Nerite Snail Issues

[LHanna61]

Hi Everybody--
I feel like I know the answer but I'm looking for someone to give me a silver lining.

I have a few nerite snails, maybe 10 in total) that are constantly flipped upside down and not moving from their spots.
For the past two weeks I've been flipping them back over so they are right-side-up.
None of them smell bad and they are all still responsive to touch.

WHY I think they are doing this is NOT because of water parameters per say but instead of shock?
I had to move them to different tanks over the course of one month in order to treat the original tanks with some meds to kill a mini hydra outbreak that was starting. The only difference in the parameters between the tanks was the temperature so I didn't acclimate them (very much so yelling at myself for that decision.) The temps were a MAXIMUM of 4 degrees off so I didn't think it would do much harm.


It's been two weeks and there has been no change in behavior. I've done a couple 10% water changes spread out (maybe four in the past two weeks) and still no change.

Are they dying? Are they hibernating?
Thoughts on what I can do to remedy the situation?

 

[richie.p]

hi Hanna there was something like this a little while ago and sadly that snail died, but they are strange crustations and if they don't smell they're ok, i think there's a lot more going on that we don't understand. mine sometimes sleep above the water line and after a few days even a week they return to the water and iv'e seen them do the same thing and wonder if they turn upside down to expel air that's been trapped while out of the water but that's my theory

 

[LHanna61]

hi Hanna there was something like this a little while ago and sadly that snail died, but they are strange crustaceans and if they don't smell they're ok, i think there's a lot more going on that we don't understand. mine sometimes sleep above the water line and after a few days even a week they return to the water and iv'e seen them do the same thing and wonder if they turn upside down to expel air that's been trapped while out of the water but that's my theory

That's a fair theory. Prior to this odd behavior, I could always find them out of the water and they would go back in and graze as needed.
Very odd crustaceans, indeed.

 

[LHanna61]

Update: All neuritis died within three days of each other :/
Only my mystery snail and chopstick snails survived.

 

[kallililly1973]

Update: All neuritis died within three days of each other :/
Only my mystery snail and chopstick snails survived.

Has to be something to do with the water parameters for 10 nerites to die in 3 days sorry to say. I've moved nerites from tank to tank with no ill effects. I can usually gauge when a WC is due when i see them above the water line even though i do religious 5-7 day WC's..

 

[richie.p]

I agree there is some toxic leaching ether from the substrait or ornaments or there is a plant that's poisonous to them, can you once again do all the water tests available to you and let us know

 

[LHanna61]

Sorry for the long response:

I tested on Friday (before and AND after doing a 15% water change to all of my tanks). I can definitely do it again but at this point, I know it's not the water from any obvious readings of tests I have in my possession. I tested GH (8), KH (5), Ammonia (0), Nitrite (0), Nitrate (5), PH (7.5), TDS (370-420 depending on the tank; I use tap), Phosphates (0 or .25, hard to tell) and even threw in a copper (0) test (am I missing any that I should be looking into?).

The only change in my tanks is that I recently dosed with Panacure-C to get rid of some Hydra that appeared (mentioned in first post). Two weeks after Panacure was dosed and water changes were done-- I did four 10% WCs I believe, over those two weeks (one tank also had a brand new (rinsed) bag of activated charcoal in it) I split the ten snails into two different tanks. From there I dosed the third tank with Panacure.

In addition to the nerites, I have two mystery snails and five (?) Chopstick snails and they are all doing well. I DID have a scare with my mysteries but they bounced back (one prior to the nerites dying and the other after the nerites died).

I'm 99% sure it has to do with the meds. Rest assured, I consulted this forum prior to dosing and prior to putting the snails back in. I did a "test" and the nerite and chopstick snail I put in first tank were completely fine. I think I waited three or four days? Then I added in the rest of the nerites and that's when things got super funky.

Is it possible that the hydra infected one of the snails and it caused an outbreak? I watched one of the hydra literally zap one of the nerites. And pretty much all of them had a white moldy fuzz on them when individually it because their time.


Any thoughts or theories are accepted and appreciated!

 

[richie.p]

If your ph is correct at 5 your tank as crashed and lost its cycle, test you other tanks and tap water to see what they are

 

[LHanna61]

If your ph is correct at 5 your tank as crashed and lost its cycle, test you other tanks and tap water to see what they are

I SINCERELY apologize-- I meant to type 5 for Nitrate and 7.5 for PH-- I will edit that

 

[richie.p]

O thats better but still nowhere closer to solving this mysterious tank i am totally at a block on this on is there anyone who can shed some light as to whats going on here.
can you post a pic of the tank please Hanna

 

[LHanna61]

Certainly! Here's all three tanks (5,10 and 30)-- all attached.

Towards the end of their lives, I had about 4 nerites in the 10g (with my BEAUTIFUL betta-- in the pic ), 5 in the 30g and 1 in the 5g. All other snails are alive. I have a ton of shrimp including babies and none of my fish have died or seem ill (spread out in the tanks, in their selective groups; I have gold cloud minnows, orange finned danios, betta, neon tetras and a dwarf goby. I also have yellow shrimp in the 10g and blue in the 30g and 5g)

The 10g and 30g are both run on canister filters and have activated charcoal in them and the 5g runs on a corner filter with media powered by an air pump (no charcoal).

The ONLY thing I can think of (which wasn't mentioned in the forum I got my medication instructions from) was that I probably should have heavily rinse the sponges from the filters? I did end up taking the 10g canister apart and lightly squeezed them out (not aggressively though as the sponges were relatively new the the tank (only a month or so old).

Here's the tanks though

 

[richie.p]

So I'm reading this right there are shrimp in all the tanks

 

[LHanna61]

So I'm reading this right there are shrimp in all the tanks

That is correct and thriving! babies all over the place

 

[richie.p]

Then theres nothing wrong with the tanks, if there was your shrimp would be dead, snails and shrimp are the first to go with any sort of toxins, this may be one never to be explained but I'm not happy with unexplained, this as now put me at a total loss

 

[LHanna61]

RIGHT!?!
This brings me back to my only theory which was that one nerite got infected with a wound or something from the hydra and then that caused a chain reaction? However, to debunk that, I have almond leaves and drift wood in my tanks AND I even dosed with a liquid botanical extract (which I have been doing for months)
So I'm really not sure. I've had them all for months probably 7 months at this point so I know they were healthy.

Very, very weird.

 

[richie.p]

Hydra will kill they paralyse the victim which leads to death, now have you treated all the tanks for hydra

 

[LHanna61]

I have, it's been a couple weeks and I haven't seen any pop back up