Humpback Cowrie in distress

[ktgirl101]

This is a humpback cowrie (I believe) that has been in a 50 gal tank with sump with same stock for over 5 years. Live sand and live rock as well.

Normal behavior: It usually travels all over the glass and rocks eating with it’s radula day or night. So much of the algae in this tank is usually taken care of.

Problem: Been noticing it moves around less and last week it fell on its shell and retracted into it. Flipped it back over and and put it on a sheet of dry seaweed to see if it was hungry. It quickly moved away from the seaweed and stayed on the sand. Next day it was on the glass as it had been and was using its radula. Even saw it poop yesterday. Today on its side back in shell, only slightly sticking to glass. Flipped it back over again on a sheet of seaweed.

What should I do?
- is it not sticking to the glass due to starvation?
- one suggestion was to feed it meaty food

Side note: top of shell is green after being on its back for up to a day (not sure how long it was like that). Water parameters (salinity, pH, kH, nitrite, nitrate) are in normal range.

Sorry about the glass. Let’s just say i want the snail to have plenty to eat. This is a lovely almost 4-inch cowrie that I really enjoy. Would like to learn how to allow the cowrie to thrive.

~thanks





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[teddscau]

Have you checked magnesium levels? I think I read somewhere that too high of magnesium can cause problems for inverts. You could try feeding him Omega One Veggie Rounds. My bottom dwelling inverts quite a lot (serpent stars, nassarius snails). Pretty sure feeding them is what triggers my nassarius to lay eggs.

It's also possible he might be dying due to old age.

[stryker]

Snails go into shock when they eat dinos. Looks like u might have some Dino’s based on the bubbles in ur algae?


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[Michael Hoaster]

That's true, dinos can kill snails, depending on which dinos they are, but I don't think those are dinos. I think they are vermetid snail tubes.

Snails are sensitive to water chemistry changes. A water change, some chemical introduced on your hands or a cleaner used nearby could be a culprit. Also large snails like that need a large tank to support enough algae growth to keep them well fed. It may be that it has exhausted it's preferred algae and is eating whatever's left, but it's not sustaining it. You might try adding more vegetable matter. Or, as teddscau said, it could be old age. Five+ years sounds pretty old, but I have no idea of their life expectancy. These are just general ideas. You might try googling up some research specific to them to see what you can find.

[ktgirl101]

Originally Posted by teddscau

Have you checked magnesium levels? I think I read somewhere that too high of magnesium can cause problems for inverts. You could try feeding him Omega One Veggie Rounds. My bottom dwelling inverts quite a lot (serpent stars, nassarius snails). Pretty sure feeding them is what triggers my nassarius to lay eggs.

It's also possible he might be dying due to old age.

Just checked Mg and it’s 1260 ppm. So it’s ok. I will be trying different foods thanks for that suggestion!


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[ktgirl101]

Originally Posted by Michael Hoaster

That's true, dinos can kill snails, depending on which dinos they are, but I don't think those are dinos. I think they are vermetid snail tubes.

Snails are sensitive to water chemistry changes. A water change, some chemical introduced on your hands or a cleaner used nearby could be a culprit. Also large snails like that need a large tank to support enough algae growth to keep them well fed. It may be that it has exhausted it's preferred algae and is eating whatever's left, but it's not sustaining it. You might try adding more vegetable matter. Or, as teddscau said, it could be old age. Five+ years sounds pretty old, but I have no idea of their life expectancy. These are just general ideas. You might try googling up some research specific to them to see what you can find.

Those were snail tubes— there’s a ton from the live rock. But there may be dinos as well, so I will try to make conditions less favorable for them. I will be trying to find some veggies to experiment with and hopefully the cowrie will eat more. Thank you for help!


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