I can’t believe this happened (snail death)

[Skrabbitskrabbit]

Oh no. I really cannot believe it. So on this past Friday, I “rescued” a mystery snail my friend had been keeping. It was living for months in deplorable conditions in a 5 gallon tank. She’d previously had fish and other snails in with this gold mystery snail and I’m 98% sure the last water change was done by -me- while I was pet sitting their dog back in late June of 2021 (all fish had previously perished &there were only snails) So,... pretty yucky. And I also had been periodically checking in to see if they just wanted me to take their aquatic pets (2 snails) so they could break the tank down like they seemed to want, and also get rid of the old fish water smell going on in the kitchen.

SO OF COURSE I KILLED THE IMMORTAL SNAIL

When I came to get the snail, it had spent 2 nights in a quart size jar.
Told them not to feed it bc. didn’t want the water to get yucky (it was yucky anyway). Put it in a bag and floated it and then slowly added in some of my clean aquarium water and then eventually put it in its new “home” which now seems like it was actually the snail’s doom . It spent the last 4 days cruising the large tank in a seemingly normal way. SIP big girl :’(

Do y’all think it was the drastically different water conditions that did her in, or maybe this was just terrible timing and the snail was already on its way out :/

 

[KrissyBunnie]

I'm no expert on aquariums, but in my experience snails are extremely hardy. I have a snail tank that isn't even cycled or conditioned, it's just literally storage. Never had a snail die in it.

Whenever I find one in the main tank I just plop it into there. When they get big I give them to my sister to feed her cichlids.

I know mystery snails can be a bit more sensitive. I'm assuming your tank was already cycled when you added it?

 

[Skrabbitskrabbit]

I know mystery snails can be a bit more sensitive. I'm assuming your tank was already cycled when you added it?

Yes, tank has been cycled and established for a long while and has other healthy inhabitants

 

[BigManAquatics]

I would have probably skipoed the drip acclimation part. Adding back oxygen to already yucky and probably ammonia filled water probably made the ammonia super toxic and caused damage to the snail that it couldn't recover from. It is why when getting shipped fish you just temp acclimate.

You made sure to not let its old water into your tank?

 

[Skrabbitskrabbit]

You made sure to not let its old water into your tank?

Yes, I picked it out of the bag and wiped the shell off with a paper towel so no water mixed in

I would have probably skipoed the drip acclimation part. Adding back oxygen to already yucky and probably ammonia filled water probably made the ammonia super toxic and caused damage to the snail that it couldn't recover from. It is why when getting shipped fish you just temp acclimate.

Aaaaaah gotcha. I wasn’t aware, I’ll keep that in mind if I get anything in the mail in the future!

 

[KrissyBunnie]

I would have probably skipoed the drip acclimation part. Adding back oxygen to already yucky and probably ammonia filled water probably made the ammonia super toxic and caused damage to the snail that it couldn't recover from. It is why when getting shipped fish you just temp acclimate.

You made sure to not let its old water into your tank?

I thought drip exclamation was safe? How does adding oxygen to ammonia-filled water make it toxic? Not arguing just curious.

 

[BigManAquatics]

I thought drip exclamation was safe? How does adding oxygen to ammonia-filled water make it toxic? Not arguing just curious.

Prime Time Aquatics does a video on it. Gets pretty science-y, but basically opening up a container like a bag that has been collecting fish poop etc for awhile, the oxygen + ammonia is disastrous. Now, liek coming home from a fish store, drip acclimation is fine, since usually the fish is not in the bag long, ammonia doesn't get to build up. But, if you have fish shipped from somewhere, drip acclimation will usually do more harm, since many cases you are talking 2+ days in bags anyway. Often kills the fish outright or makes it pretty sick and dies a couple days later.

 

[KrissyBunnie]

Prime Time Aquatics does a video on it. Gets pretty science-y, but basically opening up a container like a bag that has been collecting fish poop etc for awhile, the oxygen + ammonia is disastrous. Now, liek coming home from a fish store, drip acclimation is fine, since usually the fish is not in the bag long, ammonia doesn't get to build up. But, if you have fish shipped from somewhere, drip acclimation will usually do more harm, since many cases you are talking 2+ days in bags anyway. Often kills the fish outright or makes it pretty sick and dies a couple days later.

I like science-y... I'll have to check that out, thank you!