When to euthanize an old mystery snail

Ive had her for more than a year, so I’m guessing it’s old age although I had no idea they only lived to a year before i googled it. Is that true?
I got her from petco and she came pretty rough, she never really healed and she’s had shell problems her whole life despite getting proper care. Gradually she’s become less and less active and right now she spends 60% floating in the water inside her shell with her antennas curled up and she looks swollen, 30% on the glass but still not moving, and the other 10% moving around to eat.
She used to lay a lot of egg clutches but stopped maybe 2 or 4 weeks ago.
I did have an ammonia spike because of an unnoticed dead snail, but I did a WC and have been being extra careful. She lives with more mystery snails of different ages in a ten gallon and I do 80% WC, 1-2 per week. I don’t think it’s bad parameters because all of the others are active and healthy as usual.
So how do I tell if it’s old age and not some other thing, if it is old age when do I euthanize, and what‘s the best method?
TIA for any and all replies.

 

Miss Sneller, my mystery snail slowed way down once she stopped laying so many eggs. She pretty much laid around with her trap door partly opened. After about a week she started getting active again and is now almost back to her very active self. I would give your old girl all the time she needs to rest up after working so hard to lay all those eggs.

 

The mystery snails I've lost to old age have been in the 1-2 year range, shorter in my warmer tanks (82+) and longer in my cooler tanks (78 -)the commonality has been size, they all seem to get to the same size before death. The operculum (trap door) usually starts to degrade, they lay a ton of eggs, maybe for species survival, and stop snapping shut when irritated by smaller snails or fish. If they get to the point the operculum is ready to fall off/fold there is usually some mantle collapse also and you'll see the snail trying to get an out of body experience going on. After that, it's nothing but stinky snail death. I typically euthanize mine once the operculum looks significantly degraded, they can't live a very secure quality of life without it.

 

The mystery snails I've lost to old age have been in the 1-2 year range, shorter in my warmer tanks (82+) and longer in my cooler tanks (78 -)the commonality has been size, they all seem to get to the same size before death. The operculum (trap door) usually starts to degrade, they lay a ton of eggs, maybe for species survival, and stop snapping shut when irritated by smaller snails or fish. If they get to the point the operculum is ready to fall off/fold there is usually some mantle collapse also and you'll see the snail trying to get an out of body experience going on. After that, it's nothing but stinky snail death. I typically euthanize mine once the operculum looks significantly degraded, they can't live a very secure quality of life without it.

Thank you for this information. It gives me an approximate timeline and lets me know what I can expect to happen. I have been in this hobby for many years but it has just been recently that i have started enjoying snails.

Miss Sneller is spending her first Summer with me. I normally keep the tank she is in right at 76 degrees. Unfortunately it gets up to 80 or maybe even a bit more during the hottest months of the year. I hope this isn't going to shorten her or her babies lives. The higher temps started earlier this year than they normally. We are already seeing temps up in the 90's.

She came to live with me the end of December of last year. Her babies hatched March 31st of this years. Some of them are already as big as she was when I first got her so I am assuming she was at least 3 months old when I got her. That would make her about 9 months old now. She may very well be on her way out because it seems she doesn't close up as tight now as she used to although it seems she is still active. This heat may very well speed up her demise. I will just have to keep a very close eye on her and be sure to remove her should she die.

BTW: Just for general knowledge, how does one go about euthanizing a big mystery snail? Hopefully not clove oil. I can't use it. The smell of it makes me ill. It may be the same for others.

 

Never euthanized one myself. I just wait til i have seen them in the same place for 2-3 days then grab and do the smell check.

 

Never euthanized one myself. I just wait til i have seen them in the same place for 2-3 days then grab and do the smell check.

I feel sure this is what I will do too. The question was just for general reference for those they want to end their life instead of letting nature take its course.

 

I feel sure this is what I will do too. The question was just for general reference for those they want to end their life instead of letting nature take its course.

Recently i did that test with a ramshorn, but when i went to do the smell check, the fish in the tank had already eaten the soft tissue!

I would imagine clove oil works on snails too same as fish? Don't know for a fact, though.

Seems so, just found this:

Humane Way To Kill Snails? | Freshwater Invertebrate Forum | 313019

 

Someone recently said something in a euthanizing thread that I wish I could find and direct quote. It made sense to me as an endler hybrid breeder and I was glad someone stated it this way as it's a subject I haven't really been able to teach the kids a mentality on yet. Basically the best euthanizing is the type that causes no pain to the breeder, that way the breeder is able to do it time and time again without mental anguish.

I don't believe my snail method is as elegant as this one but here's one way as published by a smaller college, unsurprisingly it involves beer: "Beer eases final moments for euthanized invertebrates, study finds -- ScienceDaily" Beer eases final moments for euthanized invertebrates, study finds