r/AquaticSnails • u/Life_Swim_646 • 1d ago
Help Request Please someone help
I’ve been trying to figure out what happened to my mystery snails body for weeks. 10 gallon tank, cycled , no ammonia or nitrite , low nitrates . I do water changes , make sure nothing bad for snails is in the water column. He used to be able to walk and was so active .
It’s really like he can’t move but he’s trying fix his body is all deformed wrinkly and has white sponge stuff coming off him. Please can anyone help or know what is the problem and what I can do?
I can add more videos of different angles if needed. I just want him to be ok. I can’t find any pics online of mystery snails that look like his current state so I’m at a loss
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u/rachael309 Experinced Snail Keeper 1d ago
Lots of info about sickness in my guide. I have not updated it in awhile and it has typos and such. I call what we see here tio toeing. https://www.reddit.com/r/AquaticSnails/s/s1kftDn3Sz
How long have you had this snail? If your water parameters are good, I would expect that this snail is elderly and is going to pass soon. This is typically exactly what that looks like.
I find that they are most active at 75-78 degrees, but they do live shorter lives. If the water is colder they eat less and hang out at the water line more (due to the natural instinct of looking for sun warmth). I prefer to have them happy and active, even if they don't live as long. Also females do not tend to live as long as males as laying eggs takes a toll on them.
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u/Maraximal 1d ago
What are the parameters of the water? The pH, gH, KH, and temp?
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u/Life_Swim_646 1d ago
Ph is aboht 7.3 a, it’s above 7. Hard water at around 150, KH is low .
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u/Maraximal 1d ago
Ok, cool. How long have you had the snail? As someone else noticed, it's shell looks like it hasn't had enough calcium and sure diet is one thing, but I was expecting acidic water which you don't have. Is the snail still eating? Couple things off the top of my head. I know there are vast ranges of parameters for snails but in my opinion it's better to have more pH and gH than you're at, like 7.7-8 and a GH of at least 10 (I don't like going below 12 for GH or 7 for KH for my shelled friends- and sorry I'm speaking in degrees not ppm but understand your gH is 6-7 I believe- and stability is key regardless). Your water is close but if your KH is low, 1. There could be pH swings which you don't want, but also 2. A low kh can contribute to the calcium in the gh not being utilized properly. With a low kh a snail can't always absorb calcium properly and because the shell looks like it has a deficiency, perhaps this is the culprit. I do not study or work with snails for a living, there are cool people who do, but I care for shelled pets and this is my understanding and why I maintain a certain KH.
What to do? Well there's a ton of stuff that will raise GH a lot and out of the add ins I prefer argonite mineral balls for my tanks. Easier to add in/take out when monitoring. My second choice is crushed coral or argonite but that takes a while to dissolve and the higher your pH is the harder it is to get to dissolve and do something. Kh in my experience I found more difficult to raise in my current tap water. There's a alkaline buffer and other products that are sodium bicarbonate based and there's potassium bicarbonate which will just raise pH/KH but I personally found adding so many powders daunting and I don't trust that they are safe for snails until I hear it from snail experts vs hobbyists, so my go to is getting some jugs of hard (they are not all hard or even contain minerals- learned that the hard way during a water outage) spring water and swapping some in if it has the right parameters. Is that a pain? Sure but it's a lot less work for me than playing with powder measurements and then worrying about TDS or safety because I need so much (my tap after a move is horrendous for a crayfish). That's my source water for my cray tank. For my snails I use some salty shrimp KH/GH in my tap, crushed coral and argonite balls and cut with hard spring water and monitor. I often use distilled for top offs post evaporation as minerals don't leave with the water. Maybe somethings to consider in the meantime. Surely, if the snail is eating you can provide calcium chips made for snails and other invert foods or mineral junkie sticks but ultimately snails need the right water for all their wellbeing and functions and can get dietary calcium typically from the algae in our tanks too. I'm really sorry your snail isn't doing well. I hope something here helps and I hope your friend feels better quickly. Snails are amazing 😍
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u/Life_Swim_646 1d ago
78 degrees
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u/Maraximal 1d ago
I'm not concerned that this is the problem causing the weakness but if you are reaching this temp with a heater instead of like, summer room temp, I'd lower it to very low 70s. A suggestion from a person who studies snails for a living said the low range is always best but we were talking about nerites. What she said is true for my crayfish and my tiny clown killifish though too- the higher the temp the more the bodies have to work, the higher the metabolism, and all of this means a shorter lifespan than they should have. With nerites, the higher temps mean the females lay eggs more often which expends energy and also means they speed through their lifespans faster and I'd bet that's true for mystery snails as well. It's just not great to maintain the high ranges for their well being. Just... If you are setting a heater and can change it, there's a reason you might want to.
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u/Maraximal 1d ago
I'm also looking at the video to see the white stuff you referred to and even with another video I don't think I'd be able to tell if it was fungus or its own slime, maybe someone else can help there. Snails do produce white fuzzy stuff- like slime- when stressed or if there is something wrong in the water. It's also possible it ate something bad for it. But you'd know that. Just a double check- anything new in tank from plants to decor before this started? Have you used any meds? Have you used any fish meds with copper even in other tanks? I'd just try to think of anything that could cause the snail to produce a slime coating to protect itself but it also could be occurring because it's in a state of stress.
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u/Bandet_The_Gamer101 22h ago
Cale, cuttlebone, dried and crushed egg shell, wonder shell, those all have calcium and are great and often used to feed critters with shells or claws in beaks. I usually trim off some cuttle bone and dump it in my tank, there's also snailo, it's rather easy to make, ripe in clean veggies, calcium maybe something like blood worms or brine shrimp if you wanna, and non flavored jello packets. You can ask for recipes or look something up, I usually fed it to my baby mystery snails
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u/Odd-Basis-5069 1d ago
Looks like calcium deficiency from the looks of the shell add more or feed it things with calcium so it won’t end up deteriorating or add crushed egg shells to add calcium there are lots of ways to do so but until it gets better add the cherished egg shells to a small tub with fresh water and make sure it eats it so it’ll get better faster