I don't know if these are eggs, or if my snail is sick.

[occa]

Hey world. Excited to be here.

I'm a new snail keeper; I've had an apple/mystery snail for a few mounths now, and just this morning noticed something peculiar in the tank. I'm hoping that even though he's an aquatic and it seems most people here do terrestrials, someone might be able to help me.

There appear to be eggs in the tank. They're not in clusters, and I thought Jørmungand was male and mystery snails can't self-fertalize, although I'm not sure. The 'eggs' are about four millimeters across (an eighth of an inch-ish), with a large, opaque white centre and a clear covering around them. They could almost be uneaten fish pellets, except I saw two more coming out from under his shell. He seemed to need to work to pass them.

Given he's the only snail in my nanotank, and, as mentioned, I was under the impression that even females couldn't produce offspring without a male, I'm really worried he may be sick. I've heard of snail insides inexplicably becoming outsides, and although I don't imagine that's what's going on here, it's made me a little paranoid.

If anyone can confirm snail eggs, or suggest something else going on, I'd really appreciate it.

[snerdahmik]

Oct 3, 2019 15:39:24 GMT occa said:

Hey world. Excited to be here.

I'm a new snail keeper; I've had an apple/mystery snail for a few mounths now, and just this morning noticed something peculiar in the tank. I'm hoping that even though he's an aquatic and it seems most people here do terrestrials, someone might be able to help me.

There appear to be eggs in the tank. They're not in clusters, and I thought Jørmungand was male and mystery snails can't self-fertalize, although I'm not sure. The 'eggs' are about four millimeters across (an eighth of an inch-ish), with a large, opaque white centre and a clear covering around them. They could almost be uneaten fish pellets, except I saw two more coming out from under his shell. He seemed to need to work to pass them.

Given he's the only snail in my nanotank, and, as mentioned, I was under the impression that even females couldn't produce offspring without a male, I'm really worried he may be sick. I've heard of snail insides inexplicably becoming outsides, and although I don't imagine that's what's going on here, it's made me a little paranoid.

If anyone can confirm snail eggs, or suggest something else going on, I'd really appreciate it.

It sounds like they're eggs. Aquatic snails are a bit different from terrestrial ones, but I've heard of snails being able to "save" sperm from previous matings to lay eggs when they're ready. Maybe it's a female snail! Could you take a picture? 

[littlegoldsnail]

What tank size is he/she in? What are your water perimeter (ammonia levels, Nitrite levels, Nitrate levels, ph, etc..)? Any other tank mates? What do you feed him/her? Could you post a pic?

Mystery snails often will not lay for months and months after mating, but they lay a clutch of eggs above the waterline, if the eggs are submerged then they have drown and you can just throw them away (they will never hatch).

Is it an apple snails or a mystery snail? You where a little unclear (apple snails and mystery snails are close relatives but they are actually different kinds of snails)

[occa]

Thank you so much for responding!

My snail is a mystery snail, as far as I know. I couldn't find much information on them; whenever I googled anything, it kept giving me info on apple snails, so I assumed they were one in the same X P Good to know there is actually a difference.

He/She is living in a 6-gallon tank with an elderly betta fish. They get along ok; I actually kind've think my betta enjoys Jørmungand's company, in a strange way. Only once have I seen anything kind've aggressive, but that was out of the corner of my eye, and may not have been what I thought.

Water quality is on point; I've been removing the frankly obscene amount of waste Jørmungand produces daily, and doing weekly partials.

As for food, he mostly eats algae and the protien-based fish pellets that sink to the bottom, but I also offer him boiled leafy greens. Whatever we happen to have: romaine lettuce, beetleaf, arugula, swiss char. Radish leaves seem to be a favourite. When I first got him, I actually screenshotted a list of good vegetables that I found on this site, and haven't strayed from it, so thanks again. Shoutout to whoever posted it, I wasn't paying attention, sorry.

