HELP. How can you tell if a snail is dead?

[littlegreen]

Hello, everyone!
Recently, I moved a bettafish that I'm babysitting into my bigger tank, which has a snail in it. My other better (now in my smaller tank) has never bothered it. However, after moving the other betta to it, I found after a few days that the snail was turned over and not moving. Thinking it could be stuck, I turned it back over. The next morning, it was turned over belly-up again, and I saw the betta ramming aggressively into it. I immediately moved the snail into my smaller tank, but it will not come out of its shell and will not move.

I have moved the snail into a cup with a bit of crushed up algae wafer (maybe it was hungry??) for now...but is it dead? I'm afraid I'm unsure how to tell. : (

Either way, I'm a little miffed the the betta I'm babysitting may have killed my snail! RUDE.

[Tazman]

Take the snail out of the tank and smell it, you will know IMMEDIATELY, trust me, if it is dead!

The smell is unbearable.

[MyRainbowBettaFish]

they won't move for a couple of days, and if you turn their shells over, usually all this gunk stuff comes out. They also smell reallllllyyyy bad if they are dead.

[Mo]

Yeah. I agree. Smell it, they smell horrible. The stench made me gag at first,

[SamJustice]

I'd leave it in the container for a while, if after like day it hasnt moved, at all, probably dead.

Don't worry. Raph killed my snail. /=

And gawds yes. they do stink. But not until after they sat a bit. Might also float too.

[MollyJean]

dead snails STINK.. one of the worst things I have ever smelled. Take it out of the water and give it a sniff. If it doesn't stink, put him back in the water and cross your fingers. What kind of snail is he, anyway?

[littlegreen]

He's a zebra snail...AND HE'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = D I moved him to a small container, and when I came back a few hours later he was climbing up the side of it! He's definitely never going into that tank while the betta I'm babysitting is in it! He'll stick to being tank-buddies with my own betta, who has never hurt him. Thank you all! : D

[littlegreen]

But I do have a question! I think that I'm going to keep him in his own container for a few days, just so that in case he is injured he has a little downtime. What size container would be appropriate? Would a gallon be alright? I have a spare 1 gallon glass jar that I use for a temporary betta house. Could I use that?

[SamJustice]

I'd say yeah.
Switching him between bettas, he'd need to be quarantined for a moment anyway.
Just remember to do the water changes.

[Crowntailed]

1 gal tank is good,
Its true snails when they die smell bad and i mean BAD. I had a snail die in my 35g tank and wow that tank smelled for 5 days.