# Mystery Snail Mystery



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

At the end of February I got 5 baby mystery snails from a snail breeder. She has been breeding and raising mystery snails for a while. These ones were about the size of peas. I acclimated them to my 10 gallon tank where they lived alone with my African dwarf frog. The tank is still going through the cycle (because I switched from gravel to sand), so I have been changing the water every other day using Prime as my conditioner since I got them.

For the first few weeks, they were fine. I made a jello food for them, the same that the breeder fed them, and also blanched kale and broccoli for them. After those few weeks, I noticed that my frog had started to pick on them. I bought a divider and separated them from the frog. For the first few days, they didn't do much moving. I assumed they were still in shock from the frog picking on them. 

A week later there was still little to no movement. I kept placing food in the tank for them and they refused to touch it. At this time, I was talking to the breeder and we were trying to figure out what else could be wrong, but before we could come up with anything, I lost both of the ivory snails.

She wasn't sure what was wrong, but came up with a few different thigns I could try. I lowered the temperature slowly to 76, used twice the amount of Prime (in case there was any copper in the water) and started adding a few drops of liquid calcium every few days along with a cuttle bone floating in the tank because my GH and KH were a little low.

The remaining 3 snails seemed to perk up a little. I found them roaming around the tank and climbing on the sides again, but still not eating the foods I tried to give them. There was a lot of green algae in my tank though so I was not worried about them starving.

Over the past few days however, they have stopped moving again. I found them flipped over and hanging out of their shells the other day and they haven't moved from there since. Today I did another water change and moved them all to the front so I could see them easier. Now one of the 3 seems to be peeking out of his shell a little, but the others are closed up and not moving.

I've posted in my other forum and have been talking to the breeder but we can't think of anything else that could be killing the snails. I've done everything we can think of and the snails don't seem to be improving.

I need some more ideas before I lose my remaining 3 snails.


----------



## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Make sure whatever you're feeding your frog doesn't contain copper.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

The only things I feed him are frog pellets, algae wafers, peas, and blood worms/brine shrimp. There is no copper listed in the ingredients of the frog pellets or algae wafers. Also, the snails haven't had access to his food for the past 2 weeks because he is on the other side of the divider.


----------



## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

Just making sure, and depending on the type of divider, things could still drift through.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

That's true, but I don't think it's the frogs food. The snails were fine for the first few weeks and I don't recall making any changes right before they started acting funny. I think it may be something in the water that was gradually wearing on them. The Prime would take care of heavy metals though so I'm not sure what else it could be.


----------



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

I'm pretty sure I lost the remaining 3 snails. One was up and moving around for a short amount of time last night, long enough to climb up a plant, but is now upside down and not moving again.


----------



## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

The first time I tried snails they all died. I bought a few ramshorns, mystery snails, mts, and bladder snails a couple months ago and they have now bred crazily fast and have taken over the small guppy fry tank. Maybe it is all to chance. I never figured out what killed the first batch.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

I had a nerite in this tank before I moved it over to one of my other tanks (that tank is in a different house with a different water source) and it is still perfectly healthy. 

I am leaning towards something being in the water right now. Maybe there is more copper than can be removed by the Prime? I am going to test for copper because I would like to keep and eventually breed Mystery Snails in this tank if I can figure out what is killing these ones.

It's really unfortunate because I have been talking to this breeder for months about buying some Mystery Snails. I finally got them and now they are all dieing.

Thank you for the ideas though.


----------



## TheJakeM (May 11, 2013)

You're welcome. Also do you have copper pipes, or get water from a hose? Not entirely sure about the pipes but I know hoses have lots of metals and chemicals. I use the sink and we have plastic instead of cast iron or copper. So I don't know about those.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Kirrie (Jan 18, 2013)

I'm not exactly sure at the moment. I will check on that tomorrow though. What would I do if I do find copper pipes or copper in the water source? Obviously the added Prime isn't doing anything to help, or isn't enough to handle the amount of copper in the water.

It wasn't bothering my nerite snail, but I guess she wasn't in this tank too long before I moved her and a small amount of copper would have taken more time to kill her.


----------

