Not again! What are these strange dots?

[sonicsnail]

I think Stripe has died! Omg, noooooooooo! I have to check, he may still be alive! If he is dead then what could have caused it? Could it be the white dot things, but then why aren't the other snails affected by them? Or could it be just old age? (he is very old) He was slightly retracted, but he was eating the other day! Oh no what am I going to do now?!?!?!

[sonicsnail]

Yes, he's dead.

I'm still not sure of what caused his death. That's the last of the big fulica. It's strange because Samson died a month ago and both Stripe and Samson were of the same age. They were both very old, so maybe it is just death by natural causes.

[Arno]

sonicsnail said:

Yes, he's dead.

I'm still not sure of what caused his death. That's the last of the big fulica. It's strange because Samson died a month ago and both Stripe and Samson were of the same age. They were both very old, so maybe it is just death by natural causes.

Sorry to hear about your snail,but like you said,it could have been his time....

[KathyM]

I'm so sorry When Justin was near the end, he had crawly things on him (fly larvae we think). None of the others were affected, and Justin had never had any crawlies until his final few days, so they had definitely not caused his illness. I wonder if they prey on the weak? So not actually causing death but in a way predicting it for you? Again, I'm so sorry

[sonicsnail]

That could be possible you know. These mites/worms were only discovered a few days before his death. I have seen them in the tank before, but after I cleaned them out they seemed to disappear for a while. As Stripe was slightly retracted, not eating and showing all the signs of a weak snail; then it could be said that these worms prey on the weak. Also, which makes me agree with that suggestion is that Stripe was a big fulica. Normally, large snails are more tolerant of pests. So, they would only affect him if he was weak, which he was.

I left Stripe in the tank, whilst moving the other snails to another home. I know it's kind of morbid, but I had to make sure he was dead. So I left him there to see what would happen; would he move or was he dead? As you know, it turned out that he was dead. I looked at Stripe's body (which was now showing signs that he was obviously dead) very closely with a bright light. I could see the semi decaying skin shimmering, just like Paul found with the food! So it is evidence that this shimmering was the movement of these microscopic worms eating the dead snail. So if they are eating it now, what stops them from eating a live weak snail?

I have now got some capillary matting and I shall use that when I clean the empty “contaminated” tank out tomorrow. The other snails are in their temporary home, away from the “contaminated” tank. I am looking forward to seeing whether or not capillary matting makes a difference. Although, Sarah uses capillary matting and she seems to still get these worms.

[sezzy5889]

well if thye are a sign of death then that means all of my fulica, margies, tigers and young snails are close to death! i don't think so, do you ever leave food out on the side, cucumber or lettuce maybe? i think the flies lay eggs on the food and then you put the food in the tank and the heat makes them hatch out...

[sonicsnail]

Nope, I never leave food oout on the side. I also don't think they are a sign of death. I think they prey on weak snails, whilst others are not affected by them.

[sezzy5889]

well i get them in all of my tanks, and all my snails are fine

[sonicsnail]

Then, maybe they are all healthy. My smaller snails didn't seem to be affected by them. After all, imagine what they would come across in the wild. They would encounter lots of pests and worm like creatures.

[Paul]

It may seem that the worms disappear but I can almost guarantee they are still on the body of the snail. If you want to do a test, leave some wet food in there for a good few days, if it starts to shimmer you've still got the worms.

The small ones, can't be seen with the naked eye, they are microscopic at 20x!

[sonicsnail]

Not again!!! I have found these very tiny worms in the tank with the capillary matting in!!!! Nooooooooooo!!! There seems to be no escape! It's only been one and a half weeks since I last cleaned them out! This time it is obvious that they are worms. They are very small just like the "white dots" that I described last time. These worms are thinner than a human hair. They make "S" shape movements and only go where it is damp. Any ideas people? What can I do!?!?!?!

[sonicsnail]

I can't keep on like this! I've tried everything...every type of substrate and they still keep appearing again and again! This makes me think that they stay on the snail, even after several good baths... Could they be inside the snails? This goes for both the "white dots" and the small worms. Both are microscopic, so tiny that they can only just be seen with the human eye.

[Paul]

Yeah, they definitely stay on the snail, I've seen minute ones under magnification swimming around the mantle in the slime. That's why they are so hard to get rid of. It's also very difficult to get them off the body of the snail by bathing/spraying.

I tried Hypoaspis, at first I thought they didn't work because I watched them ignore the worms, but I'm not so sure now because while I was away, the food in the tanks wasn't dealt with as often as I would have done normally because I had someone looking after them for me and I couldn't ask them to check in every day. When I got back I expected worms everywhere but that isn't the case. When I get home from work tonight, I'll inspect more snails to see if I can find these things. If I can't find any at all then Hypoaspis must have worked. It does figure, I've seen video footage of Hypoaspis eating nematodes but when I got them the Hypoaspis were just tiny babies and probably not large enough to tackle them but they will have quadrupled in size since then.

The largest improvement for me was to increase ventilation, that seems to slow the population explosion down quite a bit. And obviously remove food as soon as you can. I feed at night, remove in the morning so the worms don't have chance to multiply and I must admit, my problem has been drastically reduced.

Other than that, I have no idea how to get rid of them. Are your snails showing any signs of ill-health?

[Paul]

One other tip...

Keep one end of the tank drier than the rest and put your food dishes there. They multiply the quickest where wet and food is available so this should restrict that somewhat.

Oh, and there is that trap idea I mentioned in the other thread which goes hand in hand with this.

[sezzy5889]

I don't think these tiny worms bother the snails, i have had them a while and none of my snails seem effected by them

[sonicsnail]

admin said:

Oh, and there is that trap idea I mentioned in the other thread which goes hand in hand with this.

Thanks very much for the advise Paul. I will take that into consideration. The problem may be ventilation for me. It is enough for the snails, but may still feed the growing worm population some how... I must admit, for a few day I left the food in there for about 2 days... That's just the way the snails like the food. So, maybe that didn't help.

What trap idea lol? What other thread?

Sarah, I agree with you there. However, I believe that they affect ill snails. So as if they prey on the weak.

[Arno]

sonicsnail said:

admin said:

Oh, and there is that trap idea I mentioned in the other thread which goes hand in hand with this.

Thanks very much for the advise Paul. I will take that into consideration. The problem may be ventilation for me. It is enough for the snails, but may still feed the growing worm population some how... I must admit, for a few day I left the food in there for about 2 days... That's just the way the snails like the food. So, maybe that didn't help.

What trap idea lol? What other thread?

Sarah, I agree with you there. However, I believe that they affect ill snails. So as if they prey on the weak.

Look in this thread ,reply 12
petsnails.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=problems&action=display&n=1&thread=1760

[sonicsnail]

Thanks Arno. That's a good idea. Like you said though, if not removed in one day then the population of worms could explode. About the dry and wet areas... I believe that this will not make that much difference because the worms can just hitch a ride on a snail to the food.