Bleaching+Mantle disconnect-Not good.

[zakalwe]

Today I was taking the snails out to try them out with beer (which which was funny in it's own right though I think they prefer it warm and flat) and I noticed that Gary, my Aspersa that's recently had a fair amount of bleaching on his shell, has a gap between the normally white mantle and the edge of his shell. As he was moving around I could see a brown muscle between it's edge and the shell.

Is this a mantle tear perhaps? Or is he just too big for his shell?

I'm thinking maybe it's all just part of him being old. I've only had him a short while but he was pretty much full grown when I got him.

I've got pics if that'd help. Have them up tomorrow.

[zakalwe]

Here's a few pics of his mantle and a couple of his shell











The bleaching has gotten much more wide spread than it is in that first shot.

[zakalwe]

UPDATE: well, he seems to be doing fine, except for the fact that I've now found three mites on him today. Killed the little bastards and I haven't seen anymore, but I'm looking up where I can buy Hypoaspis in Canada. Ugh, this guys gonna be the death of me.

[coyote]

I don't think I've ever seen anything like that brown part showing next to his the shell. I'm not sure what it would be.

I hope you find a hypoaspis supplier soon!

[coyote]

One question: what are you using for substrate?

[zakalwe]

Potting soil with a bit of moss on top. I never had issues with the moss before and I've been using the same package of stuff for the past two or three months now.

My Fiancé recently brought a slug in so I thought it might have been him, but I checked and there was nothing.

I also thought it might somehow have been a fake plant I just bought, so I rinsed it super well and put it back in.

I spent a good hour and a half checking the snails last night, tapping their shells and keeping an eye out for the mites, but I didn't see any so I'm going to wait a week or two and see how it goes.