Turbo Snail Falls Always On Its Back

[dilbert]

Hi all,

I bought two Turbo snails (or what has been sold as Turbo snails, haven't yet really looked at them).

One of them, always the same one, falls off the glass or falls from a live rock about twice a day and lands on its shell, the foot looking upwards. It doesn't turn around and remains there SEEMINGLY helpless like a beetle that cannot turn around. So, it lays there on the sand bed doing nothing until someone sets it against on its food and then the snail is wandering around again.

Is this normal and how long can it hold out there in this position?

 

[bitfishy]

Someone please correct me if they've had a different experience, but I had a turbo that did this. Twice a day I was in there with a stick righting him back up. He carried on that way for weeks, when he was upright he seemed fine and did the usual snail things, but every so often he'd just fall and lie there belly up. Eventually I'm afraid he just died - I found him in the morning making a nice feast for a hermit crab.

I don't know how to cure yours, but I reakon he does need some help. Hopefully someone here will have some ideas.

Sorry.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I dont know any cure, but I almost always have one out of the bunch that will do that. I flip them a few times and after that I let nature take it's course. I have read that they lack the ability to right themselves once theyre flipped over.

 

[Donya]

I saw similar symptoms demonstrated not so long ago by one of my oldest Turbos that somehow had gotten a columellar muscle injury such that the snail could only support its shell in certain directions. Normal Turbos can turn themselves over, but injured ones tend to have difficulty and may be completely unable to flip over. In the case of the injured snail I had, it would do find as long as it was in a position such that the injured side was not strained. If it rotated too much though, the shell would suddenly be unsupported (it would literally slide off to the side), the mantle would partially collapse, and the snail would pop right off the tank wall in response. It survived for around 3 weeks after the injury occured, spending most of that time sitting on top of a bunch of macro algae and not moving much.