# Nerite snails flipping/dying



## alibird (Jan 8, 2014)

Please help! My nerite snails appear to be slowly dying. They have been in the same tank for over a year and over the past week they have began exhibiting odd behavior such as extending themselves out of their shell in the sand and rolling themselves over multiple times a day. I thought maybe they were hungry and trying to reach down into detritus in the sand but they won't come to any food (algae wafers/zucchini/etc.) so I moved them to another tank in case it is a water issue. No change and now 2 of them barely move and the third continues to keep flipping itself. The tank they were originally in also had a die off of my pest ramshorn snails but my rabbit snails are acting fine and my TT and carbon rili shrimp are also fine. The only thing I've done different in this tank is that I dosed a small bit of fenbendazole about 3 weeks ago. I also dosed this (in an even higher dosage) in a second tank that is right next to the affected tank and all snails/shrimp in the second tank are fine. I'm sorry this is a long post but does anyone have any ideas of what to do for my nerites to save them or should I try euthanizing (how?). Also any ideas of if I should be worried about my rabbit snails/shrimp and if there is anything I can do besides water changes. Any ideas will be very welcome, thank you!


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## Nichole (Dec 5, 2014)

I'm sorry your snails aren't doing well. Do you have the water parameters? Have there been any changes recently in temperature or pH? Did the label on the medication you dosed have any copper in it?


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## fermentedhiker (Oct 28, 2011)

Nerites are incapable of righting themselves if flipped over so if they fall off of the glass or rock work and land on their backs with nothing near to grab onto they will eventually die. I'm not sure what's causing yours to flip over in the first place though.


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## Coralbandit (Feb 25, 2013)

Sorry no one helped sooner.
Fenbendazole is known to cause trouble with some inverts, nerites in particular.
Some compare it to copper ,in that after it has been used the tank will never be safe again.
The belief as I have read is it(the fen and copper) soak into everything from silicone to wood,rock....?


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## Bushkill (Feb 15, 2012)

Coralbandit said:


> Sorry no one helped sooner.
> Fenbendazole is known to cause trouble with some inverts, nerites in particular.
> Some compare it to copper ,in that after it has been used the tank will never be safe again.
> The belief as I have read is it(the fen and copper) soak into everything from silicone to wood,rock....?


Agreed. They may have come across something or an area that absorbed a little more of it than others. Lots of possibilities from the substrate to biofilm on surfaces to any film algae absorbing some. Really hard to say.

I know copper will discolor silicone, but I've never been sold on the idea that it will leach it back into the water column. I certainly can't back that up with anything more than a gut feel though.

If the Fen is the culprit, a few bigger water changes in pretty quick succession (every other day if you can) may get the levels in the water column under control. If it's soaked into things like driftwood or worked into the substrate, I'm not so sure. I think your best bet is to move them and start a few bigger water changes. Hopefully they aren't too far gone already.

I'm not saying this in any critical fashion, so please don't take this as anything other than a piece of advice: Meds. are much better administered in a hospital tank. I know it's WAY easier for me to type that than it is for some to practice, but what you're looking at is a good example of one of the pitfalls of treating in-tank.


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