# crazy apple snail. help



## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

I have an aqua clear 70 filter for my 30 gallon tank. the intake tube has little slats that are about 1/8 wide openings. somehow my apple snail managed to squeeze most of its body inside one of these openings to eat the algae growing inside the intake tube. I noticed him in there yesterday morning and this morning i noticed he was still there. 

I am worried that he may be stuck inside there and not able to come out. tonite when i get home from work i am going to take the intake tube off and break it open to get him out.

I know that apple snails can breathe air, but do they have to breathe air and if so how long can they go without breathing air. i am worried that by the time i get around to getting him out of there that he will have died. i just bought him a few days ago....i don't want him to die already.

what do you suppose he was thinking squeezing himself through such tiny holes like that and do you think he could get himself out or not? 

some of his body is still inside his shell but most of it is inside the intake tube of the filter. how did he manage to squeeze through those tiny holes like that?

--Angel


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I hate to tell you to turn off your filter, but the snail may not be able to retract with the filter sucking on it. Better would be to swap the intake tube for a spare or, if its in 2 pieces, take off the part with the snail and put a sponge over the remaining tube. Filter intakes often have a lot of food sucked up against them, your snail was just hungry.


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

yeah there is a lot of algae growing inside of there. but when i took the tube off the main body of the filter he came right out. so it probly was the suction that was keeping him locked in there. i just hope he doesn't decide to do that again.

right now though he is laying closed up on the bottom of the tank. i just hope he didn't get too stressed by the whole ordeal.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

give him a few days to recover, he will likely need it. (imagine if you were stuck halfway into a vaccume overnight ). Deffinitely keep an eye on him both over the next few days to ensure he recovers and then over the next while to ensure he doesnt do it again. If he does, go to your LFS and purchase a filter sponge, then cut a verticle slit into the sponge and slide it over the intake of the filter. This is a good method for when you are worried about animals being pulled into your filter. However you do have to clean the sponge every week or two by pulling it off and rinsing it in water untill the gunk is gone. When the sponge breaks down simply buy a new one.

Another thing you could do (though ive never had much luck with it with my apple snails) is to feed them algae waffers.


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

He must be quite small to fit in there. What I do sometimes is wrap a piece of mesh fabric around the intake tub and hold it on with a rubber band. Also if he doesn't move for a few days that's very common with them. I have had big ones that will just lay closed up for days at a time and I'm thinking they're dead then suddenly one day they wake up.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

If there's one thing I've learned in this hobby, it's that stuff happens. My first would be tank would have been a 75 gal. My friend was downsizing his leopard geckos tank, so I traded him my 20. An hour after it was filled, 10 gallons of water on my floor.  

Advice? Oh, I don't have any, other than don't drop a penny in your tank. (Captain Obvious, AWAY!!!!!!)


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## koldsoup (Dec 14, 2010)

Make sure you keep an eye on it. Someone else has a similar problem and it damaged the snail's foot and it didn't make it. I agree about covering the intake with a filter sponge; it will help avoid unnecessary casualties...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

rubber bands and mesh can work for a few days, but they usually clog or get sucked into the filter and end up restricting the flow. IME a sponge works much better.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Also due to stress your snail could stay in his shell for a day or two, dont be alarmed and dont disturb him while he is like this, just leave him alone (if you move him a lot it could freak him out more, or cause it to become harder for you to remember/notice if he moves from the last place you put him). If after 3 days he still hasnt moved and is in his shell pull him out, if he smells rank or falls out of his shell hes dead, otherwise put him back and give him more time.


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## squeekee35 (Feb 9, 2010)

yeah he didn't make it. i didn't disturb him or anything but yesterday i saw the other snail right at the opening to his shell...so i thought either they were matting or the one was eatting the other one.....well the second thing turned out to be true. my one snail ate the other one...so i guess being stuck in the intake tube killed him. 

i just hope the second snail doesn't get the same bright eyed idea.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

he most likely wont, as i said before just keep a close eye on your second one to ensure that nothing happens, and if something does then take the precautions mentioned earlier.

Im sorry to hear that your snail died .


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