You might have heard that Mystery Snails are easy to maintain, which is actually true. But there are certain diseases that your mystery snail can encounter. As they are part of your efficient cleaning crew, you cannot expose them to any unnecessary diseases that can impact their health and contribution to your aquarium.
One problem that you might have to worry about regarding the mystery snails is the swollen foot. The first impression anyone gets here is that they are so small. How can you even see their feet? But seriously, when your Mystery Snail develops this problem, you’ll be able to see it.
So, let’s see what this problem is, how you can fix it, and some of the health issues that your mystery snail can be prone to. We’ll discuss:
- Swollen foot, its causes, and treatment
- Other health issues faced by mystery snails
- General ways to prevent diseases in your pet
Swollen Foot
The swollen foot is a condition where your pet’s foot will literally be swollen. However, it is not a disease rather an indication of a problem, which can be fixed nearly as soon as you identify and resolve the cause.
So, now the critical question is what can cause the swollen foot in the mystery snail? Bad water quality. Like many other problems that the poor quality of water can create, the swollen foot can also be caused.
Usually, the chemical inclusions in the water like invert safe chemicals, plant fertilizers, and products with higher copper content can make your mystery snail suffer. This is why chemical addition in the aquarium is not recommended.
But once your Snail gets the Swollen Foot, it is advisable to check the water quality immediately as it could be harmful to other pets in the aquarium. Besides, you should perform massive water changes to remove the chemical that has been the cause of swollen foot. But massive water changes can be a stress factor for your fish, too, so be mindful of that.
Once you perform the necessary changes, your mystery snail will start getting normal. Even during this health issue, you can expect it to move around without significant problems unless the snail is too old.
Floating Snails
Is your Snail floating in the water? Never mind, it is just having fun, especially if it is the female snail. They usually take in air at the time of laying eggs. They can release this air anytime to get back to the normal position. But they choose not to do that instantly and relax while floating on the water.
If you find a male mystery snail in such a position, it is still nothing to worry about. But that indicates that he is weak and unable to spend energy moving from one place to another. So, he prefers to float. To help the weak snail get back to the healthy position, you can offer them some food.
What can you do in such a situation? You should let them float unless they are near your filter or if you are doubtful they have died. Otherwise, they’ll get back to the normal position in some time.
Shell Strengths
One of the other issues that a mystery snail might face is shell health. Although their shell is strong and doesn’t usually have any problems, you must provide the necessary nutrients to your snail to keep it strong. Calcium powders and vitamins are easy solutions. You can find the specific powders for mystery snails online with great ease.
Adding these powders to your aquarium from time to time will allow you to maintain good health for the shell. A healthier shell usually means a healthy mystery snail inside.
Mantle Collapse
This is one of the fatal conditions that your mystery snail can go through. Till now, specific reasons for this disease have not been found. In this problem, the snail shell starts detaching from the mantle, sometimes fully, other times its partial. But either way, the detaching of the shell results in problems in vital organs like gills and lungs. So, they feel difficulty in breathing.
Although there is no specific reason identified, the list of possibilities includes the presence of parasites like nematodes between the shell and mantle area that could cause detaching, toxicity in the water, rapid water parameter change, another snail, or even an accidental human interaction. If you have gone through any of these changes recently, this might be a cause, but it cannot be confirmed.
Receding Operculum
This health condition is often an indicator of the sick mystery snail. There can be small circles and big circles. The small circles usually mean that they are mildly sick, and you can treat them; however, if the circles are large, usually the snail at this stage is not treatable. The bigger circles are often seen in the older snails, so you might expect them to die.
The water quality might have a role to play in generating this sickness. Once the snails are ill, they are more sensitive to the water quality and sudden water changes, which puts you in a dilemma. You can go for a 25% water change daily to remove the nitrates and ammonia from the water while just changing enough of the water at a time that your snails can handle.
How will you find if the sickness or old age causes the Receding Operculum? As an estimate, if you have the mystery snail in your tank for more than 6 months, it is too old, and no particular illness might be the cause here.
General measures to keep your mystery snail healthy
Although a few diseases discussed above have no solution. But there can be some preventive actions, which might save your snail from such problems. We’ll share these factors here. But if your mystery snail is old already, adopting these measures will also not help. So, you must be prepared to let it go even if you are attached to your pet.
Maintain the optimal water quality
Maintaining good water quality is one of the basics if you want to keep all the pets in your aquarium happy. There must be no nitrates and ammonia, especially if you already suspect disease in the tank.
Go for regular water changes
You cannot leave your water dirty as it will create a nutrient spike, and this will be detrimental to the beings living in your aquarium. So, regulating water changes is highly essential. They can let you maintain the water quality, too.
Reduce the addition of chemicals to your main tank
Avoiding new chemicals can let your pets live in a safe and hygienic environment. If you want to treat a specific fish, it is better to quarantine it and add all the chemicals you might want to try for the treatment. Similarly, unnecessary fertilizers aren’t recommended for the plant tank either. But if you are aware of what you are doing or that adding the chemicals is essential, you might add them to your tank.
Summing up
Swollen foot in mystery snail is often an indication of toxicity in the water. It is a health condition, not an illness in itself. So, you must avoid adding any chemicals and maintain optimal water quality. We have shared a few other health problems that your mystery snails can face. You can go through them and take preventive measures to avoid those illnesses and provide a healthy life to your pet.
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