I had posted another topic asking about this but didnt get any answers so I am asking again because I have more snails in the tank.


While I was vacuuming earlier I found a COMPLETELY empty snail shell. What happened to the snail that used to be IN the shell? what can cause this?

I had several snails at 1 point...5-6. They came in with a mature sponge filter I bought online which was cool with me ....of that batch I have NONE left and I dont know what happened to the rest, this is the first time I've seen an empty shell tho.

Right now I have an apple snail and another tiny snail that came with him and I dont want anything bad to happen to them if something in my tank isn't snail friendly.

What fish do you have in the tank??? Do you over feed? those other snails normally eat leftovers and they could have starved to death and rotted away.

eh hadn't thought of that. I wasn't "feeding" the tank anything except ammonia since I was doing a fishless cycle...duh. I guess I thought there was enough algae in the tank to feed them I guess....silly me

Yeah the little snails that generally come with plants and stuff eat mostly left over food the fish leave behind. maybe the person you got them from will give you more if you want them. Are you feeding the mystery snail?? They need to be feed too or they will starve. I feed mine algae wafers, shelled peas, green beans, spinach, letuce (not iceburg) and zucchini. You need to wieght the food down or boil it for a few minutes till it sinks.

This post has been edited by tangokitty: Jul 5 2008, 04:25 AM

No I havent been putting anything in special for him...just overfeeding the fish a bit so there is some left on the bottom for him. Guess I'll have to get him something. I feel like a total dummy now LOL. Glad you told me so I dont starve him.

are canned peas okay if I take the shell off of them or do they need to be fresh peas?

The ammonia may have been what killed them. Not sure how sensitive snails are in general, but the last time I got an ammonia spike, I lost a good few trumpet snails, though my apple snail didn't care. The empty shell could either be from the snail decomposing, or the surviving snails may have eaten him and left the shell. Keep a lettuce leaf in the tank. If you want to keep the snails, just pick them off and put them back when you remove he lettuce.

Just buy a cheap bag of frozen peas. That's what I use, then i microwave them in a little shot glass amount of water for 10 seconds to thaw then, pinch off the shells and drop them in.

Here are three mystery snails all on one pea.

This post has been edited by tangokitty: Jul 5 2008, 05:00 AM