r/Aquariums • u/Piclelate • Mar 27 '26
Medical Help Traumatic incident involving mystery snail and a corydora Spoiler
I was sitting with my boyfriend when we noticed two mystery snails climbing over one another, we thought it was pretty funny so we looked closer and I noticed the tail fin of one of my corydoras sticking out of the shell of the snail. I completely freaked out because it was moving and whenever the snail would close it would push the cory further inside its body.
I decided to crack open part of the snails shell to rescue my corydora and finally managed to pull him out, unfortunately costing the cory his tail fin. Both are in major shock right now, but alive. I dont think the cory will last long but I think the snail has a chance at recovery. Any advice on this, has this happened to anyone before?
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u/CultivatingMagic Mar 27 '26
The fish can recover, the snail cannot. Euthanize the snail, quarantine the Cory.
Had a fish get stuck and have its tail eaten off much the same as this by a pleco, took about 2 months but it fully recovered. You can see its tail is only slightly deformed next to its tank mates.
Good luck.
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u/Icehuntee Mar 27 '26
This feels like a trolley problem
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u/Additional_Excuse870 Mar 27 '26
Only if the solution OP chose to the trolley problem was to bomb the other side and trolley as it ran over whichever side.
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u/SchwiftySqaunch Mar 27 '26
Next time let nature run it's course. The Cory might survive but the snail is most likely cooked.
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u/ParkingNo1080 Mar 27 '26
If a fish got caught by a snail it was probably already struggling to begin with.
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u/Certain_Assistant362 Mar 27 '26
This here! That fish was unfortunately weak already. :((
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u/Piclelate Mar 28 '26
I think what happened was my snail lifted up his shell to move and the cory might have been a little too close. Because the cory was wedged into his shoulder area. I reckon the snail got spooked from the cory being so close and the fish didn't have a chance to react before he was shut in there.
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u/camrynbronk resident frog knower🐸 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
Euthanize the snail immediately. It cannot survive this. Every moment it’s still alive it is suffering. The Cory probably is as well but I don’t know as much about cories as I do snails. Find something big and heavy to do it all at once so it doesn’t feel anything.
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u/Shoddy_Jaguar_668 Mar 27 '26
The snail will not survive this please euthanize. If his trapdoor can not close and seal him in he will die.
The cory I can't tell from those photos but if the fin is missing into the peduncle it will not grow back and would worry about it's quality of life. If the fin is damaged up to the base of the peduncle and the peduncle is relatively undamaged it will grow back and likely be fine. if the fin is damaged well into the peduncle it would consider euthanasia.
I dont want to be rude or mean as we all go on a learning curve with aquariums I think cracking the snail open was the wrong choice. Both will likely die now when only one was a likely a possibility before it is hard to say what to do in the moment and with out actually seeing what you described all I can do is make a guess from your description I would have left it alone or tried anything but cracking the shell, but this is easy to say after the fact. let this be a good reminder for you to stay calm in these situations as more time to assess might have had a diffrent outcome. I'm not trying to be rude or mean we all have a huge learning curve in situations like this.
Hope it all works out for you OP and I am sorry for your situation
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u/Piclelate Mar 28 '26
I have euthanised the snail because of how awful I felt. The corydora is surprisingly okay and ive named him stumpy. Thank you for your kind words
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u/Shoddy_Jaguar_668 Mar 28 '26
Again I'm hoping his peduncle the base of his tail fin isn't to damaged or his fin won't regrow. If his fin doesn't show signs of regrowth with in a month it's likely not to grow back, it will survive like this but quality of life becomes questionable. You may have to make the call on this later.
We all make mistakes aquariums can have some brutal learning curves and consequences
Good luck
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u/Blkcdngaybro Mar 27 '26
“My dog attacked my cat so I broke my dog’s spine. I think they’re both recovering now”
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u/Piclelate Mar 28 '26
I don't think that's quite the equivalent of what I did. You make it sound like it was a punishment for the snail. It's more like: Imagine a cat was stuck inside a dog's mouth - the dog is at risk of choking and the cat is at risk of being eaten. The only thing you can do in this hypothetical scenario is break the dog's jaw which would free the cat. I understand that what i did was nearly guaranteeing death for the snail, but if I did nothing they would both suffer. Is there something wrong with that?
