floating snails

[belmont0182]

so my snail is floating around the tank, ussually this means that the snail is dead right, but when i pick it up and touch it's skin it goes back into its shell... why is this happening and is there anything thati can do to make him stick? i try to push him under, but he just floats around the tank, i did try to hold him against the glass but that didnt work either.

 

[LMOUTHBASS]

this does not mean your snail is dead - in fact it is quite common for them to float although it does look odd - there was a similar post a while ago where someones wife saw a floating snail while the guy was at work she threw it out thinking it was dead - when he got home he dug it out of the trash and put it back in the tank and it lived! any how i think snails take air into their shells somehow causing them to float - leave it alone he'll eventually stop floating

 

[TKOS]

Sometimes my snails get caught in the current from the filter going around and around for an hour. While funny to me I am sure the snail doesn't think so.

But yes, floating snails are fine. They do carry air in their shells and if they loose contact with a surface then they shoot to the top of the tank.

 

[dethjam316]

generally, they're only dead if they can't close up. a healthy/alive snail will quickly "seal" itself into its shell if you poke at it enough.

 

[belmont0182]

he has done this before and later returned to the bottom, but he has been floating for close to 24 hours now, does he have control on when he sinks, or is it just coincidence?

 

[OrionGirl]

They can control the amount of air that they carry, I think. Mine seldom float for long, but I wouldn't worry much about it. If you can move it into an area where it can make contact with the side, it probably will eventually.

 

[jb_lyndon]

Funny you should mention cause just last night I witnessed my 1" yellow mystery snail floating on the surface for the first time and I was all "what the h3LL?" In his case I don't think he had air in his shell because he climbed the glass to the top and just like he would do in moving to another pane of glass he reached for the surface and grabbed on! then proceeded to pull the rest of him on... it was as if he was actually crawling on the surface. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the clingy surface of water (meniscus). Later upon closer inspection from above I noticed that he had stretched out his body and pointed his now very thin edge upward making his body concave at the surface creating a boat like shape and allowing him to float more easily. He made his way back to the glass and crawled back down after a few minutes... I was amazed... I think he may be the most interesting guy in our tank and would recommend one to anybody.