Dead Iredalei :(

[vikingsnail]

Hey... I just went to feed my snails and as I picked Gary my Iredalei up I noticed she was quite far back in her shell and her skin looked darker than normal, so I gave her a sniff and I noticed that fishy smell... she's definetely dead, but I really don't know what caused it

I clean the snails out around every 3 weeks to a month and I cleaned them out around two weeks ago - I used the same compost etc. as always, and I've been feeding them the usual of lettuce, cucumber, courgette and carrot and I wash all their food before giving it to them...

Gary's always been a little less active (or maybe just more active at night while I'm asleep) than Arnie (my Fulica), but she's never been particularly inactive, and she always seemed happy and healthy and ate plenty..
The last time I saw her active was on friday, and she hasn't been showing any signs of illness so I'm really confused about this.

We got her around last christmas, and as far as I know she was pretty young then, so she can't be any older than a year.
Has anyone got any idea what might have caused it? Was I doing something wrong? And should I be worried about my fulica?

[lizzie97444]

ummm
hi.
I'm not a snail expert or anything, but,
how do u know for sure if it's dead??
have u tried bathing it?
wellll, I'm not quite sure wat caused it ;D!

[lizzie97444]

that was ment to be a sad face. sry ..

[vikingsnail]

She's definately dead.. she was very far retracted in her shell, and her body was brown rather than creamy... it also seemed to have a reddish tinge around the edge, I don't know if that's significant or not. She also smelled bad, so yeah... she's dead

I took some photos incase it might help work out what caused this, I'll upload them later if anyone thinks it might help.

[Katie]

sorry for your loss.x
Maybe the pictures will help the more experianced people see why she died.
xxx

[vikingsnail]

Here are the pics I took earlier, they're not very clear though.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/help_im_a_snail/gary1-1.jpg

img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/help_im_a_snail/gary2-1.jpg

img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/help_im_a_snail/gary3.jpg

At the moment I'm really concerned for Arnie. He looks healthy and he's eating at the moment, but I don't know if whatever killed Gary could hurt him too. Hope he isn't lonely

[vikingsnail]

Anyone got any ideas?

I'm still worried about my fulica... he didn't eat yesterday and so far he hasn't eaten today, and he's lost 1.4 grams in 4 days, and he's not very big so that seems like alot...

[Rachel]

i'm so sorry you lost Gary xx
i'm not sure what caused this but it looks like it might be an illness. Have you cleaned out the tank and sterilised it? also have you tried putting Arnie on some cucumber to encourage eating, also mabye some carrot and swede mashed up with a little cuttlefish powder might be more easy to eat

[vikingsnail]

Yeah, I've given the tank and everything in it a good clean, and have replaced the cuttlefish with a new piece.
Arnie seems to be picking up - haven't weighed him today, but he ate a fair bit of lettuce and cucumber this morning

I guess if it was a virus of some sort that got Gary, if Arnie were to get it he'd probably already have it now... I'll just have to keep an eye on him, at the moment he's not really showing signs of being ill... fingers crossed!

If Arnie gets through this ok, how long should I leave it before introducing another snail to the tank? He's on his own at the moment and I don't really want to leave him like that too long, although getting another iredalei might not be too easy