Mildew Cause of Illness

[siobhanc54]

A couple of weeks ago a couple of my snails seemed a bit off colour, quite inactive but were eating a bit and did come out after a little coaxing, was getting quite worried.
I thought I would give them all a nice bath and try make them feel better, as my mister bottle was a little low I went to fill it up and noticed inside there was some mould growong inside it, not sure how long it has been there but I rinse it fairly regularly, anyway went and bought a new mister bottle (a clear one this time) and it's been 3 days now with the new mister bottle and my snails are back to their old selves and nice and healthy.

I'm posting this as I can only assume that this mould in their water bottle was causing detrimental effects and making them ill, so thought this could be useful to someone

[coyote]

Thanks for mentioning this. I believe that mold can play a role in causing illness for many different species, humans and snails included.

[siobhanc54]

Oh I should have said it was a black mould not like the white furry one sometimes starts growing in my tank (on food and stuff)

[aerliss]

Could have been mildew? That stuffs nasty, and try as I might I can't keep it out of my bathroom!

[siobhanc54]

Could have been mildew? water bottle is after all kept wet and I keep it warmish for spraying.
My 2 snails that were a bit ill have been totally fine since changing the water bottle so it has to be that which was creating the problem, glad I noticed before it was too late and started making the rest ill.