goose
Hatchling Snail
Posts: 3
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Post by goose on Aug 2, 2006 21:16:48 GMT
Hi, can anyone help. A couple of months ago I purchased 2 apple snails from the local aqaurium shop for my goldfish tank. When I bought them they were in a bare tank with goldfish so I assumed they would be a fantastic addition to the tank (and indeed the aquarium ship confirmed this) since I have always loved snails. Having researched their care I realise that my tank set up is not suitable at all. One snail died fairly soon after purchase - they were not being fed at all in the shop and it never really came out of its shell. The other is still alive and is active although slightly tatty as it was when purchased. The goldfish do not bother the snail but the tank is unheated which is fine during the summer but I imagine will be a problem during the winter months. the ph is 7.0 and therefore the snail's new shell growth is poor. I assume the species is bridgesii since it does not eat the few live plants I have in the tank and has not been remotely interested in any vegetable matter I have tried to feed it with - however any of the recommended food to supplement its diet I add is of course rapidly eated by my very greedy goldfish before the snail has a look in. I would really like this snail to have a better life than I have been able to provide and if anyone out there would like to adopt him PLEASE - let me know. If you need any more information feel free to ask.
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Post by Darren Willis on Aug 3, 2006 8:52:58 GMT
Hi Goose and welcome to the forum , well we have been known to take in the odd snail ..... we've got 2 tropical snail community tanks , so we've got more than enough space for him.
So yeah we'd love to take him for you , how do you want to do this? I'm guessing your not going to be local so it'll have to be by post ... are you ok with that?
Get back to me and we'll sort something out.
Kind Regards
Daz
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goose
Hatchling Snail
Posts: 3
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Post by goose on Aug 3, 2006 9:05:13 GMT
Hi Darren - many thanks for getting back to me - I am so glad someone is willing to take him on - he is very sparky at the moment and I am dreading watching him go downhill. At the moment I have no idea what he is surviving on since being a goldfish tank I have to keep it pretty clean for the water quality - there isn't much for him to scavenge! Anyway I am more than willing to arrange postage and will obviously pay for this. I am familiar with the postage of land snails and I know apple snails can survive out of water for a time but can you tell me the best way he should be packaged? I can send him special delivery so he is not in the 'system' too long. We are actually away on holiday from tomorrow morning until Tuesday evening so I guess it would be best for me to post him out when we return - also if I do it on the Wednesday there is less chance if anything goes wrong of him being stuck in a sorting office over the weekend. I don't know if you can see my e-mail address on my profile but it is LauraALeeky@aol.com, it is probably easier to correspond that way. Kind regards and many thanks, Laura
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Post by luvfishies on Aug 4, 2006 3:53:45 GMT
Hi Goose and welcome!
There are a few ways of shipping aquatic snails, but my personal fave is the "foam sandwich" in tupperware. Dampen foam or floss, and lay a sheet of it on the bottom of a small tupperware/gladware/rubbermade container, then the snail(s) then another layer of foam/floss. Cover, and tape shut, with some small airholes. The fit should be fairly tight, to prevent the snail(s) from wanting to open up and go walkabout.
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Post by pheonixx on Aug 11, 2006 12:22:07 GMT
Laura
Daz is sending you a e mail but I thought I would write something for everyone to read so they know what the outcome was.
First of all your packaging was wonderful and little Sparky arrived to us safe and well.
We put him in the tank with the snail babys in our front room where we can observe him better.
I have to admit at this point I feared he had not survived the journey as he was closed up for several hours Daz and I would keep checking all day and there was no sign of life I dreaded having to tell you.
However in the evening we saw a little bit of him sticking out of his shell and we were realy thrilled to see he was alive and knew once he got used to his surroundings it was only a matter of time before he would know he was not going to be bit or hurt by the other tank occupants.
By late evening he was coming up the side of the tank for a bit of air and we got chance to have a little look at him.
He has had his tenticals bit off and it looks like most of his breathing tube has gone he has a extremly tiny foot for the size of his shell indicating that he has indeed been lacking in food sometimes they dont survive this as the internal organs will be damaged.
Thats the bad news now on to the good news he can grow those parts back and last night we did see him munching on squid pellets so with the right diet and liquid calcium he has every chance of pulling through.
I hope we have got to him in time however if it is to late for him and we loose him please be asured his final resting place would be under our rainbow bridge with all the other snails and animals that we have loved and lost..sorry if this sounds a bit grim but it is early days and it,s no good giving false hope only time will tell but he is getting the best help that we can give him now it's all down to him and that spark of life.
I will update every few days if you would like that?
Today he is no where to be seen I think he is hiding in the coconut house but I will keep checking...Linda
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Post by pheonixx on Aug 15, 2006 2:48:36 GMT
Little update on sparky.. He had indeed found the coconut house and he has been in there all weekend. So what Daz did was throw food into the house and we observed him rooting round for food on the floor and when he had ate he climbed back up the inside of the hut wall and slept most of sat and sun. Today he came out a bit shy at 1st but before we went to bed tonight he was looking relaxed full face out and not bothering if another snail went near him. I had a good look at him and went  as he came up the side of the tank that foot has grown big time and is longer than his shell he has got a vast amount of new shell growth too and the tenticals are begining to grow it's amazing and just in 5 days too and boy can he move I have never seen a snail so fast..LOL.. this little snail has crept into my heart and it's been a while since I have had a pet snail as we now have so many..Linda |
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goose
Hatchling Snail
Posts: 3
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Post by goose on Aug 16, 2006 12:25:10 GMT
Hi Linda and thank you very much for the updates I am so glad you have managed to save Sparky and he is picking up well. I noticed his tentacles were pretty short compared to the photos I was trying to ID him with and that his baby whorls were pretty eroded when he first emerged after I bought him. He stayed in his shell then for the first day and I thought that like the other snail I bought he had died. I think the poor little chap has been through a lot in his life - and that he feels safer in his shell until he settles in. He used to hide under the bog wood in the goldie tank at home during the day and come out when the light went off in the evening and scoot around. To be honest my goldies didn't seem remotely interested in him and only nudged into him if they came across him when sucking the gravel. When I bought him all the snails were in a completely bare tank with some huge goldfish that were bowling them around. No sign of any snail food for them. The moral of my story has to be to anyone else reading this BUY YOUR SNAILS FROM REPUTABLE BREEDERS AND GET SOME ADVICE ON THEIR CARE!!! I certainly won't be making that mistake again. Thanks again to you and Darren and I will keep an eye on the posts for any more updates. The fish store hasn't had any more snails in since I bought Sparky otherwise I might have been tempted to set up a snail rescue tank at home!
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as he came up the side of the tank that foot has grown big time and is longer than his shell he has got a vast amount of new shell growth too and the tenticals are begining to grow it's amazing and just in 5 days too and boy can he move I have never seen a snail so fast..LOL.. this little snail has crept into my heart and it's been a while since I have had a pet snail as we now have so many..Linda