Nassarius Snail Shell Sliding Off :/

[A30sguy]

Hmm, well I have about 5 nassarius snails in my 16gal. tank. But one of them has recently started to have some problems. His shell has started to slide off :( Its really kind of gross and I don't know what this is from. If someone knows what to do maybe I could help him a little. My levels are all doing well right now and I've even been putting in some liquid calcium occasionally because it's supposed to help with the health and strength of snails, etc.

Thanks
Ben

[drummereef]

Can you post a pic of it?

[A30sguy]

I'll try one sec, it was on the glass but now it's not.

[A30sguy]

Ok well my cameras acting crappy but I can describe it. His shell is much further back and you can see alot of its body, and a second layer of skin. It also has been sticking its tongue or feeder tentacle out for no reason and wrapping it back over its head and sticking it into the shell. The shell also sort of hangs to one side.

[A30sguy]

Actually, it looks like he might be growing a new shell underneath the one he has now and is getting ready to get rid fo the old one. Although I don't know if they do that.

[dc]

New shell grows with the present shell. You can usually see a different color around the edge to see new growth.

[A30sguy]

Hmm yea well thats not whats happening then :(

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8174969#post8174969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A30sguy
My levels are all doing well right now and I've even been putting in some liquid calcium occasionally because it's supposed to help with the health and strength of snails, etc.

You dose calcium on occasion? You need to keep it at a certain level. Many people dose it weekly, if not daily but they test for whatever they add.
How often do you test for alkalinity and calcium and what is your specific gravity, ammonia, nitrates and temperature?

[A30sguy]

My salinity level is at 20, my amonia is between 0 and .25, my nitrites are at 0, the temp is 74.7, and my nitrates are just starting to get a little high, they're at about 20 now I was about to do a water change. Im not sure how to test for alkalinity and calcium, but i only add about a 1/4 capful every week or two weeks, and I don't always do it. Also, none of my other snails seem to be having any problems, including my two turbo snails, and everything else in the tank looks happy too.

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8181976#post8181976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A30sguy
My salinity level is at 20.

What is that in SG?

Some animals may be more sensitive to something in the water than others but in any event I would still pick up an alkalinity test and calcium test and follow the instructions. I like salifert but there are others out there as well.

[A30sguy]

Thanks for the help. I'm not sure what you mean by SG but it's at 1.020 is that helps. It also looks like the snail is getting worse, I'm wondering if I should can him or something, even though I really don't like to do stuff like that.

[SuperNerd]

Oh thanks. Yes that is a little low. Bump it up to 1.023 and then later a little closer to 1.026.

[A30sguy]

wait but I have seahorses and I think theyre supposed to be at around 22 or 24

[A30sguy]

Hmm, ok, well this is a little gross, but the snail was going up the glass, at the top of the side of the tank, and I started my water change, and the gravity from the water level going down sucked his shell off and now he's going around the tank without a shell!! :S It's pretty gross to be honest, what should I do?

[SuperNerd]

22 or 24 is still higher than 20 so you'll be fine bumping it up (by the way can you write it in SG please?- I'm retarded when it comes to conversions).

I would separate it from the rest of the animals so it doesn't get eaten alive. I thought the shell was already off. How did it put it back on in the first place??

Do you have a pic?

[graveyardworm]

Yeah we need to see this.

[A30sguy]

hehe no I tried to get a pic and my camera wouldn't focus close enough to be able to tell what was going on. It's shell hadn't come off but was slowly liding further and further back on the body. Yesterday it was looking kind of bad and you could start to see more of the snail body, and then today it looked really bad and much worse, but sometimes it seemed like the snail would try to pull it back on a little, but it wasn't just the shell it was also acting weird and sticking its tongue out all over too. Then just a bit ago it actually came all the way out fo the shell and was flipping out all over the place and clearly wasn't doing well. After a few minutes it stopped moving and then just flipped out every minute or so, so I took it out cause it was definitely either dead or going to be. I just don't know why something like that would happen. And I definitely don't want to see that again :S

[A30sguy]

Yea ok I got a couple of pictures now. This is really weird though. I took him out right? Well hmm...how do I say this, we took him out of the bag we put him in, (by we I mean my girlfriend and I) and, well, he's still alive...sort of. He was cruisin around the paper plate we put him on to take the freakin picture! One sec i'll post the pics. :/

[A30sguy]

ok someone tel me how to post pics please?

[SuperNerd]

By separating I meant put it in the fuge, plastic cup, or something with aquarium water! :lmao:

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182399#post8182399 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A30sguy
ok someone tel me how to post pics please?

Use an image provider...thing (:lmao: )... like photobucket or load them into your gallery from your computer.

[A30sguy]

Yea now i got him in a snapple bottle with some aquarium water in it. Do my photos have to be weblinked?

[A30sguy]

ok one sec

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8182438#post8182438 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by A30sguy
Yea now i got him in a snapple bottle with some aquarium water in it.

hehehe The snapple scenario just sounded funny. :D I don't know about the web-linked thing. I've used photobucket in the past and to post images from an internet source RC needs an actual internet address.

[A30sguy]

OK here's my first try hope it works.

[A30sguy]

let me know if it works

[A30sguy]

Here's another one but this ones blury a little.

[SuperNerd]

Yes it works and yes that is definitely a snail without its shell. This happened to someone else on RC before. Has it been eating?

[A30sguy]

Yea gross huh, the past couple of days it has not been eating. And I'm definitely not hungry anymore either.

[graveyardworm]

Not hungry! Thats escargo my friend, and its already been deshelled.

[A30sguy]

hehe, hmm, well yea I guess I'm not a fan then, wow it looks so wrong.

[dc]

Wow, I've never even heard of them living out of their shells, I'm surprised something hasn't eaten it by now.