Zebra nerite

[Essjay]

I have mentioned in the forum that I have two nerites which I bought in 2011. This afternoon, I finally managed to take some photos of the zebra nerite to show what an elderly snail can look like.

But first, some photos of it when it was younger.

Taken in April 2016. There are a few pits starting to appear in the shell, and the apex was already eroded by this time. If you look carefully at the shell opposite the apex, you can see a crack just starting to develop.



October 2018. The crack has widened a lot but the snail doesn't seem to notice. It is interesting that the stripes on either side of the crack are a different shape, and go in different directions.







I'll put today's photos in the next post.

 

[Essjay]

Photos taken this afternoon:

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Wow! I hope my zebra nerite lives for that long! Congrats on keeping them healthy for this long.

 

[Essjay]

I should mention the tank water stats.

GH 5 dH
KH ~ 4 dH
pH varies between 7.4 and 7.6 according to the time of day.

My water company no longer gives KH, but last time I tested it a few years ago it was 4.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Weird, my pH is the same exact thing! It varies from 7.4-7.6. I guess we have the perfect water parameters for Nerites?

 

[Retired Viking]

Do you use RO is that why your PH varies? I had a apple snail that lasted several years and was like 2 inches tall when he finally died. I have not seen that white on my snails, looks like chipped paint in a way.

 

[Essjay]

No, the pH varies throughout the day, lower in a morning and higher in the evening just because the plants don't take up CO2 at night and do during the day.

The white parts look as though they may be soft but they are hard. I gently tapped it with my fingernail to check.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My nerve snail is a little over a year old. She is starting to show signs of age. (As yours are)

 

[JuiceBox52]

That's crazy how old it is! Go @essjay!

The crack look so weird but so long as it dosent notice

 

[Essjay]

My nerite snail has died. it hadn't moved for a couple of days so I just removed it from the tank to check. Not only did it smell but the trapdoor wasn't closed and the body was hanging out of the shell.
I wonder if I accidentally killed it? During last Friday's water change I lifted a piece of wood out of the tank as the plant on the wood was coming loose - it had overgrown the wood and needed reattaching - but I didn't see the snail on the bottom of the wood. I only realised it was there when it fell off with a clunk onto the concrete flags in the back garden. It seemed fine when I put it back in the tank and it crawled away but it hadn't moved since Saturday.

Whether it was me that killed it or it died of old age, it is 9 years since I bought it which is a good age for a snail.