I bought my apples snail about a year ago and he lived in my goldie tank for 8 months. During that time he ate a LOT. I'd put a piece of lettuce on a veggie clip and it would be gone in an hour. He also destroyed all the live plants in the tank

Since then I moved him to his own 7 gallon tank due to a goldie who decided he'd be tastey. At first he was his usual self but for the past few months he's had me worried. He was very inactive for a while. Lately he's been on the move a lot more, but doesn't seem to be eating anything. I've put a variety of green in the tank and none of them ever get so much as a nibble. I've also dropped shrimp pellets and goldie food in front of him hoping he'll eat it, but I can't tell if he does or not.

The weird thing is, when I clean the tank every week I get a ton of gunk off the bottom! Usually brown globs of dirt (or snail mucus? I don't know). If he's not eating I don't know how he's producing waste.

I don't know if he'd gone dormant for the winter or something, but the temp in the room he's in didn't change. Anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

Chrissy a couple things come to mind. What is the temp of the tank water? Has it fluctuated at all recently? Is he all by himself in the tank? I am not sure if it is him going dormant, or maybe old age. Has he ever been with any other snails in your tank? Frequent mating & higher water temps can lead to a shorter life span. So he's not eating anything? How long do you leave the food in the tank?

Sorry for so many questions. Call it brainstorming out loud, I guess.

Well his tank water is room temp, probably 20 degrees celcius. He's all alone and since I've gotten him he hasn't been around any other snails. I leave the food in a long time, sometimes even a couple of days.
He doesn't even eat the peas I've thrown in, and he used to gobble them up

Wow hun, I wish I knew more to help you. How is he acting today?

He's about the same. He's still moving around. I've been tossing goldfish pellets in with him so at least I know food is there, and there is still tons of that brown gunk kicking around.

I may be moving him into another tank this week, maybe that will trigger a change in him

Hmm...it could very well be old age. Keep us posted on his progress and move to the new tank. Fins crossed for the little guy!

It may be old age, he was fairly large when I bought him. My only other (very uninformed) theory is that maybe the hours of daylight have somehow told him it's been winter....but I don't really think so

I dropped a shrimp pellet right in front of him today. His antanne came out, but he didn't eat or even come all the way out of his shell
I moved him into his new tank tonight. It has less current and calci sand, maybe the new conditions will make him pep up a little.

Will he be in the new tank by himself? Poor little guy. Losing the desire to eat is usually not a good sign, but then he is still active...I am puzzled. Both of my parent snails have passed, and they pretty much just became inactive and didn't eat the last day or two. It wasn't a drawn out process. I still think it might be old age though. I know it's hard to just stand by and watch. I hope the new surroundings pep him up!

Yes he's alone. I looked at him last night and it seemed like he was really secreting a lot of what I guess is mucus. He hasnt' moved since I put him in, but he seems to have really sealed himself up today. I'm just going to keep an eye on him and hope for the best, maybe he's just an old geezer
I'm going to try and do a bit of research today and see if I can figure out what's happening.

Yes keep us posted. And if I think of anything at all to help I will definitely let you know! Sometimes they act wierd, though. Gotta love 'em.

Poor Gary isn't doing any better. I've searched online and got no real ideas.
He hasn't even really moved since moving to his new tank. Now he's partially out of his shell and still secreting lots of mucus
I attached some pics. I may try and put some food in front of him again tonight and see what happens, I think he may be on his way out...

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Well I just checked and Gary had passed away. I poked him repeatedly and he didn't move or withdraw into his shell, I even touched his antannae and nothing. I put him in the freezer just to be sure. I'm a bit bummed, but he lived a good long snail life

Aw, I am sorry. I had a similar experience with Snail (up at the top of this section). He grew extremely rapidly for about the first 6 mos I had him, then basically went into almost a state of hibernation for the next year and a half. He finally passed away one day and fell out of his shell. I had always kept him in tanks heated to the upper 70s, so I know that shortened his life. But during his early days when he was growing, I just coudln't keep enough food in there!

Well snails have such a short life span that it wasn't a huge shock. It's too bad they can't stick around with us longer, but I enjoyed him while I had him

Oh Chrissy I am sorry you lost him! I was afraid that would happen. I know he had a long, happy life with you!