Dead Apple Snail?

[laurasbetta]

so my roomie decided a couple of months ago that she wanted a pet. so what did she choose? a snail. yep, just a snail. so we went to our lps and picked out "bubbles," which i think was an apple snail. (maybe mystery? not sure...) anyway, so we got a little 1/2 gallon tank for bubbles, with water conditioner and a plastic plant (it was one of those beginner betta tanks, the plastic ones with the bright green or purple lids made by marina). the employee who was helping us told us that the snail could just live off these algae pellets. for about a month, bubbles was a fairly well taken care of snail (based on the information we had at the time). she would clean his tank about every week and feed him regularly. however, bubbles would often sit at the bottom of the tank just hiding in his shell for days at a time. after she'd had him for a month, bubbles just sat in his shell for about a week and never moved from one spot. at this time the weather was getting cooler and the heating hadn't been turned on in our building yet (we live in the dorms at a university). after this week, we assumed bubbles to be dead and buried him. was he actually dead? or do snails hibernate? also, i want to know what to feed a snail (if it's living on its own), how to clean and properly care for him in case she's ever ready for a bubbles jr.

 

[fishyfeet]

Applesnails tend to be more active in warmer water, i find in coldwater tanks they tend to become inactive for days, the main way of telling if the snails are dead are
like today i noticed an empty shell so the snail has obviously died and been eaten by the fish/plecs or other snails probably.

Sometimes they are like hanging out of their shells, the main way is to sniff them, rotting snails smell like you wouldnt believe and you know for sure its has passed away. I suspect that you may indeed have buried your snail alive. ? di

 

[shaz3271]

i suspect you have

a dead snail will not be tucked up inside its shell

its mustle that holds the snail in its shell comes away and the snail will come loose

also the smell of a dead snail is rather bad.

some snails will hide in there shell if the water isnt up to scratch the temprature is cooler.

how long has he beed buried ?

if you dig it up quick enough it maybe be still ok.

sharon

 

[laurasbetta]

oh, i'm sure he's long gone. this was in late fall and now we're in early spring. so even if the burial didn't kill him, the cold weather probably did. but why didn't he start moving about when she picked him up out of his tank? and bubbles always smelled bad. when she did water changes, his water was awful smelling. maybe that was from those algae pellets though.
poor bubbles. i feel sorry for him now. i wish i would've researched snails more... i don't think i have the heart to tell her that he was buried alive either.
now that i know this though, i kind of want to get her to give it another shot. she actually really loved the stinky little guy. so just a couple of questions:

what does a snail actually eat? i don't think he really enjoyed those stupid pellets. anything else we could've given him?

how often should you change its water?

what's a good temperature for them?

is a 1/2 gallon tank an okay size for just a snail?

has anyone else just kept a snail by themselves for a pet? if so, any other advice?

thanks a ton!

 

[vancouver]

A small betta tank is not a suitable home for an apple snail.. being unheated and having no filtration most likely contributed to it's death.. The tank would have been smelly from the poop most likely...

Apple snails should be in heated, filtered tanks.. they prefer a higher ph and most people add calcium to the water as well..

It mos tlikely died because of the environment it was in.

 

[iSnail]

Adult apple snails (Pomacea bridgesii) need at least 2.5 US Gallons each. If you have such a tiny tank, water quality is very difficult to control since these snails are heavy waste producers. Providing some plants like Anarchis will help slightly but obviously it's best to give it a larger tank plus filtration.

 

[laurasbetta]

wow. i feel so sorry for the little guy. i wish i would have known all this sooner. but like i said, at least now i can be informed if there's ever a next time.