Mystery snails

[Kithy Kitty]

So usually our snail is super active, never stops much. Last night he did not want to come out of his shell, not even for food. Very unlike him so I took him out thinking that maybe it was the betta bugging him when I hadn't seen it. Dropped him into the 20g and after a while he did move. This morning he was hanging out at the top which I thought was improvement. I went out to get a sponge for the other filter and some aquarium salt. Came home and saw him on the bottom between the glass and a skull decor, not stuck but not trying to move. :

Got a cup and I am currently floating him in it. I put an algae wafer in there and his antennae are out and I can see one eye so far. He seems interested in it but he's being unusually shy. For example just now I went to check on him and he was very slowly sllllooooooooooowllllly coming out of his shell. As soon as I opened the glass lid to turn the cup to see if he still had his other eye he flipped back into his shell. He's not so inactive, shy or slow. He's quite fast for a snail actually.

Is he sick? oO Has he been assaulted by Alacrity and is now quite shy? On a side note, this morning I noticed the betta had bitten his fin. Is this related? Is he sad to have his playmate (or play toy) gone? Should I rush out and get say, a cory to keep him company?  

[Celestial Fireflies]

You know what? I've noticed that in my snails. Sometimes they'll be active for a long time, and then all of a sudden they'll go dormant for a little while until eventually they come out and start consuming everything again.

In fact, once I thought he was dead. I happened to spot him in the middle of the night on my way to the restroom, so I resolved to get him in the morning. By morning, though, he'd moved to a different spot. Still hiding, but he was attached to something and in a different spot.

So based on my experience, I'd say he's okay and just going dormant for awhile.  

[Kithy Kitty]

He has done this to me before >.< But not quite like this. I'm gonna give him a few days to make sure he's okay before I put him back in with the betta whose fins look awful D: I am so sad.  

[Kithy Kitty]

Soooo checked on him this morning and I am about 95% sure he's passed. When I pulled him off the side of the cup he didn't really try and go back into his shell. He did slowly sort of pull into the shell but when I turned it he sort of started to slump back out.

I put him outside by one of our fountains figuring if he IS alive and I'm somehow wrong he can at least chill in there, tons of algae to nom.

But this makes me worry if maybe whatever made him sick is affecting the betta? He doesn't seem to have any issues other than the tail fin biting, no flashing or anything. Ugh, ionnoooo. It looked worse today so I did a 50% change and added in some aquarium salt and took the mossball out.  

[Akari_32]

If the snail is dead, you'll smell it.  

[Shanna66]

Akari_32

If the snail is dead, you'll smell it.

or decompose very fast so before you know it you have an empty shell  

[Kithy Kitty]

He was definitely dead ._. Traumatized.  

[Kithy Kitty]

Okay so since the snail was removed the betta has taken to destroying his fins. I don't know what to do. Everything is fine and he never nipped them until the snail was gone.

Should I run out and go buy a new snail? I hear lots of people keep cory and betta together ._.  

[Celestial Fireflies]

cєℓєsтιαℓ ғιʀєғℓιєs:

You could certainly buy another snail. And if your pet store does free water testing, bring by a sample of water while you're there. Something could be going on with your water that's stressing out your betta and may have made your snail sick. It looks kind of suspect that they were both acting funny at the same time.

I've heard of cories and bettas before, but it depends on the betta and how big the tank is. Honestly, I wouldn't do less than, say, 3 cories in a school, so that makes them difficult to pull off in less than a 10gal.  

[Kithy Kitty]

I'm thinking of doing a snail then but I'm doing a aquarium salt and water changes to make sure his fins are okay.

Params were all good so I think it was partially cause I wasn't supplementing calcium and other things >.< Snail preference?

It's a 10g filtered :3 Lots of omnom algae