# Zebra Nerites



## Ashton (Jun 16, 2010)

I have 2 Zebra Nerite Snails that I've had for a couple of months, one was normal and plodded along and did the thing snails usually did, however the other one has always been a bit strange, some days I'd find him lying on his back in the middle of the gravel, I used to put him up the right way and he'd plod round like the other for a while and then go upside down again. I was told by the LFS to leave him to right himself and I did and he did, but since then he's never moved from the one spot.

This morning I found the second snail on his back, I've left him for now to see how he goes on, but is this normal behaviour for snails? I've had them in the past and never really noticed this happening. And how do you tell if a snail's dead, as I said the first one hasn't moved for about 4 days now, is this normal or could he be dead?


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## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

He could be dead, but he's not necessarily dead. They can sit in one spot for days at a time for no apparent reason. The other snail is probably mating with him; I once had two nerites stuck together for almost a week (one riding on the other).

There are a couple surefire ways to check if it's dead; if the snail's foot is out of it's shell and it's clinging onto anything (even a piece of substrate) it's not dead. If it's half closed and you gently poke it and it closes all the way, it's not dead. If it won't close it's trap door when you poke it, take it out and smell it, and if it smells rotten it's dead.

Do you ever feed them anything? Nerites are big snails and often there's not enough algae for multiple snails to survive (depending on the size of your tank). You can drop an algae wafer or a small piece of blanched vegetable every couple of days to make sure they're getting enough to eat. It can be hard to feed snails if you have fish that are quick to eat food off the bottom, since they take so long to find any food you try to give them. Blanched veggies are a little better for this if you make the piece big enough that the fish can't eat it whole.


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## Ashton (Jun 16, 2010)

I've only 3 greedy Platies in there, but would cucumber work do you think? that way the Platies can't eat it all up fast, but I will put a piece of algae wafer in tonight. Thanks


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## Jadelin (Sep 30, 2009)

I know some people have success with cucumber; you can always give it a go! (My nerites are rather picky; or just too stupid to find the food I try to give them.) Another common one is zucchini (courgette).

I don't think cucumber needs to be blanched, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Make sure you don't leave it in there for much over 24 hours (unless it looks like it's getting eaten pretty fast) so that it doesn't have time to start rotting. If the vegetable floats, you can put something to weight it down; some substrate, or a small rock. I knew one person who would just skewer it on a fork and toss it in there. Try to put it close to the snails (or move the snails close to it).

Ohhh . . . when you said 'second snail on his back' did you mean the snail was upside down? I thought you meant the second snail was sitting on the first snail, hence my comment about mating. If they are both upside down I would definitely see if they're interested in eating something. Although if they're in 'hibernation mode' it might take them several days to wake up and find it, so you might have to replace the food a couple times. Also, I assume you've checked your water parameters to make sure something else isn't bothering them.


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

does this happen after water changes?


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## Ashton (Jun 16, 2010)

I've put half an algae wafer in, I broke it in half and put a bit quite close to snail 2, an hour later he'd moved on top of it :icon_wink

The other bit I put near snail 1 who's still in the same place I put him after I'd taken them out, the Platies have had a go at it but there's still some left.

I've checked water parameters again all still OK, and its happened to snail 1 since I've had them (October) but its only started happening to snail 2 (the smaller one) yesterday.


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

timwag2001 said:


> does this happen after water changes?


???


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

Nerites have a difficult time righting themselves when the get flipped onto their backs because of their dense shells and small foot. It can take them a while to get righted again. Is there anything they could have been climbing on and then fallen off?
If you are having water quality issues, nerites usually just try to climb out of the tank.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Franco said:


> Nerites have a difficult time righting themselves when the get flipped onto their backs because of their dense shells and small foot. It can take them a while to get righted again. Is there anything they could have been climbing on and then fallen off?
> If you are having water quality issues, nerites usually just try to climb out of the tank.


I hate it when they get flipped. My locaches sometimes do it or my algae eaters that are cleaning their backs do it. 

I just go in and flip them over. 

I heard you can give them a sniff test if you really think they are dead.


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

Since nerites do not have an operculum (trap door) that falls off when they die and start to rot, the sniff test is probably the best way to go.


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## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Mine sometimes fall. They die when I don't find them.


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

I'm sorry. I just noticed my tiger nerites do have trapdoors. I swear I've had nerites that didn't....but now I am looking at my olives and they have a very small trapdoor that doesn't actually cover their entire hole unless they REALLY suck themselves inside.
They shouldn't die just from turning over onto their backs. Did they crawl out of the tank and you didn't find them?


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

all of my experiences with nerites is that if the water parameters change too suddenly, temp or otherwise, from a water change they roll right over on their shell. i've had them stay there for days before they right themselves back up. i had 4 of them that did it every time i changed my water


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## gordonrichards (Jun 20, 2009)

Lol not more then a few hours after posting this, I saw one of my nerites fall and land on its back.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

gordonrichards said:


> Mine sometimes fall. They die when I don't find them.


Mine never come to eat. They are always cleaning my manzanita or the glass. I never knew that my manzanita can be that clean


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

I know! I threw a couple of my tigers into my NPT and within 3 days the glass and wood were spotless. They haven't touched the hair algae growing on some of my older crypt leaves though. They probably think its not worth the effort to make the difficult climb up the plants.


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