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My apple snail used to be very active but several days ago he shelled up and hasn't moved. Its been about 2 weeks since then but he isn't dead. He doesn't smell like I've heard they will smell like when dead, and if disturbed he will shut his door forcefully. What's going on?

Hi,
For anyone to even guess, you have to include information about the water chemisties, what else is in the tank, how long the tank has been setup with fish, etc..

Read the top three posts in the Hospital Forum first (not the one on plagerism) and then repost your question about the snail.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Had the water tested in the 10 gallon aquarium today. The tank is fully cycled. No ammonia, no nitrite. Nitrate was around 30 ppm so I performed a 25% water change when I got back. Ph is 7.2, temp holds stable between 80 and 81 degrees F, and sand substrate.

I bought some ghost shrimp while I was at the pet store. They should give a better indicator of copper being present in the water (canary in the mine shaft, I know Frank....) but I don't think there is any because the other 3 snails are doing just fine.

Hope this helps with figuring out what the one snail is doing. He hasn't moved since I created this post, but there's no change. As far as I can tell he's still alive.

Hi Zach,
Try this site first and then go onto the others.

http://www.applesnail.net/content/care.php

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Thank you very much Frank. That article was very helpful. After reading it, and doing a little further research of my own, I feel pretty comfortable with concluding that the exact species of this particular snail is Pomacea Diffusa.

The article told me that I haven't been feeding him correctly. He's probably slipped into a dormant state in order to conserve energy and stay alive. As soon as I can I'll get to the pet store and buy some floating pellets that he can float up to get that will also be too large for the other fish to eat.

Just in case, I'll also start keeping a cucumber slice in the tank again from now on. I stopped keeping cucumber slices because there has been a large amount of algae growth that the oto and snails have been eating, meaning there wasn't much need for the cucumber.

I do have one other question about a different snail. This one is a blue shelled apple snail, I believe it to be the same species as the affore- mentioned snail, but half of his shell is turning black and it looks like the blue is receding much like male pattern baldness. Could this be due to lack of calcium in the water preventing him from building new shell? That's the only thing I can really think of.

Thanks again,
Zach

This picture should describe what I'm talking about. Hope it helps.

http://imgur.com/776nMh7

The black half is his front end.

According to the site Frank referenced earlier, that's caused by the snail stopping growing for some time and it is no longer able to produce the shell of the same quality as it was before. Apparently some species are more likely to have this happen as they get older.

><>

Thank you.

So basically all it means is that the snail is old?

I got that snail that's been doing nothing to eat finally. I saw him half out of his shell so I took the opportunity to drop a shrimp pellet right on top of him. He is eating it as I type this. Hope he recovers.

The snail will resume growing, but stress (possibly just from the change in environment when you got him) caused his shell to change as you've observed.

><>

Is he still healthy?

Hi,
One of the main things snails need in a tank is plenty of calcium for shell "health" and building. Crushed coral, or crushed limestone or crushed dolomite, with accomplish this. Don't keep them in water that is below a 7 pH and preferably a pH of 7.2+.

Frank

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--