Floating snail...

[Vanatincoel]

Hi everyone,

For some reason, my horned nerite has been floating upside down on the surface of the water. It's moving around and is still well and alive... but I was wondering if this is something normal or a bad omen? Could someone please explain this to me?

I don't have any filters in my tank, which is really a jar of sorts, so I don't see how air could have gotten in its shell? Is it just riding on the water tension and eating the protein layer?

Would greatly appreciate your response, thanks!

P.S.> Do these snails eat anything else like cabbages, lettuce or shrimp food? thanks

[Shaihulud]

I have snails that does it, even apple snails who are quite big you could see its mothpart and its foot extended when its riding on the surface inteface. Never seen any kind of nerite with that behaviour however.

[PKB]

Common for Ramhorn to float. But never seen a horned nerite did that before. I have 5 Horn Nerite in my tank and none of them float.

As for the food, my Ramhorn eats boil cucumber and my Nerite clears alage off the wood and glass, never seen them eat shrimp food before.

[mozaqua]

Hi everyone,

For some reason, my horned nerite has been floating upside down on the surface of the water. It's moving around and is still well and alive... but I was wondering if this is something normal or a bad omen? Could someone please explain this to me?

I don't have any filters in my tank, which is really a jar of sorts, so I don't see how air could have gotten in its shell? Is it just riding on the water tension and eating the protein layer?

Would greatly appreciate your response, thanks!

P.S.> Do these snails eat anything else like cabbages, lettuce or shrimp food? thanks

Most snails do this, it is completely normal behavior.
Many snails can trap air from the surface and use it for flotation, such as apple snails/ Ramshorn snails. Other snails are still able to grab onto the surface tension of the water without trapping air.
The reason is as you said, they are eating the bio-film on the surface of the water. You can utilize filtration to remove this, fairly easily.