I think that covers everything... I'll try posting some pictures. The 'eggs' are on the bottom of the tank, so if that's what they are, I guess I won't be raising any snail babies anytime soon. Maybe I'll try lowering the level of the tank a little, see if 'he' lays anymore. Like, as much as I don't think I'm ready for the snail babies, I don't want to distress my snail by forcing her to lay in a bad location.

[littlegoldsnail]

Oct 3, 2019 19:00:34 GMT occa said:

Thank you so much for responding!

My snail is a mystery snail, as far as I know. I couldn't find much information on them; whenever I googled anything, it kept giving me info on apple snails, so I assumed they were one in the same X P Good to know there is actually a difference.

He/She is living in a 6-gallon tank with an elderly betta fish. They get along ok; I actually kind've think my betta enjoys Jørmungand's company, in a strange way. Only once have I seen anything kind've aggressive, but that was out of the corner of my eye, and may not have been what I thought.

Water quality is on point; I've been removing the frankly obscene amount of waste Jørmungand produces daily, and doing weekly partials.

As for food, he mostly eats algae and the protien-based fish pellets that sink to the bottom, but I also offer him boiled leafy greens. Whatever we happen to have: romaine lettuce, beetleaf, arugula, swiss char. Radish leaves seem to be a favourite. When I first got him, I actually screenshotted a list of good vegetables that I found on this site, and haven't strayed from it, so thanks again. Shoutout to whoever posted it, I wasn't paying attention, sorry.

I think that covers everything... I'll try posting some pictures. The 'eggs' are on the bottom of the tank, so if that's what they are, I guess I won't be raising any snail babies anytime soon. Maybe I'll try lowering the level of the tank a little, see if 'he' lays anymore. Like, as much as I don't think I'm ready for the snail babies, I don't want to distress my snail by forcing her to lay in a bad location.

She would not have laid under water, usually when the waterline is too high they will either not lay at all or they will get clever and try to lay them outside the tank, if they are indeed her eggs then she probably laid them somewhere weird and they fell in or something. An idea is they might be pest snail eggs, do you have any live plants?

Again, pics would be helpful so I could identify if they are her eggs.

Also, if she does lay then you will want to remove the eggs and dispose of them (unless you plan on a much larger tank and have places to rehome babies). Mystery snails lay anywhere from 75-200 eggs per clutch and frankly a 6 gallon could never support that many snails (even babies for a short while).

Also, is the tank cycled?

The diet sounds good, the leafy greens and other veggies are good, she will enjoy those. Mystery snails really love most fruits and veggies, I feed mine sweet potato, boiled parsnips and carrots, plantains, squash, zucchini, green beans, cucumber, pear, watermelon, etc...

Btw though, mystery snails don’t really consume much algae as their diet naturally so you will want to make sure they have other sources of food.

A clutch of mystery snail eggs should look something like this:

[occa]

Hey world! Snail eggs confirmed!

My tank has a very poor design with a glass lid that I can't detach covering most of it. Because of it, Jørmungand had nowhere to lay eggs, so was releasing them at the bottom of the tank. After yesterday's water change, I didn't fill it quite all the way, and overnight she produced a clutch.

Thank you everyone for your help! I'm so relieved X D Stay posted for questions about how to care for baby snails.

[occa]

O _ O Jklol guys, I just counted, and there are more than one hundred eggs visible on the glass, let alone the ones stuck under those. I don't really have the heart to scrape them, but you're right, that's a lot of babies to deal with.

[littlegoldsnail]

Yea, if you don’t want to freeze the clutch then your best bet is to rehome the eggs before they hatch to someone with a larger tank so the eggs can hatch there. If you are going to freeze them (so they won’t hatch) then it is best to do it sooner rather then later so the eggs won’t start developing.

[littlegoldsnail]

A 6 gallon can NOT support that many snails so they either need to be disposed of, rehomed, or you need to get a bigger tank (like a 40 gallon or something I think would be a good temporary home till you could rehome some of them)