How Do You Tell If An Apple Snail Is Dead?

[SamUK]

title says it all really but i dont think the snails moved since last night or this morning atleast and its not totally back in its shell.

tried moving it a lil and it didnt move at all but it jus seems a weird position to die in unless it had some sort of heart attack and jus died really quick.

thought i best check hes not in some sort of hibernation or something tho before i got him out?

 

[timmystood]

With my Giant African Land Snails (not the same I know) but I put them all in one place.. wait 24hrs and see which ones haven't moved.. if any haven't moved then I wait another 48 hours.. then get help!

 

[SamUK]

so u dont trust there dead either lol.


its jus when fish die they normally seem to kno its gonna happen and sit somewhere or i imagine a snail would fully retract its head.

he hasnt done either.


jus dont fancu him starting to smell or something so if hes dead i want him out.

 

[voo]

I've actually had 3 large apple snails die on me recently, in different tanks, for no reason. They were almost in their shells and weren't totally dead, but they never moved. They were on their backs and slowly moving in and out of their shell. I just left them to it, thinking maybe they were just feeling lazy or something, but after having not moved for a week, they died

 

[ox5477]

I have a mystery snail that is very similar.... I think he might be dead as he hasn't moved much in bout a week... haha... but I'm hoping he will recoup. I pick him up to clean the sand every week and he seems to move from where I placed him to clean the sand but then he ends up on his back and not moving again

 

[Arfie]

Several snails of the genus Pomacea aestivate buried in the mud depending on the temperature and the amount of available food and water, whilst in other regions the same species are active during the whole year. So apparently it's not necessary for them to hibernate. Rather consider it as a survival strategy that's only used during difficult periods of scarcity.

Taken from Apple Snail.net

Take the snail out of the tank and have a quick sniff. A dead snail will STINK , trust me on this it's vile, I actually retched when I smelled mine. Also they are meant to fall out of the shell as once they are dead, the muscle can't keep the shell closed, but mine remained closed.

Arfie

 

[SamUK]

eating my dinner right now so ill think ill save that one for later

 

[eschaton]

When apple snails are sick/dying, they often "almost" close up, with only a slight bit of their foot showing. If they're torpid enough, they'll even not close up completely when you take them out of the water, but a good push on their trapdoor should cause em to move.

Once they die though, the trapdoor does open. It's pretty unmistakable.

 

[SamUK]

yea i picked him up and he was a bit floppy then started to fall apart

smelt nice too.



dnt kno what killed him, my bettas fine.


still trying to woop itself at the back of the tank lol.

 

[FroggFrogg]

Yea my snail just fell out of his shell when he died, it wasn't pretty and a swift water change followed!