I Washed My Nerite Snail In The Dishwasher!

[mitch70]

After some good advice on this Forum a few days ago I bought a couple of Zebra Nerite snails for my tank, I also decided to give my tank an overhaul so today I took put all the fake decorations and replaced them with rock and bogwood from my LFS.
 
 
I carefully checked all the decorations as i took them out (at least thought I had) looking for snails or shrimp.
 
 
Any way I got my tank all set up and really pleased with the more natural look. My better half was nagging me into cleaning the old decorations properly before I stored them away. I had the brilliant idea of putting them in the dishwasher (no detergent etc) I set it off on a 35 degree watch and went to my LFS to collect my long anticipated BN Pleco.  
 
 
I got the BN in ,again feeling pleased with my self and went to take the decorations out of the dishwasher, as I did I heard something fall and assumed it was just some gravel that had been lodged in one of the decorations, on closer inspection to my horror it was a Zebra Nerite  Snail!
 
 
I quickly picked him up and have placed him back in the tank, hoping against hope he may of survived.
 
Going to keep a close eye on him for the next hour and if no movement will have no choice but to remove him.
 
 
Man I feel like a killer!     

 

[Baccus]

Easily done accidentally washing a pet ( my Mum once accidentally washed one of my green tree frogs that lived loose in the house

 in a washing machine ), if the water wasn't boiling then I would think the snail should have a good chance of surviving.
The biggest issues would be any damage done to the shell while it went for its wild ride in the dish washer, and if there was any residual cleaning chemicals in the dish washer.
 
In future I would suggest just leaving any ornaments out in the sunlight. Between drying and the natural germ killing properties of sunlight will kill any algea or other water living pathogens that the ornaments maybe harbouring.
 
I hope your snail pulls through. Will need a name like Hero if it does

 

[Noahsfish]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who laughed out loud reading this title. Hope the poor little guy makes it, I normally just rinse with cool tap water in a sink with the drain plugged.
Oh and by the way cleaning all your decor can be a bad idea as it will remove bacteria, if the tank is overstocked and you cleaned all your decor it could even cause a mini cycle (not likely).

 

[Ruskull]

Good point Noahsfish.

 

[mitch70]

Sadly he didn't make it, I feel so guilty.
 
The decor was placed in the dishwasher because I have totally rescaped my tank, it was been cleaned before getting stored away for the forseeable future.

 

[DrRob]

Baccus's suggestion is a good one, although it's worth considering that we need to find methods that work in the UK, given that we celebrate if the sun is actually visible.
 
I've used UV lamp before on decor, but then I had nasty UV lamps at work to do it with.

 

[Applesnailgirl]

Poor little dude! Don't beat yourself up too bad, I'm sure he had a great time before he decided the tank life wasn't for him. He's going to have one heck of a time up in snail heaven best of luck!!!

 

[thrujenseyes]

Aw man, don't be too hard on yourself.
I did something similar a million years ago when I decided to scrub some algae off of a hollowed out rock.
Shook it off really good. Thought I inspected it. Placed into the sink with super hot water and out swam a loach.
I screamed like a girl (which thankfully I am) as I saw him dart thru the scolding water.
I reached in and luckily caught him quickly and ran him back to the tank.
Thankfully he survived. But I feel you on the horror of realizing you've just done something awful.
Sorry yours didn't make it but like Applesnailgirl said above....he'll have a great story to tell once he gets to snail heaven!

 

[goliaph]

Oh my god... I remember how once I accidentally put my daughter's pet hamsters in the washing machine. Yes, you would think that I am crazy, but it happens once in life, no? Well, I forgot I had put them in my coat pocket while my daughter was washing their cage. I regret to inform you that they're dead. Now, I must inform my daughter. Our dishwasher from ianboer.com.au was so programmed that it worked for 2 hours. My heart broke when I discovered that the hamsters are dead.

 

[Retired Viking]

This is a very old post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from 2013 so allow it to close.

 

[trash.binh91]

This is a very old post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from 2013 so allow it to close.

Might I say though, if the dishwasher kills snails....then.....hmm....