Why Are All My Apple Snails Dying?

[fishnovice]

Did a through tank clean today and found all 6 of my apple snails both gold and brown striped were dead, Some were just empty shells but a couple were still smelling with dead snails inside. They were 2-3 cm diameter so not vulnerable babies. The strange thing is that my apple snails grew really well at first, were very active and one even laid 2 clutches of eggs before it died (sadly I removed the eggs not realising what they were).

Don't know what is kiling them off.My pest snails are breeding happily though noot in excessive numbers and the MTS are also alive and well so it couldn't be copper etc in the water surely? No meds or any chemicals apart from dechlor ever added to tank. Fish are guppies, mollies, platy, swords, 3 young BN and 4 angelfish

 

[lotsoffish]

Did a through tank clean today and found all 6 of my apple snails both gold and brown striped were dead, Some were just empty shells but a couple were still smelling with dead snails inside. They were 2-3 cm diameter so not vulnerable babies. The strange thing is that my apple snails grew really well at first, were very active and one even laid 2 clutches of eggs before it died (sadly I removed the eggs not realising what they were).

Don't know what is kiling them off.My pest snails are breeding happily though noot in excessive numbers and the MTS are also alive and well so it couldn't be copper etc in the water surely? No meds or any chemicals apart from dechlor ever added to tank. Fish are guppies, mollies, platy, swords, 3 young BN and 4 angelfish

Well, my guess is you are neglecting the tank. I mean think about what you actually just posted.

You found all of them dead and some of the shells were completely empty.

That tells me you have not been watching things each night when you feed everything because certainly you would have noticed they were not feeding or moving around.

In my opinion, it is very important to make sure everything in your tank is active, feeding, and generally looks good.

Start doing some more frequent partial water changes and then go get yourself some new snails. Then each night place a few canned green beans in your aquarium and make sure those snails are getting enough to eat. If you feel you have too many "pest" snails, as you called them, place a couple green beans in the front corners of your tank, that way a large percentage of your "pest" snails will accumulate in those corners and you can start thinning them out.

You might want to add some "Ken's vegetable sticks with calcium" to their diet also, just to make sure they are getting enough minerals in their diet too. You can pick some of those up here at the bottom of this page- http/www.kensfish.com/kenssticks.html

Keep an eye on your tank and it's inhabitants and do those regular water changes and you won't end up discovering "all" of anything is dead the next time you actually get your hands wet taking care of business!

 

[fishnovice]

Did a through tank clean today and found all 6 of my apple snails both gold and brown striped were dead, Some were just empty shells but a couple were still smelling with dead snails inside. They were 2-3 cm diameter so not vulnerable babies. The strange thing is that my apple snails grew really well at first, were very active and one even laid 2 clutches of eggs before it died (sadly I removed the eggs not realising what they were).

Don't know what is kiling them off.My pest snails are breeding happily though noot in excessive numbers and the MTS are also alive and well so it couldn't be copper etc in the water surely? No meds or any chemicals apart from dechlor ever added to tank. Fish are guppies, mollies, platy, swords, 3 young BN and 4 angelfish

Well, my guess is you are neglecting the tank. I mean think about what you actually just posted.

You found all of them dead and some of the shells were completely empty.

That tells me you have not been watching things each night when you feed everything because certainly you would have noticed they were not feeding or moving around.

In my opinion, it is very important to make sure everything in your tank is active, feeding, and generally looks good.

Start doing some more frequent partial water changes and then go get yourself some new snails. Then each night place a few canned green beans in your aquarium and make sure those snails are getting enough to eat. If you feel you have too many "pest" snails, as you called them, place a couple green beans in the front corners of your tank, that way a large percentage of your "pest" snails will accumulate in those corners and you can start thinning them out.

You might want to add some "Ken's vegetable sticks with calcium" to their diet also, just to make sure they are getting enough minerals in their diet too. You can pick some of those up here at the bottom of this page- http/www.kensfish.com/kenssticks.html

Keep an eye on your tank and it's inhabitants and do those regular water changes and you won't end up discovering "all" of anything is dead the next time you actually get your hands wet taking care of business!

Didn't know snails ate canned beans, thanks for the advice. The MTS and "pest" snails(only called thenm tehy cos they are the kind that hitch a lift on plants and I don't know the species, not because they're a nuisnce really) numbers are under control and they are not a problem. Spare MTS go into my other tanks.
I do NOT neglect my tanks. I do 30 % water changes every week without fail, water is crystal clear with 0 ammonia and 0nitrite. Must admit I check fish daily to make sure all are ok but it's harder to check snails as they don't always move anyway and could be hiding inside ornaments or behind plants as the dead ones were.I feed my fish and snails fresh cucumber and courgette daily plus algae pellets so they certainly haven't starved.I also put bits of cuttlebone in their tank for calcium though they ignored it.

 

[nurglespuss]

Well, my guess is you are neglecting the tank.

ummmm yes... I think that was a bit of a rude assumption to be honest.. but hey hum..

If your maintaining your tanks well, not over feeding, and doing your 30% water changes, but the snails died anyway, its worth finding out why!

A test kit is the best bet (but as very few fishkeepers actually have one) just to guage levels and find out if anythign is amiss.

That done or not done, before adding any snails, consider your ornaments first, do any look like they might be degrading slightly? if so, remove them!

Next up, your MTS and other snails are doing fine, and as long as their shells are intact you probably don't need to add any cuttle bone.

if everything checks out, it might well be worth picking up a single apple snail, and a bredding trap (with lid) so that you can directly observe it while it settles in, and keep an eye on its progress.

In my planted nano (now changed, too much hassle) I hat MTS and a zebra nerite that all died, due, unfortunately, to adding reptile/aquarium safe fake vine (which must have leached copper from its internal wire support)....

So don't despair! just try and identify the problem before you spend any more money

 

[fishnovice]

I do occasionally test for ammonia and nitrite with API liquid test kit and never had any seriously bad readings, usually zero or <0,25. I treated tank with ESHA 2000 back in Feb for a week.
Only ornaments are a plastic hollow bridgeand a hollow ceramic log both of which have been there for almost a year, pre snails.I do have lots of plastic plants though,the kind with weighted bottoms covered in plastic. Don't think it's copper as MTS and other snails are still alive.Snails get plenty of fresh veg as I give the young BN plecs cucumber or courgette daily, weighed down with chrome plated teaspoon. Could the problem be the spoon?Doesn't look corroded or tarnished in any way.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

If in doubt change the spoon.

I weigh my vegetables down with a chop stick through the middle of it. Or for my snails I weigh it down with lead plant weights

 

[JoshuaA]

If in doubt change the spoon.

I weigh my vegetables down with a chop stick through the middle of it. Or for my snails I weigh it down with lead plant weights

I use a cocktail stick and skewer them down into a mario moss ball .

I do find it a bit odd that some snail shells were completely empty before he noticed but I did have a phantom snail death some time ago as well as a RCshrimp recently which I have no idea how it happened either.