Mystery snail help!

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok...so my 2 new mystery snails have eaten the fungus off the wood as far as I can tell. They were going all over the tank today so I put in an algae wafer. Now...these are kind of old but the date says 2019.

My pleco Butch seems to be OK with them. But I'm not so sure about the snails. The gold one ate some right after I put it in. Then moved to the side a few inches and sat there for a while. I finally got up to check and it looked like it was trying to come out of its shell!

So, I got my long plant tweezers and tapped it. Moved it a little bit and it closed up. Looked like it left some slimey sand behind but it came back out and started crawling around.

Later, the chestnut one stared eating it. Stayed there for a long time. Checked on it a few times. Couple times it looked like it was eating. The next it was just gripping the wafer and not moving. I finally tapped it away with the tweezers. Now it looks like it's doing the same thing!!

I took most of the wafer out just in case but I don't know what to do...I dunno why they are doing this! Could they have ingested sand? Or would it be just a bad wafer? Anything I can do?

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Ok, crisis averted..I tapped it again and got it to close up. Seemed like sand was trapped on it so I shook it off and then put it up on the wood. It came out and started crawling around. But what the heck happened? Is this normal? Or not? I'm thinking not but first time owning these!

 

[neoyyf]

I have not kept mystery snails before but it sounds like normal behaviour to me. Snails will rest after eating and it is normal for them to make slime. If the algae wafers look fine ie isnt mouldy and dont smell bad it should be ok to eat

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I have not kept mystery snails before but it sounds like normal behaviour to me. Snails will rest after eating and it is normal for them to make slime. If the algae wafers look fine ie isnt mouldy and dont smell bad it should be ok to eat

It didn't look like they were just resting. It looked like they were trying to spit something out. Half out of the shell and looking weird and all.

 

[neoyyf]

It didn't look like they were just resting. It looked like they were trying to spit something out. Half out of the shell and looking weird and all.

If you think this behaviour means they are not happy, have you checked water parameters? I did a quick google and the first one suggested high nitrates

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Shouldn't be a nitrate problem as they have been fine and are now fine again. I don't even have fish in this 20 gallon, just the two juvenile mystery snails and some Malaysian trumpet snails. And I have plants that are mostly doing well. I will check it tomorrow before my next water change (I'm doing 50% to help keep it stable for new plants) to be on the safe side but pretty sure it should be fine.

 

[SeanTrollope]

pretty much the same thing when a human overeats they feel sick and lazy. the only difference is that most aquatic animals do not control how much they eat and thus eat until the food is finished. this is because in nature food is often in short supply and competition fierce

 

[cowgirluntamed]

pretty much the same thing when a human overeats they feel sick and lazy. the only difference is that most aquatic animals do not control how much they eat and thus eat until the food is finished. this is because in nature food is often in short supply and competition fierce

They didn't seem to eat much of it at all though. And the first one didn't stay on it long before it started doing what it did.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

So, the breeder I got my snails from actually emailed me to make sure I got them ok. So I asked her about it. She mentioned to check the ingredients in the wagers for copper. Some snails will react to it. And guess what? The aqueon algae wafers last ingredient is copper sulfate. So...they could have been reacting to that and I won't be giving those to them anymore. I have some fresh carrot chips I keep for my horse I'm going to give to them and I will be making the snail jello still. Hopefully no problems anymore!

 

[thrujenseyes]

So, the breeder I got my snails from actually emailed me to make sure I got them ok. So I asked her about it. She mentioned to check the ingredients in the wagers for copper. Some snails will react to it. And guess what? The aqueon algae wafers last ingredient is copper sulfate. So...they could have been reacting to that and I won't be giving those to them anymore. I have some fresh carrot chips I keep for my horse I'm going to give to them and I will be making the snail jello still. Hopefully no problems anymore!

Omg great info!!! Poor things! Glad you figured that out! I was curious about that reaction...that’s exactly what it seemed like...a bad reaction to an ingredient.


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[cowgirluntamed]

Omg great info!!! Poor things! Glad you figured that out! I was curious about that reaction...that’s exactly what it seemed like...a bad reaction to an ingredient.

Yeah. I didn't think it looked right. I mean there's resting but this didn't look like that. I put the blanched carrot in the tank and it looks like one has finally found it! I've only had merited before this and they don't eat the wafers. And I forgot the whole thing about them being sensitive to copper. I never thought to look in the food!

 

[thrujenseyes]

Yeah. I didn't think it looked right. I mean there's resting but this didn't look like that. I put the blanched carrot in the tank and it looks like one has finally found it! I've only had merited before this and they don't eat the wafers. And I forgot the whole thing about them being sensitive to copper. I never thought to look in the food!

I’m glad you pay enough attention to notice the odd behavior. Great fish mommy!
Mine appreciate blanched zucchini and broccoli stalk and kale and spinach also


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[cowgirluntamed]

I’m glad you pay enough attention to notice the odd behavior. Great fish mommy!
Mine appreciate blanched zucchini and broccoli stalk and kale and spinach also

Thanks! I just wanna do what's best for my critters! Lol.