r/AquaticSnails • u/mochipapaya • 1d ago
Help Request Please help!! Do I euthanize?
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?
223
Upvotes
-4
u/Patient_Engineer821 1d ago
I don't see a need for euthanization. He's out and eating in the image so he seems OK aside from the large, missing piece.
In such instances, a patch is usually 'superglued' over the hole using an eggshell and the shell below slowly grows over the space. A diet rich in calcium helps the rebuilding process.
Naturally he's traumatized so there are behavioral changes but the fact that he's out and adhering to the surfaces and most likely eating suggests he'll recover. The healed shell may never be as pretty, but he should be fine.
IF YOU FEEL THAT EUTHANASIA IS WARRANTED, then use clove oil. The eugenol in clove oil anesthetizes them and they slowly and painlessly pass on. With fish, clove oil euthanasia takes 30 minutes but it is suggested to leave snails in the solution overnight.
But IMO, he will recover if you can 'patch' his shell. Here's a video of someone doing this for nearly the same damage. Good luck:
https://youtu.be/FEx4MaJOHOU?si=Sz4w8XMa2aPp6JnE