Cant Keep Snails Alive!

[ncstater1919]

hey everyone, i need help, i have tried to keep snails and they wont stay alive. i have bought 4 from various places jsut so it wouldnt be like buying from a bad palce. When i do try to get a new snail, what tips can you give me...my most recent one which i bought a few days ago,was doing fine and then my albino cory came up and looked like he was nibbling on him....then he went into a spaz attack and i chekced to make sure he was dead and he was.....what can i do!! everything is fine with my tank ammonia,nitrites all 0 nitrates 20 and ph 7.2 help needed please!

 

[consp]

What kind of snails ar they?

The only kind I know of are Ramshorn and apple snails. Apples being the most common for indoor aquariums.

 

[ncstater1919]

yea i have a ramshorn or had a ramshorn, but he died......any advice?

 

[consp]

Those guys are usually pretty hardy. Can withstand a masie range of temps and wide range of different water qualities. What are you feeding them on? Is there any algae in your tank?

As long as they've got a large enough food source they should be fine... Other than that I have no idea. Sorry

 

[prankster705]

Just give em some lettuce, cucumber... ; and they will breed like crazy.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Have you used salt or any other fish meds in the tank recently? Salt is lethal to snails, and also many fish meds out there contain non snail friendly chemicals. Buying some vitamin/mineral supliments for your snails/fish, particualy ones that contain iodine, will be good for your snails as i have noticed many apple and ramshorn snails sold tend to be rather malnourished- how long are your snails lasting in your tank roughly?

 

[ncstater1919]

well alright.... i got the snail a few days ago, he was in the tank and was fine comnig out looking around,etc. and then my albino cories come out and start nibbling at him..he freaks out and flips over and starts swiruming...then he went into his shell a day later i chekced on him and the opening to the snail shell was open and a poor dead snail....could it have been from the cories? and no i havnt used any meds in the past weeks, i used some ammonia stuff about 3 weeks ago....could that be it??

 

[kris-b-]

From what you have said I think it is the fish that maybe killing your snails, if your fish are nibbling at them then it cant be right!

 

[ncstater1919]

yea your probaly right, but i dont ant to give up my cories!! ugh, some people have said that it couldnt be the cories as they dont attack snails....mabye mine are jst weird....i jsut wanted to make sure it wasnt soemthing i was doing so i can fix it and then try again....cause i really want a snail and i have algae that nees to be removed...

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Corys defintaly wouldn't kill a snail, they are some of the the most peaceful fish you can get, its far more likely it was cleaning the snail.
What did you use the ammonia for? Did the snails shell look healthy i.e no holes, creases or folds? Do you feed your fish any algae wafers, sinkng pelets or frozen foods like bloodworms or krill?

 

[consp]

Corys are scavengers... You'll often see them picking off of dead/dying fish. Maybe this happened in your snails case and the corys are not to blame.

 

[ncstater1919]

yea i feed my cories bottem feeder tablets and feed my glowlite tetras falkes/forzen bloodworms, the only think i coudl tell was that the sanil jsut looked beaten up but not like there was cracks or anything, the stuff i was using is called ACE,Ammonia Choramine Eliminator by jungle. coudl that be it?? i jsut want a snail pretty bad so thats why im pretty mad that they arnt living, when they are supposed to be easy to care for....

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Never use ammonia, nitrite or nitrate removal chemicals, they cause your tank to cycle- the beneficial bacteria in your tank needs ammonia to survive and to break it down naturally, everytime you use ammonia removal chemicals you starve the bacteria causing the tank to cycle and you will be in a never ending struggle of cycling tanks and stressed out fish.
Water changes with dechlorinator are by far the best way to remove harmful substances from the water and won't harm your fish/other water critters or beneficial filter bacteria, so far there is nothing else that beats a good old water change.
If you want to buy more snails, buy some fish/invertebrate mineral/vitamin supliment for the water and some algae wafers, dose the water with the supliment and feed your fish and snails the algae wafers every now and then and keep up with the water changes and avoid using any meds unesarsarily.

 

[ncstater1919]

yea ill try that! coudl there be any other reason or could i try somethin else to increase a snails chances...

 

[mamafish68]

Cories have nice little barbs and it sounds to me your "sweet innocent" cory wounded the snail, evident by his bizarre reaction of curling.
my suggestion, dont house the snail w/ the cories. period.
also most dechlorinators have some form of salts in them so take care when dosing your w/c bucket. keep the snail in mind before dumping in too much.
I've had great sucess with the calcium rich weekend feeders used for fish but are really a piece of crap for fish, lol they should be labeled for snails only imho
snap off a tad and feed it once a week as if it's a treat.
It's great when you can hand feed a snail! I wish you lots of luck.