# Mystery snail deaths?!?!?!



## Price

Okay i dont know whats happening to my snails! I have a tank somewhat new i just beginning to put fish in it, i added a mystery snail about 3 weeks ago well it died about 10 days later so i returned and got a new one 6 days ago and today its dead... i have a shrimp thats been in there for 3 weeks and is doing great! i also added my first fish a dalmatian molly 2 days ago! ammonia is stays usually below .25 and nitrites are 0 and nitrates around 2, the ammonia for the most part stays close to 0 the past week, so whats happening to them???? 

Thanks!!


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## mec102778

Since it's a fairly new tank there probably isn't much alge growing for them to eat. get some alge waffers and drop them in the tank to supliment the lack of alge and other stuff in there for them to eat.


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## Price

mec102778 said:


> Since it's a fairly new tank there probably isn't much alge growing for them to eat. get some alge waffers and drop them in the tank to supliment the lack of alge and other stuff in there for them to eat.


Tons of algae, and dead plant material, its deff not lack of food!

tanks been up for over 2 months i only mean fairly new cuz just getting out of the cycle!


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## BluBje

a mystery indeed my snail seems to survive everything ...I am curious just like you.


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## jrman83

Probably still need to drip acclimate. Weekly water changes and normal maintenance occuring? Why are you leaving decaying plant matter in your tank?


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## chris oe

Pomacea bridgesii (I guess diffusa now) the apple snail that you'll most likely be getting in your local pet store, is very sensitive to water quality. If there's any ammonia they tend to stay shut up tight, and the adult size snails can not subsist on just algae they can glean around the tank. They need supplemental feedings, usually algae tablets or cooked vegetables (bridgesii won't eat live or fresh veggies, which is why they're safe in planted tanks) A brig can starve to death in a planted tank. 

If the water quality is perfect (zero ammonia) and there is some dead vegetation around for them, I'd assume the problem is how they're being treated in the pet store. Lots of stores don't seem to understand that snails need to be fed and how much. If you bring home a snail that's already on death's door it wouldn't take much to knock it off. Another possibility would be if you've recently treated the tank with copper containing compounds, either a fish medication or a "snail rid" product or something like that. Those compounds can hang around for awhile and could push a stressed snail over the edge. 

They could be being harassed by fish, although usually what they'll do in that case is stay shut during the day and creep around at night instead, feelers tucked. Not a great existence, but they can do it. But if a snail that wasn't treated well in the store was also being harassed by aggressive fish (barbs or cichlids for instance) the combination of stress, poor condition and limited feeding because its being harassed could finish it off. 

Hope any of this helps.


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## Price

Hmm okay so sounds like these snails might not be as tough as the real thing, well I left the dead plant matter for the snail actually haha so that's why it's in there, but I think I'm just going to wait like a month or so after fish are in and all before I buy another and see how it goes then, so I guess for now no snail haha well thanks!! I may pick up a nerite or two see how they do to clean a little bit, are they stronger?


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## Price

ALright im stumped.. so nerite did not make it either!!! what is wrong with my tank that a snail cant survive?? they are neat and i really want to keep them!!! 

What could it be?? i havent added any chems to tank except for SeaChem Prime! 

it cant be copper, so i have no clue!

If i took it to my LFS could i get them to test for anything particular that might be it?? 

help haha


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## chris oe

I think maybe we need to start at the beginning. Can you do water tests and get ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings, hardness readings (very important for snails) and ph (also important)?


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## Price

Ammonia nitrite both 0, nitrate very low 1-4 depending on if i just did a water change or not. PH, last tested around 8 or so, and i dont know bout hardness.


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## chris oe

So did you just do these tests, or are you relying on memory? ("whether I just did a water change or not") 'cause we need fresh tests. Hardness is very important to snails because of shell formation. The shell is the skeleton of the snail, it supports their internal organs, if they can't grow their shell, they can't grow, if their shell starts to dissolve around them it can cause their organs to collapse or to be exposed to aggressive (or just curious and hungry) fish. if carbonate hardness (very important and very different from general total hardness) determines how well your snails can live and grow. It also determines the stability of your ph. Low carbonate hardness is a situation where even small changes in your tank can lead to sudden swings in things like PH because carbonate hardness buffers the water, allowing the water to absorb some kinds of insults and normalize itself, but if the buffering capacity is exhausted (or was never there) you can have sudden sharp spikes and drops that you may never even detect. IMHO one reason to keep snails is because they are like the canary in the coal mine, they will react to disaster long before your fish start to suffer. That you can't seem to get snails to live in your tank is a mystery I think is well worth your while to solve, but it is going to require some careful detective work. You may need to do some more exotic tests like carbonate hardness and phosphate testing, and do a bit more frequent testing on the big three (ammonia, nitrite and nitrate) and PH just to confirm where they are over time & that there are no fluctuations. 
Another thing to discuss is what is the source of your aquarium water - is it tap water? Have you done baseline testing of what it is as it comes out of the tap? Do you know what kind of pipe you have in your house? Lots of houses have hot water copper pipe, and while it is unlikely that the copper pipe is leaching into your tap water when you are doing a water change you might want to let the water run for awhile before you fill your buckets or whatnot just to make sure that you're not using water that has been standing in copper pipes. (I'm probably full of hooey here, but stranger things have happened).


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## Price

They are current tests, the only one that i say changes after a water change is nitrates because my water does contain nitrates from tap, and yes i am using tap water, PH stayed that same 8 well around it i just never could figure out which to match it to on the tests, but it stayed the same color and never did change, i am using tap water and using prime to do the dechlorinating and all, 

I do not have a hardness or phosphate tester, Could my LFS test for these things?? along with copper?


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## chris oe

You can ask them to. If they are using dip strips it may not tell you much (strips are not super accurate). You may want to invest in these tests yourself, or find a pet store that can test for them. I'm not aware of any copper tests, but you can simply change the way you draw new water for the tank if you know you have copper pipes and if your house or building is older. A few seconds of leaving the water on before you fill your buckets or attach your python is probably plenty.


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## Niki7

Are you adding salt to the tank or does your water clarifier have a lot of salt in it? probably listed as sodium chloride on the label. Snails (at least mine) are sensitive to that so I don't use it in the tank where I keep them. Just a thought. Also do you have any rocks in your tank that you might have picked up around your house that could have high minerals that harm snails?

Hope you find a solution soon...


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## Price

Hey guys sorry i havnt been on in awhile just been trying to keep my grades up and all, but i found out the problem so ill tell u the story, 

I was at petsmart talking to the lady that works at the fish, shes nice and likes me (not in a sexual way cuz she rather older) just likes me cuz i guess im nice haha, so she tells me like what fish to buy when theres bad shipments or anything like that, and she was telling me about their snails, she said most people in my area have bad luck with them because the tap water around here has a higher concentration of COPPER! in it so basically unless u use water from a store or like that you dont have luck with snails so i guess no snails for me! oh well i can live without them i guess! haha

Well thanks for helping guys!!


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