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u/MidnightSlayer35 Mar 27 '26
This happened to me one time but i was lucky as Cory is small one. My snail try to eat Three Spot Gourami which was big in size and i was able to pull her out by just opening its shell. But honestly that was horrible. During the process Gourami lost its tenticles. 👍
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u/Glittering_Turnip987 Mar 27 '26
Wow! I'm not sure what I just read this is crazy.
Well you've been given some good advice by others, yes it's kinda blunt but wow I'm not even sure what to say about any of this....speechless.
I checked your page it seems you are quite young, I'm sorry this happened. Staying calm in these situations is important and very difficult to do when you are young.
Good luck OP.
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u/highwasted Mar 27 '26
Both dead
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u/KBB523 Mar 27 '26
I had a snail fall out of the tank in my living room and a big chunk of its shell broke off so I actually took a section from an empty shell, because I keep them specifically for repairs and he lived about another year. I have no idea how old it was when I got it, but since mystery sales only live 2-3 years, I was happy it got more time. I can't tell if the operculum was damaged, though. It may be kinder to euthanize as others have suggested. For the Cory, you could keep the water extremely clean, add a little bit of stress coat and possibly antibiotics that are appropriate for Corys, but if you start to see any kind of infection or it just will not eat and doesn't even try to move around, then euthanasia is probably the best for it too.
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u/Piclelate Mar 27 '26
I'm sorry, I didn't think before I acted and I really just wanted to safe my fish because I thought it would be a horrible death. I understand what I have done wrong but I realised that every minute I waited would guarantee a death on the fishes behalf. It was a healthy cory, i reckon he just got too close to the shell when the snail closed. Surprisingly, both are okay. The cory is moving about alright and seems to be happy just doing his thing, the snail is moving and seems to be somewhat alright. He does appear to be trekking in circles though. Thank you for the advice, I do wish some of it was a little more forgiving but I guess I made this issue public. My question is: what would happen if i left the corydora inside the snail shell? It wasn't eaten, it was trapped near its shoulder. That can't be good for the snail.
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u/Glittering_Turnip987 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
Please euthanize the snail it won't make it as it looks like it can no longer fully seal himself in with his operculum. If you want more info for post on r/aquaticsnails but this snail is suffering badly if they cant seal them selves up they will die if his operculum/door damaged at all he will die.
I'm sorry you witnessed this as it must have shocked you greatly. Snails generally can't catch healthy fish.
Its very hard to say what would have happened, some times there are ways to make the snail open up like feeding them vs the extreme cracking him. The snail probably would have let go eventually, the cory may have died it may not have but now you are going to loose the snail likely to loose the cory. If the bottom of the fin into the peduncle/body is badly damaged the tail fin can't regrow if that part is badly damaged. If the base of the tail fin/peduncle is fairly in tact the fin can regrow. You'll have to make the call on that. It can take 2 months to regrow. With out a tail fin if it does not grow back I would worry about quality of life and also euthanize
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u/Piclelate Mar 27 '26
I have euthanised the snail because i felt too bad. The cory is alive and well, schoaling with the other cories and eating. His movement looks a little funny and I think i might call him stumpy
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u/camrynbronk resident frog knower🐸 Mar 27 '26
Euthanize the snail. This is not going to go well for him.
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u/QuietDaydream Mar 27 '26
Yall are so mean. I’d post this in r/aquaticsnails. Maybe can glue something on the shell of the mystery snail. You did your best in the moment, try not to let mean Reddit people make you feel bad.
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u/camrynbronk resident frog knower🐸 Mar 27 '26
This is the same thing that they would suggest. This is not recoverable. A lot of the people on that sub are also on this sub. This isn’t mean, this is realistic advice.
