# Is my mystery snail still alive?



## aliboo (May 25, 2010)

Hello all,

I just registered here because I couldn't find what I was looking for on any website. I'm a beginning fish owner; my boyfriend got me a tank about 3 months ago as a gift. I didn't know anything about cycling or that it even existed, so it has been a learning experience to say the least.. I'm pretty much at my wits end at the moment because despite the $250+ that I've put into the tank and trying to maintain it lately, I have apparently done a terrible job because I can not keep a fish alive to save my life. My tank was doing well, until I moved and had to move all the tank material as well.. I spilled a bucket of water I was moving, and I think when I had to change a lot of the water, the tank started to cycle again. I have lost all but two of my fish now, and I'm left with a cory catfish and snail. The ammonia level was at 8 (if not higher, that was the max of my test kit) last week, and I'm pretty scared to check it now.. if the fish are going to die, they probably will regardless at this point because they have all been through more than 3 ammonia spikes at levels over 6ppm. The tank is a 10gallon, with 2 filters on it at the moment, a biowheel and the other is a cheapo topfin filter.

Anyway, now that everyone has the back-story.. I had a blue mystery snail die about 2 weeks ago.. now my other one (an ivory) has been inactive for over a week, he has not moved one inch.. his shell door is completely closed though.. but he also has weird little chunky looking white stuff growing around the edges of the shell door. This morning he was at the bottom of the tank and I moved him around with the fish net to try to see if he was okay.. I came in later and he was floating at the top of the water, the filter streams pushing him all over the place. My other snail did this a lot before he died too.

I'm confused if my snail is alive or not.. I can't really tell, but I don't want to keep him in the tank if he is dead because it will just make the water worse.. I also don't want to take him out of the water completely if he is alive.. I'm a huge animal lover in general and against animal cruelty, and it is definitely cruel imo to take water away from a snail if it is still alive. I don't want to kill him if hes okay!

I don't really know what to do about it all, or even what to do with him if he is dead. Bury him I guess? I know I should have researched before getting a fish tank and all that.. and I wish I had. It's turned out to be a big mess. I don't even know if I want to continue with trying to keep a tank if my last fish die.. it is pretty disheartening to lose so many fish after you put so much time and effort into trying to take care of them. Atleast I semi know what I do now though, and now I can try fishless cycling next time if I decide to keep on.

Thanks for reading, and please offer any advice that you can..


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## FishMatt (May 12, 2010)

You might try taking him out of the water and touch his foot if it dosn't retract it's dead. Because I had a mystery snail die a few week a go it didn't move for weeks and I thew it out and then me dum dum reads your suppost to touch it foot but if it hasn't moved it might be dead. You might try touching his foot just a guess.


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## aliboo (May 25, 2010)

Thanks for the reply fishmatt. His shell door is closed all the way, and the foot completely retracted inside though.. so I don't think that touching it would make a difference in being able to tell if he is alive..


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

In that case it's probably alive.


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Did you let your new water sit for a while? Or use clorine remover on it? Because city tap water is fortified with clorine to stop things from growing in it, but the clorine is bad for fish in aquariums.

As for the amonia i'm not sure what is causing it, did you leave your dead fish in the tank for any amount of time? You may want to buy some stuff to remove the amonia from the water as a temporary fix, but I hope someone on the forum can help you with figuring out what is causing the spikes.

I cant help you with the snail as I dont have mystery snails myself, though if hes growing things it sounds like he/she/it could be sick.

ps: I know its just me, but burrying a fish always seemed wrong to me, it would be like entombing a bird or a person underwater when they die.


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