Mysterious snail deaths?

[Kirrie]

I've had my 3 Zebra snails for almost a month now. I got all of them at the same time from Petco. Last week I added a Pictus Catfish to the tank. All of the sudden I was finding the snails upside down on the bottom of the tank. I assumed it was the Pictus trying to eat them or just knocking them over while looking for food. I haven't been home for the past few days so my dad has been watching my tank for me. Apparently none of the snails have moved in a few days even when he turns them back over. All of the fish in my tank seem to be fine, so I'm not sure what happened to them. Any ideas? :/

[C. King]

Sorry, don't know much about snails, but since they were doing fine before the pictus was introduced, and the upside down behavior started when the pictus was introduced, I guess I'd have to be pretty suspicious of the pictus. It is only circumstantial evidence at best, but there it is.

[Kirrie]

Ya, that's what I was thinking too. It doesn't look like he tried to eat them though. They're still in their shells, just not moving :/ Maybe he scared them to death or something, I'm not really sure haha.

[Trout]

If they died, the operculum (trapdoor) will have fallen off. If the trapdoor is still attached, they're either still alive and contemplating whether to come out, or dead and they haven't done much decaying. The *do* have operculi, right?

[Kirrie]

I assumed they were dead so I took them out. When I did, one of them fell out of the shell. I was pretty sure they were dead then haha.

[Trout]

yeah... If they fall out of the shell, it's a pretty sure sign they're dead. Poor guys. That fish could have been carrying something on him that was deadly to mollusks.

[Kirrie]

That's probably what happened. I just had my new Pictus Catfish die. He was the only fish in my tank that was sick.