) so I’m glad I’m on the right track. 1 Quote Link to comment
jservedio Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 I find buying petty much all snails hit or miss, regardless of the species, and in my tank they either live for 5+ years or they are dead in a couple days to weeks. You can only control your own tank, yet if they are collected from temperate water, they got caught up in shipping an extra day, or even just the LFS left them on the floor too long while acclimating their expensive coral first, probably almost every snail from that shipment is going to die or is already dead. If it isn't my fault for killing it (or my wrasse), I generally wait a few weeks for a new shipment and try again or try a different LFS. You can also ask for snails from their display tanks if you are only getting a couple. Snails can live a really long time, so getting an older one isn't an issue. Once they make it a few weeks, they will be with you for years. 1 Quote Link to comment
Cruzzyyyy Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 My nerite snail was doing well until it locked himself in his shell... he started to have a bad smell so naturally i thought he had passed.. so i took him to the store and they poked him and said he was still alive... im getting worried and i dont know what Gucci needs... (my snail is named gucci) Quote Link to comment
Cruzzyyyy Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 My nerite snail was doing well until it locked himself in his shell... he started to have a bad smell so naturally i thought he had passed.. so i took him to the store and they poked him and said he was still alive... im getting worried and i dont know what Gucci needs... (my snail is named gucci) Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted March 26, 2021 Share Posted March 26, 2021 1 hour ago, Cruzzyyyy said: i took him to the store and they poked him and said he was still alive It might still be able to react to stimuli; but if it is retracted and smells bad, it's likely not going to make it. Poor Gucci. Quote Link to comment
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