Faunus ater / devil / lava snail not active

[Beastije]

i, so I have gotten my first faunus ater ever two weeks ago, from a women who had it in bad conditions, small tank, rough substrate. It even has some shell damage.

I acclimated, put it in the tank which was at 21°C back then. The tank has been running for a year at least, it was remade into a "quarantine" tank a week ago, no major changes, just removed the existing fish and added 10 corydoras sterbai. Tank is sand substrate, only anubias plants, floating or sitting on the substrate. The temp now is 25°C. It has poor lighting, so shaded most of the time anyway.

I havent seen the snail since adding to the tank. When I added, it moved and burrowed in the substrate. Few days later, I was checking, poked in the substrate, found it, took it out, operculum is closed, didnt smell, put it back on the substrate, found it burrowing "angrily" back few moments later.

Week went by, I didnt see it, during water change and substrate cleanup, I uncovered the shell in a different spot, didnt take it out of the substrate, it has covered itself again. I even checked few times in the evening when the tank was dark to see if it is moving, nothing.

I havent fed it anything, but I do feed the corydoras, but bug bites and bloodworms, not suitable meal for a snail. I would love to give it some spinach to start building up calcium, but not sure how, if it will even leave the substrate. I also do not just want to put spinach in there, who knows what the corydoras will do with it
They are also active in the substrate, poking around, sticking their noses in there, interesting that they havent uncovered the snail.
Does anyone else has similar experience? I know snails burrow, the tylomelania and brotia herculae I have had on the same substrate always did, but they sort of got out of the substrate in a day or two. I am obviously worried, if the snail dies, it will mess with my water clarity and I do not want that for the quarantine.

 

[Elephant nose 4]

I have a lava snail it's actually 9yrs old, it can disappear for weeks out of sight and I also wonder if she's died. Mine usually moves about at night very rarely do I see her during the day she burrows under the sand.
She's probably burrowed somewhere and moving about in the dark. Hopefully you'll see it moving.

 

[Donya]

Not familiar with the particular species but looks to be in Cerithoidea, a group of which I've kept many other species. The degree to which snails in that group stay burrowed varies. Some species will hardly ever be seen above the substrate except to lay eggs. Sometimes the type of substrate affects the behavior too; if the snails find it challenging to burrow they will be out more (not necessarily good for them, just one reason the behavior can differ within a species from one tank to another). Could also be avoiding being harassed if it gets snuffled a lot by the corys. Anyway, I have had some Cerithoids dissappear into the substrate and only rediscovered them a year or more later when doing invasive work on the substrate.

I do see that some places list Faunus ater as brackish which is worth some consideration. Cerithoids are pretty hardy but depending on how brackish that is in the wild, it's also possible the snail is unhappy with the salinity - although I think that's generally unlikely if it otherwise seems to be doing well. Additionally if it was bred in freshwater it's probably fine. Ususally when brackish snails dislike being moved to a freshwater environment they try to leave by exiting the tank vertically rather than burrowing.

 

[Donya]

Forgot to add, I would not feed vegetables or anything similar to Cerithoids. They really need to feed from detritis/algae most of the time to avoid water quality issues since they don't eat much compared to something like an apple snail. They will sometimes eat algae wafers but I imagine the corys would eat it first. Probably it will get enough to eat from wha the fish lose into the substrate.

 

[Beastije]

Thanks. I worry a bit though, since I want to keep this tank, in this setup, with this snail, and have 3 african dwarf frogs. They too will leave uneaten food I guess, but not sure if to sustain the snail.
I heard from other keepers, some have similar experience with faunus ater, some do have it on the substrate, but they have rocks or pebbles, not sand, so could be as you said.
As long as it is doing fine, I am ok. I uncover it sometimes when cleaning and the only bad thing is the erosion of the shell that it has on the top of the shell, near the head. Hard to keep an eye on it not getting worse when I dont see the snail.
Will just add a piece of cuttlebone in the tank and hope if it needs the calcium, it will be enough