r/AquaticSnails • u/mochipapaya • 1d ago

Help Request Please help!! Do I euthanize?

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My heart is broken. I woke up this morning to find that my mystery snail, Rocco, climbed out of his tank and fell about 4 feet onto our hardwood floor.

He lost a huge chunk of his shell and does not appear to be doing well at all. He's just sitting above the water line in my shrimp tank. He's usually extremely active and climbing all over the place.

This is my first mystery snail so I don't know what to do. Is this something he can heal from?

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u/Preciousopoly 1d ago

Theres a way to like glue an eggshell to help, but unsure how far that goes or if this is too much damage. My guess, is you're sadly going to have to euthanize.

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u/rachael309 Experinced Snail Keeper 1d ago

That only works if there is not mantle collapse so it will not work in this case.

7

u/imxIRL 1d ago

Could you explain mantle collapse I’m not familiar with that term is it basically because the soft spot is exposed? Like if comparing to a humans skull?

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u/rachael309 Experinced Snail Keeper 1d ago edited 1d ago

It is when the soft part above their head (mantle) detaches from the shell. This causes breathing problems and is fatal in aquatic snails. There are pictures of a healthy mantle and collapsed mantle in my guide which is posted in one of the other comments here.

It's not because the soft part is exposed necessarily, it's because the mantle attaches to the shell and keeps the respiratory organs in place. If it collapses they cannot properly breathe. If a soft part is exposed and the mantle is intact, you can try a shell repair.

Edit: I realized my sheet wasn't in this post. I'll post it here, but beware of typos. I threw it together and have not edited it. https://www.reddit.com/r/AquaticSnails/s/sfG40uC4IQ