new snail disappeared :(

[registereduser]

I finally got my petco to order some nerites and I bought 3 zebra nerites. I put 2 in my 5 gallon, temporarily, to eat the high amount of algea. That tank gets sunlight every day.

I put the other one in my 20 gallon which is not heavily decorated and gets no sunlight. It does have a coating of opaque algae, the oto is doing fine in that tank.

After a few days the 2 in the 5 gallon are doing great and the one in the 20 gallon has DISAPPEARED! I have one betta in the 5 and one in the 20 but they don't seem to care about the snails.

Has this ever happened to you? Do they crawl out of the tank??? I can't find it anywhere, not even an empty shell

[Laki]

It's a 20g. It's in there somewhere. I'm pretty sure they bury themselves in the substrate. Don't worry!

[aokashi]

my nerite lived in the sand during the day and only came out at night. you might find that it is the same in the case of your disappearing snail

[registereduser]

Originally Posted by Laki

It's a 20g. It's in there somewhere. I'm pretty sure they bury themselves in the substrate. Don't worry!

That's another thing, my substrate is small glass pebbles and about 1/4 inch deep at best.

I even felt around inside the filter.....no luck. I hope you are right and he just shows up someday

[Laki]

He should. I let my assassins loose in my betta tanks and I didn't see them for days. And that was gravel too, not sand. They manage, even though you tell yourself that you'll surely see their stripy shells!!

[teeneythebetta]

They do crawl out but mine only crawl to the small amount of unfilled tank. They like to poop up there LOL.

Mine also like to hide behind where my filter hangs over.

[djembekah]

yeah i bought two nerites the other day, and i've only seen one since that first day. i'm pretty sure, like my rabbit snails, they just like to bury themselves, and hide.

[PaintingPintos]

Hmm.....I've had the same problems with my Mystery Snail....named Snailio, currently deceased.
When I was growing out my 2 fancy goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, I decided a snail could make a nice little change. Well, I only had a small castle (no animal could get into those teeny tiny holes, about 1/8 inch wide), 20 strands of Anacharis (spaced out evenly along the wall so that each stem was completely unobstructed, and big pebbles on the bottom. Well, that darn snail managed to disappear every day for the 2 months he was alive, and suddenly pop up, super-active, at night as though he were there the whole time.
It was really weird and I still can't figure out where he went.....Even during water changes he would disappear
???????????????????????????????????????

[registereduser]

I just saw him crawling out of one of the 2 decorations I have in the tank. You guys were right!

But I swear I searched inside and out of that deco 3 times and no snail

Anyway, I'm glad he's not dead cuz it took me forever to finally get him and his brothers.

[teeneythebetta]

Originally Posted by registereduser

I just saw him crawling out of one of the 2 decorations I have in the tank. You guys were right!

But I swear I searched inside and out of that deco 3 times and no snail

Anyway, I'm glad he's not dead cuz it took me forever to finally get him and his brothers.

Haha! I have to feed my snails since I don't have algae. I have to hunt them down (which I need a flashlight to look in my fish's house) then I put them in a Betta cup with algae wafers & fish food and let them float until they quit eating. Little pains. My Betta willeat their food if she can get to the food so she made it all complicated.