I added a Blue Mystery Snail to my 10g Community tank about 10 days ago.  In the past few days I've noticed my ghost shrimp pestering him quite often.  It appeared to my newbie eyes he was trying to eat him.  Well this morning I found the snail dead and the shrimp eating him.  All the fish are fine so I doubt its a tank problem.  Any chance shrimpy murdered my snail?   The snail is a little less than ping-pong ball size and the ghost shrimp is a little over 1".   I'd like to figure out why he died because I really was enjoying him, he was a fascinating little guy.

Most likely, when you placed your snail into the tank the first time, the shrimp swam over to pick algea off of his shell.  A Ghost shrimp would not kill a snail, but it would pick algea off of its shell.  After the snail had died, the shrimp simply was scaveging his body.  I am not sure why your snail died.  How did you acclimate it?  I know very little about freshwater, but I do know that some species need harder or softer water than others.  Hopefully someone will chime in on the water paremeters of the snail and then you can see if your tank is compatiable with that snail.

rrooccky said :

I added a Blue Mystery Snail to my 10g Community tank about 10 days ago.  In the past few days I've noticed my ghost shrimp pestering him quite often.  It appeared to my newbie eyes he was trying to eat him.  Well this morning I found the snail dead and the shrimp eating him.  All the fish are fine so I doubt its a tank problem.  Any chance shrimpy murdered my snail?   The snail is a little less than ping-pong ball size and the ghost shrimp is a little over 1".   I'd like to figure out why he died because I really was enjoying him, he was a fascinating little guy.

I have found at least in my own experiences that freshwater snails are MUCH tougher than salt water Snails, But the still have the same key weaknesses Such as Lack of Algae(Starvation) Copper Etc. Without a complete test profile of your water any reason i could give you for his death would be at best a guess, i can say that i highly doubt the Ghost Shrimp killed him, I have had them and never seen them bother anyone unless they were defending themselves.

Well to me, it was pretty blatant that the ghost shrimp was going for the meat of the snail not any algae on his shell.  I saw this behavior 3 times.  Twice the snail was in his shell on the gravel and the shrimp was picking at the trapdoor part.  The third time the snail was actually attached to the tank side at the water level and the shrimp swam up and was once again picking at the meat part until finally the snail lost suction and both came tumbling down (quite a humorous site I must say).

Now that my inital shock is over and I use my brain a little I agree it is highly doubtful the shrimp outright killed him.  I didn't know if constant nipping or whatever you'd call it from the shrimp could have been a factor.  I have read that snails are sensitive to copper but on my college student budget I haven't purchased a kit to test for metals.  I live around campus area so if anyone knows how tap water in this area is on metals that'd be good info to know.

As far as food goes, I don't have live plants so my tank does lack algae but I supplemented with blanched cucumber which the snail only showed moderate interest in.  I guess if he didn't have a taste for cucumber starvation could have been the culprit.

That is intersting about the snail only going for the meat.  Maybe you have a cannibal snail.  The other thing that might could have been is that the snail had an infection or sore that the shrimp was trying to "Clean".  Again, I am speaking from a saltwater perspective, but still odd that the shrimp would try to eat the meat.

Aren't Ghost Shrimp algea eaters?

There could be multipe reasons, water quality, if you just threw the snail in, it may not have adjusted to your set parameters, having gone into shock just being popped in.. What do you feed the shrimp? Its possible that a starved shrimp could have picked up on a dying snail, and took advantage of it.

When the shrimp nipped at the snail, did the snail go inside his shell everytime? If not, I doubt the shrimp did any damage.

Remember almost no FW aquatic organisms can survive solely on algae, especially when it is scarce. While snails will eat the algae they come across, it is recommended they be supplemented with flake and calcium feeders on a regular basis

Ghost Shrimp are omnivorous.  I give mine some bloodworms sometimes and they gobble them up.

hc8719 said :

There could be multipe reasons, water quality, if you just threw the snail in, it may not have adjusted to your set parameters, having gone into shock just being popped in.. What do you feed the shrimp? Its possible that a starved shrimp could have picked up on a dying snail, and took advantage of it.

When the shrimp nipped at the snail, did the snail go inside his shell everytime? If not, I doubt the shrimp did any damage.

Remember almost no FW aquatic organisms can survive solely on algae, especially when it is scarce. While snails will eat the algae they come across, it is recommended they be supplemented with flake and calcium feeders on a regular basis

I was putting in blanched cucumber in for the snail.  I kind of figured the shrimp would get all the food on the bottom before the snail could so the cucumber would help.  I wasn't real sure of a good way to ensure the shrimp didn't gobble everything before the snail could.

I acclimated him the same as the fish by letting the bag float until temp's came to a equilibrium.  Then plucking him out of the bag and putting him in the tank (this is what the bag said...please correct me if its a newbie mistake ).  He did live 11 days so not sure how long the acclimating takes.

The snail would retract everytime the shrimp would come poking.  This was cleary visible on the ground and I believe that's why they both fell during the water level adventure.

Proper acclimating involves not only getting the two different water samples to the same temperature, but also getting the animal slowly adjusted to the parameters of the new water.

The most common method is drip acclimating, which involves a airhose acting as a syphon. A loose knot is tied at the bottom end of the hose, while the begining of the hose is in the main tank, allowing tank water to slowly to slowly drip into the bag. This gets the animal used to the unique water parameters of your tank, from ammonia to nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity, or pH.

Or in simpler terms, you can add an ounce of tank water to the bag every 5-10 minutes for a half hour or so.

While drip/water acclimating isn't always needed for every specimen, it is certainly recommended

Proper acclimating involves not only getting the two different water samples to the same temperature, but also getting the animal slowly adjusted to the parameters of the new water.

The most common method is drip acclimating, which involves a airhose acting as a syphon. A loose knot is tied at the bottom end of the hose, while the begining of the hose is in the main tank, allowing tank water to slowly to slowly drip into the bag. This gets the animal used to the unique water parameters of your tank, from ammonia to nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity, or pH.

Or in simpler terms, you can add an ounce of tank water to the bag every 5-10 minutes for a half hour or so.

While drip/water acclimating isn't always needed for every specimen, it is certainly recommended