Gary the snail has dissappeared!!!

[robyn]

i bought a new 25-30litre tank last week 4 my betta. i also added 2 guppies and a snail. the tank has a corner filter and air pump, as well as a heater.

whenever i go in2 my room i check on my fish and on my lats check i noticed my snail was not in his shell!!!!

i think he is an apple snail but im really not sure. i looked all ova my tank but cnt find him any where. does any1 hav any idea where gary went?

[fish_doc]

How big is the snail?

I suppose it is possible that if the snail is small enough the betta could have sucked him out of his shell. I dont think the guppies would have touched him. I have pond snails in with my guppies and even the baby snails never get eaten.

[Christine]

You might want to check around the tank to make sure he didnt go on walk-about... Im not a real snail person but seems Ive heard they sometimes do this.

[Sprite42]

If he is out of the shell, he has probably died. They cannot live without the shell. When did you last see him mobile or moving? Once out of the shell, they look like a big string of poo floating around the tank.

[violet]

Yeah, empty shell = no more Gary. Sorry.

[robyn]

i checked the whole tank and found nothing. he was pretty big so i dont think he was eaten alive. the ppl at the pet shop told me that if he had died, then its possible my betta ate him dead tho. i bought a new snail, Gary II, to replace Gary.

R.I.P Gary

[wildtiger]

As Christine said, would be best to look around the on the floor or behind the tank. They do in fact take walks on a regular basis. It is possible that if you find him, he may still be alive. If you locate him, just put him back in the water, may take a couple of days to see if he is alive or not. I've had this happen many times.

[fishboy]

empty shell=dead snail. U gotta filter? Check around the filter. Wut u find might no be pretty

[violet]

They do in fact take walks on a regular basis.

I think you misunderstood, the shell is empty. A snail will always die without it's shell. They do leave the water and can fall on the floor but it is always with the shell.

If the snail was good sized I would keep looking for the remains. Unless it has been dead for a long time you should find some remains OR have had a real ammonia/nitrite spike as Gary 1 decayed.

violet