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I have 2 in my 29gal. Been in there for several months. One for the past several days has been upside down, and hasnt moved its position. When I look, its either completely closed, or partially open. But again, never has moved in almost a week now. Last night, I netted the Snail and tried to open it from its shell with my fingers. The Brown underside which appears when the snail is completely closed, was very hard to force open. Because of this, I put the snail back in the tank. Today, he still hasnt moved. So, is it dead?<br>Why is it closed at times, and partially opened at others? I hate to disgard of the snail, if i am not 100% its gone.... I am currently 98% sure it is....<br>

A good way to tell if a snail is dead is to smell it. If it's alive it will smell like tank water and if it's dead...well, it's hard to mistake. Snails start to decompose very fast and stink. Better to give it a sniff than try to pry the door open, you may accidentally hurt the fellow if he's still alive.

Hope he's OK!

dont remember much of a stinch last night, but I will try again tonight....I just know that it hasnt moved from the one spot in about a week....The other is all over the tank

it hasnt moved from the one spot in about a week....The other is all over the tank

I've had that happen, it can be frustrating. Sometimes the snail would almost seem to be hibernating for a week or two, then he'd start moving around again and be fine. From what I understand this occurs sometimes. Others would slow down, stop moving, and would eventually die.

My experience has been that the snails are often the first ones to have problems if the water parameters change- even slightly. I try to keep a very close eye on everyone else, test my water more often and do some frequent small water changes when I have a snail that seems more sluggish or dies suddenly. Here's hoping that the little guy recovers.

Normally when mystery snails die the first thing they lose is the trap door. If its still there its alive. Try tossing something for it to eat into the tank. Trimmings from a planted tank, shreds of carrot, zucchini, pumpkin, something of this sort. Normally the only time mine clamps up is when it is low on food, basically hibernating til more food is available.

Mine currently resides in my SA tank. Between the large Pleco, BN's and the snail there isnt alot of algae so i have to feed vegetables every other day.

Bdadawg

What else do you have in the tank? I had one that did that because he was being harrassed by a cichlid.



Kim

I have a tank of Female Bettas, with Corys, and 2 Dojo Loaches. He still has not moved at all, but does not carry an odor. I know he is alive, cause he will poke out of the shell every now and then, but will just go right back in. Still in the same spot from the last post. working on 2 weeks or so now. My other snail, same large size, is still all over the place. They get plenty of food, cucumber, zuchinni, etc... Not sure what else to do, but wait..

my apple snail will come out and roam the tank after a good water change. have you noticed this from yours? when was your last water change?

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"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman

Water change for my 29g, every Sat