Something wrong with my snails

[Coluber42]

I seem to have some sick snails, I think. Until yesterday I could usually find at least eight out of ten, often all ten. Then yesterday one snail was lying belly-up in one spot. I thought it was dead, but it would occasionally stick out a little bit and maybe grab at some sand a little, but never even stuck out enough to right itself. Earlier today was in the same condition, and now there are two more that look like they're in a similar state. And within the last hour or so, the first "sick" one has now withdrawn completely so the shell shows no sign of occupation. Is it a goner?

The shrimp still seem fine at least. But what's up with the snails? They've been in there a little longer, so if there's something bad in the water, maybe that's just how long it took to affect them?
Or maybe the sand I used is bad somehow, like particles that are too jagged or something else in it, that would affect snails and not shrimp? Toxic dust particles that fell in and snails ate them?

I only see one active snail. The rest are presumably buried in the substrate, hopefully sleeping the day away instead of pining for the fjords. Is this a change-all-the-water crisis? Wait and see? Put all the shrimp in something else before anything happens to them too?

[KenCotigirl]

I would wait and see. Your shrimp are fine. Change could end up hurting the shrimp.

Ken

[Coluber42]

So, my sick snails aren't dead yet, but they aren't happy - although the shrimp still look fine. I've now got three "sickos" in one corner and one sicko elsewhere. The sickos look like they keep trying to poke out of their shells, but can't for some reason. And there's something sticky or clumpy in that vicinity. Sometimes the sicko snails have had small clumps of sand stuck near their "feet". I even saw a shrimp wander by and get its legs stuck on something invisible that was attached to a fragment of macroalgae. The macroalgae sort of hung off behind it until it managed to get loose.

So it really looks like there's something the critters are getting stuck in/on/to? Whatever it is, I can't see anything with a magnifying glass. Should I pull the sickos out into a "hospital cup"? Scoop up the substrate in the corner that seems to be bad news for snails?

The rest of the snails look normal, and the baby snail still looks fine. But I really want to figure out what's wrong with the belly-up ones - I don't want to be a snail killer!

[Ace]

I would turn them right-side up so that they are not stuck and running out of air.

[Varanus]

The sticky clumps may be more a symptom than a cause of whatever is wrong with them. It may not apply to these snails but I know that when mystery snails (large freshwater snails that are popular in aquariums but often hard to keep healthy) are unhappy or sick they may produce a lot of excess mucus, creating slime like what you may be seeing.

[Coluber42]

Yeah, it could be something like that, I have no idea. But at this point it looks like I have five that are down for the count, and they are all the stripey kind with a whitish tip of the shell. They aren't dead; they still poke out a little and they react quickly if a shrimp runs over them. They maybe move a centimeter or two over the course of 24 hours, although they could just be getting rolled around by shrimp.

The more solid brown ones seem to be doing fine as of yesterday. I haven't seen any today, but they seem to burrow in the substrate and then come out in the afternoon, so maybe I'll see them out and about in a few hours. I've still been seeing the baby snail around as of yesterday, although it's too small to tell which kind it is.

But... I still don't know what to do, if anything. Should I take the sick snails out and quarantine them elsewhere? Should I write them off and order more snails (and ask for the brown kind?)? Leave everything alone and Drop an aspirin into the tank? (just kidding)

Plus, I now have a tank waiting on the cycling process that will go to my spouse's office. It has basically the same stuff in it as my first tank - same kind of sand, shells and rocks from the same place, a clump of macro algae out of my tank. So presumably if there's something in my tank that hurts snails, it's in the new tank as well. Sharp sand or something? No idea, but I could at least imagine a scenario where sharp sand affects the two species of snail differently. But regardless, I don't want to add animals to an environment that I have reason to think might be bad for them.

[Mustafa]

Hmmm...you know...why don't you do a 50-70% water change and see if that helps the snails? Sometimes the snails can actually be more sensitive to something than the shrimp.

[Coluber42]

So, day before yesterday I pulled out five sick snails and put them in a "hospital jug" with freshly mixed water and a couple of pebbles from the tank so there would at least be a little something to eat. They did stick out of their shells a little more and a couple of them even moved around a bit, which is more than they were doing in the main tank. Today I did a ~50% water change and put three of them back in the tank, and left the other two in the hospital. So we'll see which ones perk up better.

[Mustafa]

Oh good! That should solve the problem. Keep us up to date on this!

[Coluber42]

At the moment, one of the two left in the infirmary has actually snailed its way across the bottom of the jug it's in; the other has at least been seen the right way up today, although it isn't at the moment. The three that moved back after the water change look about like they did in the infirmary - still belly up, but two of them are sticking their heads out which they weren't doing before going into the infirmary.
As of today there was another belly-up one in the main tank that hadn't been there yesterday; it doesn't seem to have changed much since the water change.

I know it may take awhile for them to recover. But I'll be back here tomorrow, and then gone for a week. So I have to decide whether to put the sickos all back in the hospital, put the hospital patients back in the tank, or leave things as they are.
The "hospital" is a water jug with the top cut off, and about 1/3 of a gallon of water plus three small rocks in it, and water that was just mixed up two days ago. So while it shouldn't have whatever in the main tank was making the snails sick, it also doesn't have much algae or any other growth, hasn't cycled, etc. I'd appreciate any input y'all might have!

[Ace]

How long has this container been set up?

[Coluber42]

The "infirmary" has been set up for about three days. It's a jug that distilled water came in, with the top part cut off for easier access (it's covered though, so stuff can't fall in). The main tank has been set up for about six weeks or so.

The darker, more solid-colored snails are still looking fat and happy in the main tank. But all the lighter-colored, stripier looking ones are not looking so good.

Yesterday evening I moved them all over to the infirmary, because the ones in there seemed to be better off than the ones in the main tank even after the 50% water change. I've seen them get up and move some in the infirmary, but even there some of them are still belly-up (or have gotten back on their feet and then off again).

Today is my last work day before I leave for almost a week, so I have to decide where they're better off until I get back: main tank, infirmary jug, or new tank (that's only been set up for a week or so and has no critters in it).

[Ace]

Your main tank is where you are having an issue and the bacteria should be established there in the hardscape and sand. You could reset the tank by doing a %100 water change. If you do that, to be in the safe side, you could not feed them for a week or two afterward since the tank is a little young. It would give the bacteria a chance to build a little more and then when you do feed, it should be very little so you don't overwhelm the bacteria. Or you could do the reset and use a little instant cycle product just for the peace of mind.

I just reset my 9 gallon sphere, after having my shrimp in it for only six weeks, by doing a %100 water change. I had no issues.

[Coluber42]

Well, too late now. All the snails that had been looking sick are in the infirmary, and that's where I left them. I'll be back on Friday and see what things look like.

[Ace]

They should be alright there for a week.