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Post by shinyshell on Jun 3, 2008 9:29:31 GMT
I'm not expecting a good outcome from this from what I've read around the subject but advice and experiences would be appreciated all the same.
About 2 weeks ago one of my snails Kofu (approx 3") started retracting really high up into it's shell, became very inactive and stopped eating. When I say high up, you can barely see it and the shell looks uninhabited until further investigated. I went on holiday last week and have come back to the same situation. I can coax it out of it's shell with a warm shallow bath. However yesterday I noticed quite a few very tiny white worms in the water. With each subsequent water change the worms were always present in the same numbers. Kofu seemed to enjoy the bath and was quite active (though looking very thin) whilst in the water, but retracted again when place back in the tank. Not even the tastiest of food platters tempts it to eat and it can no longer support the weight of it's shell when expanded.
Other info...The tank is cleaned regularly. Food is removed and replaced every day. I used a basic compost and moss as the substrate. I am having some trouble with drying out since moving to a bigger tank with a more ventilated lid (a husbandry aspect I'm going to change now I'm back from hol) but the other snails seem fine. All are eating well and their usual active selves.
So my questions are...what can I do for Kofu? What are the worms? And is his illness and the worms linked?
Thanking you all in advance - any thoughts appreciated as I'm very worried about the little fella.
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Post by Paul on Jun 3, 2008 14:12:18 GMT
The worms sound like nematodes. They are present everywhere and seem to get trapped in the mucus of the snail. I think a lot can bother snails but I doubt they are parasitic. You can get parasitic nematodes but whenever I've seen them in relation to snails they are usually in the food dish eating the food. Nematodes don't have segmented bodies like grindal and earthworms etc. They are probably impossible to get rid of completely. You can lower their numbers by doing the following: Lower humidity. keep food in a food dish. Change food regularly. Put food in in the evening, remove in the morning. Try to keep one end of the tank slightly drier and place your food dish there. Keep earthworms in your tank. These compete with nematodes. Hypoaspis miles predatory mites will eat nematodes. They would keep number down slightly and hopefully would pick them off your snails' bodies. I don't think the illness is related directly to nematodes. I have seen this illness a number of times and for all I know each time could have a completely different cause. I'm sorry to say, I have never seen a cure but... My latest thinking is that it is caused/aggravated by too consistently high humidity. I think you need fluctuations in the tank. I've recently overhauled my set up and what I've done is to create a lid using a wooden frame with chiffon stretched over it. Apart from keeping out flies it has the effect of having no lid. I spray in the evening quite heavily and during the course of the day this evaporates quite quickly. I miss a day's spraying every so often to allow it to dry out further. It is too early to tell but I'm hoping this approach will prevent this deep retraction problem. Humidity and heat breeds bugs, particularly without good ventilation. We don't have wind in our tanks so it's hard to maintain freshness. I think the illness is a bit like a cold or flu. Dryness will kill some of these bugs off. It also simulates wild conditions better. We assume that tank conditions are better because you can maintain an optimal environment without all the fluctuations that force snails to aestivate etc. I currently believe these fluctuations are beneficial. I hope that is some food for thought...
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 18:03:49 GMT
I wanted to add that I don't see my ventilation/humidity comments as a cure, but rather a preventative measure.
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Post by shinyshell on Jun 4, 2008 18:17:09 GMT
Hi Paul, thank you for the response. It's interesting what you said about humidity. I was worried that the tank may not be humid enough now it has a significantly better ventilated lid on it...it's smooth enough for the snails to slide over (it's very difficult to describe) but open weave enough to ventilate the tank well. Previously I had a sliding glass lid with just a small part of one of the short ends mesh. The tanks was always gloriously humid and snails seemed to prefer it to the way it is at present. This is an assumption of course based on what I observe in their behaviour - the other snails are still fairly active though they do bury themselves for longer periods than they did previously. I'm not neurotic about spraying, doing pretty much just as you described i.e giving the tank a good soak and then letting it evaporate off over the course of the day. If you recommend it I shall continue with that regime. About the earthworms - are worms from the garden ok (I'd never thought of having E.W's in the tank) or should they be bought especially? Thanks for all the info there, it's much appreciated. I've only been keeping snails for 6 months so other peoples experiences are very valuable to me at the moment
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Post by Paul on Jun 4, 2008 18:39:50 GMT
Increased humidity does increase activity, I just think it allows bacteria to flourish. Allowing it to dry should kill some of them off. That's the theory anyway. You can always cover the top of the tank at night, to help increase humidity temporarily so they have a full night of activity. Allowing the tank to dry periodically should also help inhibit the worms.
This is what I'm doing anyway and so far so good...
I just used worms from the garden. Just put them in a bucket of cold water to clean them and then pick them out. You don't need that many I wouldn't have thought, unless you are prepared to account for them in your food amounts.
I have maybe 20-25 small to medium sized ones (3-5 inches) in a 3 foot tank that has 4 inches of soil in it. It's hard to advise how many is the correct amount, just don't put loads and loads in or your food dish will be swamped with them after dark.
Also, when you remove old food, just check your dish for worms, I usually find 1 or 2 under some food. Otherwise you'll end up throwing them out.
if you can't find any at this time of year, go to a fishing shop. I've also bought them from there, at about £1.50 a tub.
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Post by shinyshell on Jun 6, 2008 12:50:12 GMT
Worms it is then! That's great Paul, thank you again for all your advice it's very much appreciated. I will try increasing the humidity at night and then vent in the day and see what happens. Thanks again!
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