snails cruisin without shell
 

i am just wondering if anyone else out there has had a snail cruisin around on the glass without a shell on its back???
i got home from edmonton last night and noticed one of my snails without a shell on it and it was still doin its job cleaning algea off the glass

most likely stomatella snails - they are a good hitchiker and have only a small "fingernail" shell on their backs.

im putting a pic up right away had to go to the car and have a smoke and get my camera haha. and no its not one of those types i have a million of them in my tank lol

If it isn't a stomatella, and there is no shell. Then I am going to guess a nudibranch.

here is a pic of the snail. he has had a shell for over a year and now he is naked to say the least haha.
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/P1020706.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/P1020709.jpg
http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/P1020707.jpg

oh my.. he IS naked. Thats so weird the way his body is spiraled. Hes going to make an easy snack for a fish.:sad:

my fish are all pretty timid plus this snail ispretty big.

find a shell for him to crawl into maybe if he lasts long enough he will build a new one bit it is doubtfully that he will last that long I had a snail pulled out of a Shell by a larger one it squeezed into the shell with the other snail now he has a small shell and I think he has left the other snails shell because I don't see him in there any longer. Snails are strange some times.

Bill

his normal shell is on the bottom of the tank. i remember knocking him off the glass yesterday when i was cleaning and he must have just crawled out of it and ditched it

Wow thats totally a real shell-less snail! Haha. Hopefully he will grow a new one! Make sure to keep us updated!

oh i definatly will chris. and the weird part is, that it looks as though it hasnt effected it one bit he is still up on the wall cleaning the glass like always

your the lucky one
 

Terry thats a first on me, and we used to grow snails by the garbage can for sales

Do you supplement any calcium? test for it? Snails use Calcium just like corals to grow thier shells. Its possible that if theres not enough calcium for him, he could have outgrown his shell and ditched it. just throwing an idea out there.

Wow!!! I have never seen that, thanks for sharing. I hope he survives.

yes i suppliment calcium as i have 2 clams that love the stuff.

Weird I thought that snails (with shells) need their shells otherwise their internal organs would collapse.

Can say I never seen that before

ive never seen it before either but its still pretty cool to see. i do hope that he goes back to his old shell soon.

I was under this impression also... though I'm technically still a newb. I don't know if we have any resident snail experts (and all of my snails are hitchhikers and offspring), so you may want to post this elsewhere as well (or try a Google search).

i remember when i was in junior high(wow that sounds like a long time ago) we had to study salt water inhabitants and i do recall them saying the same about their organs require the shell to keep them alive, but who knows that was 15 years ago and we all know how accurate those old books are

Do you have any hermit crabs or any crabs or shrimp of sorts in the tank? Cause they may be threats to this little champion's livespan! Haha.

Cheers,

Chris

i have three little hermits in there but they all stay on the rocks and i never see them on the glass bottom. havent seen them on the bottom ever since i went pretty much bare bottom

that is strange but wonder how likely it would be able to back into a shell. Thinking if my liver and stomach squeezed out, they're not going back in on their own.