My snail is floating at the top of the tandk.Is he dead? He was in the tank with my beta fish and i think he ate the body and left the shell. What do you think?
2007-09-05 13:25:32 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Often times, a snail will climb the side of the tank to the top and try and feed off of fish flakes and other detritus floating at the surface of your tank. While doing this, the snail can accidentally trap oxygen (and other gases) in its shell, and on its way down to the bottom of the tank, if another fish or disturbance causes the snail to slip and hide (losing suction), it will cause the snail to float to the top of the tank because of the trapped air.
You should check the snail by picking it out of the tank and making sure his body is actually in the shell, and that the trap door which he uses to protect his insides is visible. If you do not see the trap door or the snail inside the shell, it is definitely dead. If he is there, try and tilt his shell under water and let the bubbles out, or just place him on some surface where he can right himself up again and be on his merry way.
2007-09-05 13:47:09 · answer #1 · answered by sommiso 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There is one easy way to check. Pick up the snail and look at the shell. If you can see inside and there's nothing in there, he's dead. If the trap door is closed, tap on it. If it's firmly shut, then your snail is just 'playing dead' (they do that sometimes) and is still alive. Once the snail is dead the muscle that holds the door closed will atrophy and the door will hang loose, not be tightly shut.
Also, just FYI, I have a male betta in with a baby apple snail in a 2.5 gallon tank and they get along fine. The betta watches the snail sometimes, but he doesn't even nip at his feelers, let alone try to eat him.
2007-09-05 15:03:45 · answer #2 · answered by Ghost Shrimp Fan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I am sorry, but your snail is dead. You should check the shell to see if it's still in there still. Next time you get a snail, but it in a tank that's seperate from the beta. I have two beta fish myself and beta's fight wen they're in the same tank. So if you get a fish, make sure the snail is safe! I hope this helped!
2007-09-05 13:40:56 · answer #3 · answered by Camel Lover 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Does the snail still have its opercolum (trap door) that he uses to cover the shell opening when he closes his shell? If not then he's probably dead.
2007-09-05 13:37:02 · answer #4 · answered by abnm 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