Mystery Snail Isn't Moving?

Ten gallon tank, ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrate 5, temp 78 F. My Ivory Mystery snail has been in the same place for about a week now and I'm starting to get concerned. I know snails tend to lay low for days at a time, but even then they move a little, even just to change position (prime example ime is my rabbit snail who gets very lethargic when she's pregnant). The snail smells normal (they smell gross when they die, right?) and when I touch him he reacts. His operculum is currently tightly closed, but he's been hanging out of his shell for most of the week.

Is there anything that could be causing this? Is he just old? I've had him for about six months and he measures about 2 inches across.

 

They do take long naps at times. It's a good sign that he will react when you touch him. What do you feed him?

 

I make snail jello for all my snails, made of HikarI algae wafers, gerber green bean baby food, HikarI micro pellets, berry flavored Tums, and Knox unflavored gelatin. None of the other snails are doing what he's doing.
(The tank has another mystery Snail, a black devil snail, an adult golden rabbit snail and three very recent baby rabbits).

 

I wouldn't worry about things just yet esp if the other snails are doing ok.

 

Alright. Should I be helping him breathe? Mystery snails have to go to the surface to breathe, right? I've been picking him up and giving him air every other day or so, it makes him come out of his shell and wave his air tube. He hasn't tried to go breathe on his own.
Also is there a time frame for when I should be more concerned?

 

I'm thinking if he doesn't move for more than a week, I'd be concerned but it is a good sign that he is at least responding. I would put him in a floating breeder and add a couple of stem plants. He would then have easier access getting to the surface if he needed to and it would allow you to keep a close eye on him. Leave a fresh veggie in the breeder so he can eat if he wants. And yes, I would pick him up for air for a couple of minutes each day.

 

Thanks for the advice! I'm now beginning to worry that there's some kind of fungal infection? He's been waving his antennae and such, but he hasn't really come out of his shell until today when I lifted him for air; I noticed that he has some kind of grey-green fuzzy stuff stuck to the bottom of his foot, which may be why he's kept his foot curled up all this time?
Should I try to see if I can remove it?

I'll try to include pictures, I don't know if the quality is good enough to see what his foot is curled around, but it's definitely fuzzy, almost like algae?

 

Hmm I've never seen that before so I can't be sure what it is. His foot does look strange though.

 

So I should just go with the breeder and watch to see if whatever that is gets worse?

 

I would, yes. Make sure the water is in pristine condition as well.

 

Alright, thank you!

 

Why do Mystery Snails not move for days at a time? My snail was a whizz around the tank for the first 3 months but now Dusty has moved very little. I smelled him too and that's ok. I yhink hus shell got bigger too.

 

Do you have any fish in the tank with the snails? My first thought is that maybe the fish are being really aggressive with him, causing him to perpetually keep closed up in his shell for protection

 

Do you have any fish in the tank with the snails? My first thought is that maybe the fish are being really aggressive with him, causing him to perpetually keep closed up in his shell for protection

Hi, thank you for your reply. I have 4 Serpas, 3 Cory Catfish, 4 ADF and 1 Garra Rufa. Nobody really bothers anybody. I have picked up Dusty the snail and see him move- close up tighter- he does travel a little bit but when I first got him we was whizzing everywhere. Really fun to watch. I had the water retested at LFS and all was fine. I did not know about making calcium available to him so I will do that. I'm putting a slice of zucchinI in the tank tonight but I am finding it hard to keep it from floating to the top. I'm going to put a long screw deep in the gravel to try to keep it anchored. Do the snails ever get back to their busy activity later? How long do these 'rest' periods last?

 

Blanching the zucchinI will make it sink. I put mine in a cup with a small amount of water and microwave it for 30 seconds. Some people say this gives them water quality issues, but I've never had any problems since I only give my snail what he can eat in a day or two. I do this instead of holding it to the substrate because I like watching my snail pick the whole thing up with his foot as he eats it.

My snail has had periods of about a week or so where he hardly moved and honestly looked dead, but then spontaneously went back to his normal self.

 

Blanching the zucchinI will make it sink. I put mine in a cup with a small amount of water and microwave it for 30 seconds. Some people say this gives them water quality issues, but I've never had any problems since I only give my snail what he can eat in a day or two. I do this instead of holding it to the substrate because I like watching my snail pick the whole thing up with his foot as he eats it.

My snail has had periods of about a week or so where he hardly moved and honestly looked dead, but then spontaneously went back to his normal self.

Thank you for the zucchinI tip! Right now my Garra Rufa is lovin' it. My snail says 'meh...' lol... I do feel better that you told me your snail does the 'do not disturb' thing too. So I guess I will keep an eye on him and let him do his thing.

Do you know if there is a category for how to deal with people food and fish? Like the pro tip you gave me, I'm sure there are other things to do and the best way to do it for other fish people too.

Well, thank you again! You've been a great help

 

I post a lot of my questions in the freshwater beginners section, but if you go to freshwater > equipment there's a place you can post about food/feeding specifically

 

I post a lot of my questions in the freshwater beginners section, but if you go to freshwater > equipment there's a place you can post about food/feeding specifically

Thank you! I'm headed there now

 

HI , just a little follow up.. maybe it will help someone else.. my Mystery Snail -Dusty, stopped moving for a good week or more.. I looked on this amazing site and got a lot of info. and comforting advice ( thank you Ryleigh J ) Well when Dusty started moving more I noticed he GREW! He had a new 'ring' on his shell. It was whiteish-opaque like. Well, now he is acting like his old self and now the opaque part is darkening up and looking like the rest of his shell. My thoughts are he had an exausting growth spurt and needed rest and hid to be safe. He did not do this any other time as he grew but this is a significant width of the ring this time. Anyway, thanks for your help all!

 

So the mystery snail in question that I made the post for unfortunately passed away, but I did a bit of research and found that sometimes mystery snails just... do that? Go dormant for a month or two and then die. Some kind of snail condition, possibly. The only non-inverts in the tank are salt and pepper cories, so it definitely wasn't harassment. Just and unpdate, in case people were interested!