Regular Member Desiree Posted July 21, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 I noticed this evening that my Trapdoor Snail is completely stuck in my Dragon. I tried my best to pry him from where he is at, but there is no budging. Any recommendations? Here's some pictures of the err, predicament. Help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 21, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 I tried again and no luck. He is really stuck in there. I'm afraid if I push at him any harder I will break his shell. Anyone been through this before? Any suggestions? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 21, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 Well... It took some pushing, and some wiggling... but I finally freed the little guy. I still can't believe how stuck he was! His shell is pretty banged up, especially in one part. I hope he makes it! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Chrissy_Bee Posted July 21, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 Oh wow! So glad you got the poor guy out! What are you going to do to make sure he doesn't get stuck again? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 21, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 I did a water change last night and filled that part of the dragon's tail, where it spirals, with river rocks. I'm hoping that will work. My fish don't seem to move around my rocks too much. Only time will tell though... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Acupunk Posted July 21, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 Well... It took some pushing, and some wiggling... but I finally freed the little guy. I still can't believe how stuck he was! His shell is pretty banged up, especially in one part. I hope he makes it! How on earth did he wedge himself so firmly in there, I wonder? I am glad you got him out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 21, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm not too sure really. Hahah... she must think she is smaller than she really is... It took me at least 10 tries at it to pull her free. Thankfully she made it, but part of the top of her shell looks chipped, towards the spiral. Her shell is a really dark brown and it's covered in green algae, there is a white spot where it's chipped. Will this heal? Is there anything I can add to the water to facilitate proper healing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Acupunk Posted July 21, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 I'm not too sure really. Hahah... she must think she is smaller than she really is... It took me at least 10 tries at it to pull her free. Thankfully she made it, but part of the top of her shell looks chipped, towards the spiral. Her shell is a really dark brown and it's covered in green algae, there is a white spot where it's chipped. Will this heal? Is there anything I can add to the water to facilitate proper healing? I do not have a great deal of experience with snails. I have one apple snail in my goldie tank which has grown considerably since I got it. It is my understanding that snails' shells grow from the edge by the opening backward. I think that the most important thing that you can do to make sure it heals is make sure that there are plenty of minerals (particularly calcium) in your water. Do you know what the GH of your water is? My GH is very, very low (despite very, very high KH ). This caused a problem for my snail and he grew a section of very soft shell when I first got him. After I figured out what was going on I started adding calcium chloride (a liquid supplement intended for reef tanks) to my water to bring my GH up. This actually had the effect of perking up my goldfish as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member misty_blue16137 Posted July 21, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 21, 2008 Glad you got it out ok. They seem to like to get into round spaces. Here's where I found mine. At least it was able to eat it's way to freedom,lol. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 22, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 22, 2008 (edited) I tested my water tonight: KH: 125.3 GH: 143.2 Anyway, this evening I thought the snail had passed away, but she is still very much in her shell. I took a few pictures to show the damage on her shell. She looks really bad. The small white marks appear to be scrapes, probably from me wiggling her out of being stuck. Also, on the upper part of her shell, you can see the chipped part too. Any suggestions on how to help my poor Trapdoor Snail is greatly appreciated! Also, the offending space where she got stuck seems to be well covered with the river rocks, the fish haven't moved them at all. Edited July 22, 2008 by Desiree 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Trinket Posted July 22, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 22, 2008 Aw. I'm sorry about your snail's scratches. Your GH looks good though so perhaps just good water is enough for healing. Have you ever heard of magic shells, I will try and find a link. Its a shell that releases healing minerals into the water, used in some reef tanks I think... Acupunk~ in some water apparantly alkalinity (kH) can be created from sodium and potassium carbonate, not calcium carbonates so a low hardness results alongside high alkalinity. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member jsrtist Posted July 24, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted July 24, 2008 The small spiral part is called the spire and they do grow outward from there. If the spire is broken off, that won't be a problem. It is old growth and there are probably no living parts in it anymore. As long as your goldfish don't try to nibble at the snail through there, it should be fine. On Applesnail.net there are pictures of a procedure where a shell is repaired, though I don't think it would be necessary for you to do that on this snail. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kayla's Goldfish Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 How's the poor baby doing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 24, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 24, 2008 It's hard to tell. She hasn't really moved in two days. I hope she's still alive. I will check in a little while when I do a water change. Thankfully, my goldfish haven't really picked on her at all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Desiree Posted July 31, 2008 Author Regular Member Share Posted July 31, 2008 Just wanted to let everyone know, my snail is alive and well. She didn't move an inch for several days, but her shell all ready looks better and she is slowly getting back into moving around the tank. Thanks for all your help! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member balashark Posted August 2, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 2, 2008 Glad to hear your snail's ok! I thought mine had gotten stuck a couple times, but he always seemed to back his way out. Hopefully the stones will keep the little guy from getting stuck again. I can't have snails anymore cuz even with my parrotfish protecting my last one (no lie, he'd swim around the snail and chase the catfish away), my eat-everything punk of a catfish got to him in the end :-( So I haven't had any snails in there in a while. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest katie.P Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 glad to see your snail is ok I love snails they amazing 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member dkisosondi Posted August 5, 2008 Regular Member Share Posted August 5, 2008 Mine likes to squeeze into places he used to fit into also. I had to help him out of one of my ornaments that he was sleeping in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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