Naked snail!

[Gaia]

When I came home from work the other night we found one of the turbo snails on the front of the tank with his empty shell lying on the sand below - it looks like it had just fallen off!

The snail itself looks perfectly healthy, apart from being naked, and is still gliding round the tank as though nothing has happened.

All the other inhabitants of the tank seem fine, including the other 4 turbo snails.

Does anyone have any idea about why this has happened? Will it die without its shell?

PS - did the usual water tests and everything seemed fine, plus am doing weekly water changes.

 

[bleedingthought]

Do you have any crabs? And are you sure that what you saw wasn't a chiton/stomatela?

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure you are not looking at a different "snail", such as nudibranch or sea slug? There are a lot of organs inside the shell for regular snail, and without, it will pretty much die within hours.

 

[Gaia]

Well I discussed it with my husband as he got in about 10 minutes before me and apparently he actually saw the shell fall off, which I hadn't realised. Not only that, its body seemed to be curled up in a spiral like the shell itself, so it *looked* like a snail, just a soft brown one!

I've not been able to find him again though, so I suspect he may have crawled off and died somewhere, in which case the hermit crabs will probably eat him.

I was just worried in case this was caused by some deficiency in the water that I didn't know about, although as I said, everything else seems fine so far!

Guess its just one of thiose mysteries then... :?

 

[Anonymous]

Never heard this is possible, since the shell is attached to the internal organ by connective tissue that is not going to let go even if you cook it. The only way you can separate it is by force.

As to rather it is due to deficiency in the water, I doubt that is the case. Otherwise, there will be a few canning companies that want to get in touch with you for the "deshelling solution"