Advice needed, swollen body

[hall1070]

Hi, I am in need of some advice with Shelley, my A. Fulica. We have had Shelley for around a week now, she has been great - a really active snail. Not a fussy eater at all (not like Larry!).

So, here's the thing; thanks to the forum and website I know that she definitely has a swollen body. I am also always taking pictures of the snails so there's lots for comparison.

I wonder if anyone has had any reaction in their snail from sweet potato mash, which is the only thing that is new...

Larry is a cuttle fish hog and pretty much likes cucumber, lettuce and yellow pepper. Since having Larry we have been working our way through the safe food list to see if there is anything else he will eat...

When we got Shelley, she made a beeline for the food and has eaten well ever since we have had her - I have seen her eat pretty much everything - she didn't like the courgette that much though, moved away pretty quickly (3 days ago).

She was not swollen yesterday morning, but was by the evening! The only thing new in the tank that day was the sweet potato mash (I change feed and poop scoop in the mornings). She appears to have runny poop too!

Could this be an allergic reaction? Is the runny poop relevant? How long do they take to go down? She is still pretty active, but won't lift her head off of the floor and seems a little dehydrated, I am bathing her daily, tanks gets misted daily, heat is correct as is humidity. She can still get in/out of her shell so maybe not a severe reaction(?).

Any advice would be appreciated, I have grown very attached to these little critters...

[SnailsPace]

hmmm...have you got any pics? I don't think they can have allergic reactions but that could be wrong

[hall1070]

Hi Snailspace,

These are from this morning. She is still active....but slower than normal, her slime is stickier than normal too - I have noticed this evening she has little strands of sticky stuff on her, it seems really thick, more than normal - not sure this is significant...

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[hall1070]

Here's another image from the other side....taken in the same session

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[coyote]

I've never heard of sweet potato causing such a reaction. Of course, it might be due to that, or it could be due to something else.

I do recommend that you not clean out all the poop every day, because snails excrete beneficial gut bacteria which they need to re-ingest by eating some of their poop. It sounds gross to humans, but it is absolutely essential to the health and well-being of the snail. Snails kept in spotlessly clean tanks will die within a relatively short time because they are denied the beneficial bacteria in the poop.

It's possible that pathological bacteria have begun to overgrow in her gut which the beneficial bacteria would have been keeping in check. Try leaving a little bit of the poop in the tank and see if anything changes.

Also, try offering thin slices of raw sweet potato. And you might have to withhold cucumber and lettuce completely for a few days to encourage Larry to try new foods. Snails seem to love cucumber and lettuce so much they will ignore anything else in the tank if given access to them.

Hope that helps, and let us know how your snails are doing.

[hall1070]

coyote, thankyou for your reply. Will stop cleaning the tank, didn't realise it was so important...but am still worried Shelley is even more swollen today despite the baths and appear to be dripping from the tip of her shell! Larry is now swollen too, the picture is Shelley (taken just a few moment agoe). Larry now looks like Shelley did in the first image I posted.

Am seriously worried I really don't want to lose either of these two - am I overreacting?

I haven't been keeping these little fellas that long so haven't got that much experience, but am very worried, would love to know I am doing all I can....

Please advise seriously worried possibly overly concerned snail mom here... :?

(PS: would they be suffering? couldn't stand to think they would be!)

PPS: pic is upside down as Shelley is still reasonably active, she was last seen eating lettuce voluntarily at around 11pm last night - that's good isn't it?

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[hall1070]

Okay so both snails looking a little better today, not much - but a little better, still both mobile and still both eating. I haven't cleaned out the tanks and both are currently sitting on poop! Fingers crossed it was just obsessive cleaning as mentioned - Larry is now lifting his head again.

Shelley is still not lifting her head...

I didn't realise I would get so worried.... sorry for the dramatics, I guess I still have much to learn....

[coyote]

No worries, we all go through similar feelings with our own snails. Glad to hear there is some improvement. Even if there is no direct connection between the swelling and the overly-clean tank, it is still better overall for them to be able to ingest some of their poop because it will keep them healthier in general and better able to resist whatever might cause the swelling.

Some people get good results bathing their snails in room-temperature green tea, so you might consider trying that to see if it helps the swelling go down.

Sometimes my snails will get a swollen mantle, but it is different from a swollen body. I'm not entirely sure what causes any kind of swelling, but my gut feeling is that it could be some kind of irritant in the tank, possibly related to food. But I'm really just guessing.

I hope your snails continue to improve, and let us know how they're doing.