Will my snail survive this injury

[snailzzzz]

Hi, I purchased two rabbit snails yesterday and when we had acclimatised them and added them to the tank I noticed some quite serious damage to the underside of one of their shells.  I rang the shop and they offered to take it back, but to be honest I doubt he's now sellable and I think he will be disposed of.  So I've decided to keep him and hope he can recover.  Could anyone tell me if this injury is recoverable, and if there's anything I can put in the tank to promote recovery.  He's very active and quick, so I don't think it's holding him back.

[jdjn13]

He will need calcium to repair his shell. The thing to consider is how to administer without affecting ph of water for your betta fish. Maybe seperate him from the tank?

Is he currently quite active? Eating? If he is, I wouldn't worry too much and just give him time and calcium to heal.

[snailzzzz]

Thanks for the reply, the naughty betta demonstrated his displeasure by immediately stalking and harassing them, I don't think it would have ended well, so their tank sharing only lasted a few minutes, they are now in a 20l tank on their own.  Hopefully they can join the larger community tank eventually, but the 20l tank was empty so they can stay there together untill he is healed.  He is very active, in fact of the two snails he's the most active, he's eating algea off the tank but he's so far ignored the wafer I put in, I was thinking of blanching some cucumber or them to try too.   I've got some calcium blocks already, so I will add one for him now.  

[jdjn13]

Good that he's still active. Keep us updated on how he is getting on.

[snailzzzz]

I will do, they both seem to like the calcium block though hopefully he is getting healthy again.  He seems very interested in the little teabag thing I've got in the tank too (Indian almond bag).  I'm not sure how much I should be feeding them really, I've given them three algea wafers between them today but they are tiny wafer thin things, they seem to melt away to nothing once they sink.  I don't want to underfeed them but I don't want to pollute their water by overfeeding either.  Hopefully I will be able to keep updating with pictures as he improves.

[snailzzzz]

Just a quick update, both snails are still active, the smaller one seems to spend a lot of time sat on top of the injured ones shell, sniffing at the end, I'm wondering if it can sense he's wounded, or could it be irritating the wound?.  His shell does look to be improving, but the wound is deeper than I thought at first, it looks less raw than it did though.  I wonder if a fish had attacked him before I bought him, it looks like bite wounds to me.  If you think it's better to seperate them I do have a well planted community tank that the smaller one can go in.

[Zorst]

Ok this may sound crazy but Ive seen it work on sea turtles etc. Could you in some way without removing your snails body just hold his shell above the water. Dry the area around the wounds and the shell well then cover the wounds with a waterproof divers tape. This may well help your snail heal up his shell. Just prior to covering it I would suggest is to rinse the wound with clean water so not to trap any infection etc in.

This way he could then stay with his friend and I find this helps them survive and heal better.But would protect the wound.

Zorst

[muddydragon]

i'm not sure how much of the snail is in those early whorls (they tend to abandon the smaller whorls as they get bigger - often snails can loose a fair proportion of the shell tip with no consequences). So it's possible theres nothing important to the snail in those sections - but i don't know.

Snails are social so the smaller one could just be interacting with the bigger one or it could be rasping at the shell of the other for calcium. make sure you have a calcium source block for them if possible.

There's also some stuff in this book (preview) about shell repair in aquatic snails: books.google.co.uk/books?id=NaAMh8sEU4oC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q=prolapse&f=false

[snailzzzz]

Thanks for the replies.  I would be a bit worried about the divers tape affecting the water somehow, they are just in a 22l tank for now so it wouldn't take much to affect the water, I would worry in case his buddy tried to eat the tape too.  I will look into more though.  
I've had a calcium block in the tank since Saturday, I already had a huge bag full that I used for the armoured shrimp, I hugely overestimated when I ordered so I've got plenty. Between the two of them they are really going through the block, so they must be craving the calcium.