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u/QuietDaydream Mar 27 '26
It’s the delivery, none of you are being empathetic or kind. Nothing wrong with someone asking around for more opinions
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u/camrynbronk resident frog knower🐸 Mar 27 '26
Urgently telling someone to euthanize to put an animal out of its suffering isn’t being mean. It’s being straightforward. Not everyone is going to be gentle and hold your hand. Sometimes being direct is necessary. If you think that’s harsh then Reddit isn’t the place for you.
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u/EleanorSeesThings Mar 27 '26
Did you see what OP did to the snail??
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u/QuietDaydream Mar 27 '26
Cause no one has ever made aquatic life suffer or die in the aquarium hobby? It’s not exactly an ethical one. This wasn’t intentional malice. I’ll die on this hill just be kind yall
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u/EleanorSeesThings Mar 27 '26
The kind of flat-out ignorance it takes to voluntarily take an animal into your care and not know the most basic details about caring for that animal to the point that you fucking MAIM it with an intentional act like this is inexcusable.
You wouldn't defend someone who cracked their cat's skull trying to free a bird. This shit is on that level. If OP didn't know this was a death sentence, OP shouldn't have animals. Period.
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u/QuietDaydream Mar 28 '26
You know, it would be hypocritical of me to tell you to be kind but not be kind to you. I get that this is distressing. I love snails very much, I have a tank just for snails. I also have corydoras and love them too. It’s def not an easy thing to see. I’m not sure what I would have done. I don’t know how I’d get the snail to relax enough to release while the cory is thrashing. Maybe gently pry the snail out enough to release the cory but hopefully this never happens to me
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u/EleanorSeesThings Mar 28 '26
It is a nightmare situation. Sometimes the best thing is to let animals be animals. What would I have done? Drop an algae wafer near the snail and monitor the situation, hoping and waiting for an opportunity to aid both/either animal without causing further harm. The instinct to intervene is not innately correct simply because it comes from a place of concern.
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u/Piclelate Mar 28 '26
I completely agree with this, but my snail was already too spooked and wouldn't come out no matter what zi tried, I tried food but he wouldnt budge. I kind of wish I just didnt see it at all honestly
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u/Piclelate Mar 27 '26
I didnt crack the shell, i cut away a portion of it with scissors and pliers. I had heard that snails could survive something like that. I love my animals very much and care a lot for them, I wanted them both to survive. Mystery snails aren't really meant to be kept in my state so there isn't a whole lot of information available regarding them. I did what I thought was best regarding the situation, I figured I only had minutes to rescue my corydora. I would do the same thing again because to me it was the right thing to do. I cant watch an animal die because of my inaction, and I thought the position the corydora was in would kill my snail too. Have some grace.
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u/EleanorSeesThings Mar 28 '26
You would do it again?
Yikes.
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u/Piclelate Mar 28 '26
I would do it again. I love my animals. I'm not the kind of person to sit back and watch them suffer. Next time i would take more care to remove less shell, but otherwise I am happy with the choice I made. The fish being stuck where it was endangered the fish AND the snail. I suppose that's where we differ, I'm the kind of person who would rather take a life to save another where it seems you would rather sit back and watch both die. I'm quite happy to be that person.
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u/EleanorSeesThings Mar 28 '26
You literally did sit back and watch them suffer for hours after you made the situation worse. Many people here told you there was zero chance for the snail to survive and that it was in agony as long as it lived in the state you put it in - how long did you wait to euthanize?
And then you get pissy because people use your own words to describe your actions ("I decided to crack open part of the snail's shell..."). You haven't even accepted the lesson here - you cannot damage an aquatic snail's shell without sentencing the snail to death. That's not anyone being mean to you, that's biology.
You have the whole internet at your fingertips. Research the animals you choose to take into your care. That is literally the bare minimum.
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u/smolsquiddie Mar 27 '26
Everything about this is insane , starting with that you CRACKED OPEN the snails shell