# Mystery Snail floating at the top D:



## wrangler (Oct 14, 2007)

do the *sniff* test..... heehee!


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## WalterMelons (Nov 21, 2010)

poor little mystery snail
I even pushed on his little door and it completely caved in

wonder why he died?


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## Franco (Jun 13, 2010)

It could have been old age. The size you see in the petstores are pretty much full grown. Thats why you have to get them to lay eggs, hatch the clutch, and have your tank swarming with hundreds of little snails which no one will buy from you until they are again as big as the adult you bought.
If you ever think a snail is dead, the sniff test seriously works. I swear they start stinking before they even die.
Sorry about your loss. I used to be a major snailor and loved everyone of my thousands just the same as their mommies and daddies.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Caved in? Sounds like he is relaxing. Ive had snails in-shell for a really long time and still live. Does he stink? Usually when mine die, they sink and there bodies are hanging out of shell, with riggamortis (SP?).


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

I'm too much of a coward for the smell test. I wait until fuzzy white stuff starts coming out of them.


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

I don't think that sniff test works for everyone, well at least not for me. I bought my first mystery snail from Petsmart and it always hid in the rear of the tank, at times I thought it was dead. When I do find him a week later, he was not "active". I poke him around and he never pop his head out of his shell. So I pick it up with a tweezer and smell it, didn't smell nothing. Threw him in a less planted tank so I can observe him, and found out it doesn't move from the moment I put him in that tank. Days passed, not a single movement. I threw it out after that, no smell at all.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Jaggedfury said:


> I don't think that sniff test works for everyone, well at least not for me. I bought my first mystery snail from Petsmart and it always hid in the rear of the tank, at times I thought it was dead. When I do find him a week later, he was not "active". I poke him around and he never pop his head out of his shell. So I pick it up with a tweezer and smell it, didn't smell nothing. Threw him in a less planted tank so I can observe him, and found out it doesn't move from the moment I put him in that tank. Days passed, not a single movement. I threw it out after that, no smell at all.


He could have been alive. Ive had them in go in shell with no movement for weeks. Usually due to stress.


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## shane3fan (Nov 2, 2009)

They can stay in their shells for a long time--when they die--they stink something fierce---like bad moth balls is how I would describe it.


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## Jaggedfury (Sep 11, 2010)

Nue said:


> He could have been alive. Ive had them in go in shell with no movement for weeks. Usually due to stress.


Couldn't imagine it would be stress. It was doing fine the first few days since I put him in there. I will always remember this because it was my first mystery snail that I bought. Could of been old age, I bought a fairly large one from Petsmart. Oh well, I did a smell test using a tweezer out of the water with it held on and there was no smell. :icon_conf


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Jaggedfury said:


> Couldn't imagine it would be stress. It was doing fine the first few days since I put him in there. I will always remember this because it was my first mystery snail that I bought. Could of been old age, I bought a fairly large one from Petsmart. Oh well, I did a smell test using a tweezer out of the water with it held on and there was no smell. :icon_conf


That sucks. If there was no smell, and still a body, I bet he was alive..


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

I had a similar problem. Had a recent mystery snail, who was alive in the bag and for acclimation, float until I realized it was dead. I know that some snails will eat off of the top of the water but it wasnt that. It was like floating around. I had this same exact thing happen to the mystery snail I brought it directly after the dead floater. I let it float for 3 days. The day after I saw the snail crawing all over everything. Maybe some just have a really hard time acclimating? I dont know about them being very old once they are in the pet stores. My first mystery snail, from petsmart, is now 3 years old (starting from the day I got him) and my second, from petsmart, is almost 1 year old. I have a friend who has had one for many years and is now the size of a baseball. Snails are so interesting. I wish I could understand them some more.


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