about 4 days ago i bought 2 apple snails and they were both cleaning my tank up very nicley when all of a sudden my littler snail gary started floating i thought he was dead but my mum didn't so i put him in my 1gallon tank for quarrantine.

after i placed him in the second tank he sank back to the bottom and opened back up. i noticed that when he moves he rolls onto his shell alot. i left the room and came back in and he was floating again and when i went to bed and woke up he is back on the tank floor opened up. i just don't get it could somebody help me


oh by the way the other snail is fine no traces of any disease. and everything in the tank is fine the ph, amonia, nitrite and nitrate are all normal. it is a 60 gallon tank with 3 shubunkin.

thanx 2 anyone who helps

Sometimes they do float. He may climb the side and lose his suction on the wall and float awhile. Is there an airstone in the small tank that may push him up? If you see him out of his shell and sliming around sometimes he is probably OK.

no i don't have an airstone but how come the other snail isn't floating

He may be sick. I had one that would float around too. He lived a long time but eventually died. I had him for over a year.

if he is sick could it spread to my other snail and fish

Im not sure. Its been said that they cant carry diseases like that but lets wait and see what others say.

When I bought my apple snail from rainbowsnails I got a little pamphlet about snails and it said that it's totally okay if your snail shuts up and floats around for a few days. So, I'd say your snail is fine, maybe he just likes to be clamped up and floating?

If you're ever worried that he's dead take him out of the water and sniff him, supposedly the smell will make it VERY clear if he is dead.

My snail isn't a floater but sometimes he'll just clamp up *shrugs* As long as he's coming out and moving sometimes and eating well then I wouldn't worry about it.

oh ok thanx so i should put him back in his tank now or wait a bit longer and keep him quarantine

Whenever I got new snails I always QT'ed them for a couple of weeks just to be safe.

And SCG is right, youll know by smelling them if theyre dead.

it is totally cool i asked the guy that works at the aqurium near me and he said in the 10 years he has breed snails for his shop he said some will float and others won't.


some may want to close up and float and others may close up and just stay on the bottom of the tank, that would be why only one of my snails floats and the other one does not.


p.s. the only snails that do this bizzare thing is an apple snail and a mystery snail. other snails can't float because they don't have lungs as well as gills

i am sad to say that my floating snail gary has died today


R.I.P little fella you were greatly

Floating snails and one's who lock up tight can be from many different things such as shock or nitrite poisioning. The best thing to do for shock or nitrite poisioning that I've learned thus far is to take the snail out of the water and place it in a shallow covered bowl (no water), let it sit for a few minutes up to about 15 minutes, if there is still no movement to then put it in a bowl of dechlorinated water (a half inch to an inch worked well for me). You can do this process a few times and overnight as long as you have the bowl covered so the snail cannot escape. I would double check your water parameters just to make sure.

It could have also have been stressed or in shock if you just recently purchased him. I just had two different shipments of snails sent to me, the first shipment ended up getting cooked from the heat pack and 9 out of 10 died. Then I recieved a new shipment bags were freezing, no water. I hope I can save a few if any this time... Snails for the most part do not carry diseases or parasites that can be spread to fish.

A great website to check out is the Applesnail Forum.

www.applesnail.net

Good luck with your other snail and I'm sorry for your loss.

thanx i don't no if it matters but before i took him out he had a massive crack in his shell. i sniffed and him and he smelt dead (really gone off smell) and one of my mates has a tropical tank and he said that means it is dead.

Yep we told you that the smell means he is dead too. Getting test kits is really important too. Sorry for the loss.

yeah i have test kits for my ph but other ones are to find in sydney also from my other thread my amonia levels are 0 in my second fishless tank

i am gunna go to the aquarium store 2 moz and buy a mystery snail they don't have lungs like the apple snail but they are far more efficient. so i guess i could say and that also means a cleaner tank

hey rock4life, could you please make your signature smaller. its way too big.
please read
http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...showtopic=47787

yep i can do that

thanks

Some snails just enjoy floating. When you took him out the current was prob different so he came out and checked it out. If the other snail isn't floating that's just cause each is different. Some also like to sleep floating and bobbing in the current.

As long as the water checks out ok he's prob fine.

thanks i had found out already from the other posts and i know no that not all of them float but my cousin found out as well and this snail was in his 60gallon tank i was looking after it for him while he was n holidays

Sorry about gary, but I used to have 2 mystery snails, and one of them liked to float (I think the put air into his shell, lol), and they lived a while. Who knows, they might find it entertaining.