my snail is weird

[gale]

I have a single zebra nerite in my 5 gallon tank with a single male betta. The betta is pretty small-I think he's a juvenile maybe? He's so small he can't open his mouth big enough to eat a .5 mm pellet so I have to crush his food.

Anyway. The snail just sits there, never moving. He's not dead because when I put him in a jar (in the same tank) he will move around inside the jar. The jar is on its side so he could get out if he wanted but he stays in there. The only conclusions I could come up with is that 1) the betta is bullying him and so far, doesn't go in the jar. How the snail would know this is beyond me though. Or 2) the snail doesn't like the feel of the gravel on his foot.

Any opinions? Has anyone ever heard of a snail that didn't like gravel? LOL. I thought about pushing the gravel to the sides so the middle of the bottom is bare and see if that helps. My aquarium walls are getting algae on them and this snail is not being a very good cleaner. I'm concerned that he will starve in the jar.

 

[dogafin]

Hello! What is your water parameters, temperature and how old is your tank? For what I know nerite snails are mostly active at night. It's very normal to go inactive. They will even leave the water and sit out to dry for a long time. I usually find them stuck on rocks or on the side of the pylons out of the water out in the bay. They tolerate brackish environments and will actually only breed in brackish water. As long as your nerite snail isn't sitting on its back it wouldn't be cause for concern. Be advised that they cannot right themselves if they fall on their backs and die so you have to help them.

 

[gale]

Tanks is 5 gallons. It has been running empty (with the filter) since last summer but a few weeks ago I bought a seeded filter from angels plus and put that in there, and a few days later added the fish and snail. I've been doing weekly water changes since. I did one tonight and the parameters are pH 6.0 (I know that's low-not sure if I should fiddle with it), ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 5. I have one plant in the tank. Temp is 78-79.

My daughter has the same tank, same specs (also running empty since last summer, added the seeded filter at the same time as mine, use the same water, her temp is about 77-78). Her snail is very active. Even if he isn't moving he's stuck to a wall or something. Mine doesn't even have his foot out most of the time.

chemicals used are seachem replenish (because we use bottled ro water), amquel/novaqua. I have a bottle of prime which I am going to start using (assuming I can just switch without any problems?).