Looks like the water is turning cloudy

I can't say positively, but it appears my water is kinda cloudy. I can't tell if the mystery snail is alive or not...I tapped on the shell and he didn't pull back inside. His shell was slightly open. When I fished him out, it was completely closed. I pulled him out and placed him in a cup of water from the tank. He's on the bottom. Do they float when they die?

I tested the water and everything checked out fine. All tests are normal (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ph).

 

Give the snail a sniff, you will know if it's been dead for a while as its the worst smell.

Can float or sink when dead from my experience.

 

Give the snail a sniff, you will know if it's been dead for a while as its the worst smell.

Can float or sink when dead from my experience.

Doesn't smell. He's in the cup and hasn't moved. I don't know if this is a problem...run out of air in the cup? I don't want to risk killing the betta in my tank.

 

Doesn't smell. He's in the cup and hasn't moved. I don't know if this is a problem...run out of air in the cup? I don't want to risk killing the betta in my tank.

it's a mystery snail, technically if it needs air that bad it can climb up the cup to the surface and extend it's air tube to breath from the air. I'd wait him out in the cup, if he gets short of air using his gills he make a break for the surface.

With your tank being 2.5 gallons, I wouldn't risk it polluting the tank and betta if it is dead. In an extreme case, you could pry the foot (door) open gently with steady pressure, if it's alive he should put it back closed once you release it.

 

Sounds like he is alive if he closes up when you take him out. There could be an issue with the water in your tank, mystery snails close up and stop being active if they don't like the water - and eventually die if nothing changes.

Was he always active and just now became inactive when the water got cloudy ?

 

Sounds like he is alive if he closes up when you take him out. There could be an issue with the water in your tank, mystery snails close up and stop being active if they don't like the water - and eventually die if nothing changes.

Was he always active and just now became inactive when the water got cloudy ?

There have been times when I thought he was dead before, but turned out he was just sleeping. This time he was just sitting still, half out of his shell. I tapped it with a chopstick and he didn't do anything. He's been in the cup for a long time now and hasn't moved.

I pulled him out coz I thought the water was cloudy. Everything was fine with the water when I tested it.

 

I was wrong. He was up moving around this morning. I put him back in the tank... Cancel red alert!

 

Update, the mystery snail died. He wasn't moving much over the last week. Found him floating today...smelled bad. Tested the water and there's no spike in ammonia or nitrates.