dead or alive: snails?

[HatsuneMiku]

i started getting some diatom algae in my goldfish tank .. and so i got 2 snails from petsmart .. one blue one gold ..

i put them in separate qt cups .. as i do with all new things i get (plants .. fish .. inverts etc) .. but they haven't moved in like 3 days ..

i've fed them each 5 pellets of goldfish food (since i thought they eat leftover food) but they haven't touched it .. and i change 80% of their cup water every day ..

did they die? @_@ .. how do i tell if they died ?

[Silverfang]

apple snails will stink to the high unholy heavens if they are dead (trust me on this, don't inhale deeply). They are more active at night, try veggies, if they are that hungry, it can be more appealing.

[snoopy65]

smell them, if they are dead you will know. A dead snail has an odor once smelled you will never forget. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but "Mystery" aka Diffusa or Bridgesii Snails are not very efficient at all at eating algae. If you want algae eating snails, get nerites

[Bombalurina]

Got to agree. I have never smelt anything worse than a dead mystery snail.

What temperature is their water?

[Olympia]

Nerites have good raspy teeth for green dot algae, and are heavy algae eaters. But the brigg snails should be able to handle diatoms, though probably not very efficiently. Just feed them once a week and make them work for the rest.
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[thekoimaiden]

I wish you the best with your algae battle in a goldfish tank. I've been fighting that fight for about 5 years now. Due to the cooler temps that most goldfish tanks are kept (for various reasons which I can expound on later if you so desire) many of the snails commonly kept in the hobby aren't suited. Pond snails from an actual pond will work, but goldfish also have a nasty habit of eating them. The best algae control in a goldfish tank is an algae scrubber. I hear those ones that stick to the glass with magnets are great.

[HatsuneMiku]

thanks everyone for the advice ^_^..

i only have a minor diatom problem ... that gets stuck on my bubbler ornament thingie .. and that's such a pain for me to take out and clean .. since my goldfish tank is a tall .. and i'm a short ..

they don't smell at all .. they just haven't moved @_@ .. and they are in qt cups so the temps are room temps .. its been like 90's outside .. so indoors is about 80

@silver if i feed them zuchinni like i feed my octos .. do i have to make sure they are warm first? or do they eat them freshly cut?

@koi =D i have one of those magnet thingies .. they are a god-send!!

@olympia what are brigg snails? .. never seen them before O_o

[Silverfang]

They prefer soft, so blanched, but I've tossed in plain just cut off and rinsed well. They will nom happily.

Briggs is just the old name for Diffusa, a species of apple snail. Generally you will find one of two, diffusa and cana. However the cana subspecies can be illegal in some states.

[HatsuneMiku]

OO ic ic !! .. so i should have gotten apple snails instead of the mystery ones?

[snoopy65]

apple, mystery, bridgessi, diffusa, pomaesa....all the same snail. apple snail also refers to a cana snail, but those are not ssen often as they are illegal to ship outside of a sellers home state.