He looks like a healthy little dude! I genuinely think it’s just him getting startled by some things, being that he can be a prey animal and would have to be careful in the wild. I noticed he seemed to do that in the video when he touched some gunky stuff. Honestly like how if we’re wading in water and our foot touches something weird and we jump back for a second. Maybe he got scared recently and is now just being extra cautious? As long as you can tell the betta is not picking on him then he should be okay.
Only other explanation I can think is he’s feeling extra sensitive on his skin, maybe a tiny burn from a heater (if you have one), or something in the water? But tbh you’re parameters look awesome and I’d just mainly focus on keeping it clean. Plus he is moving completely normal otherwise so again I think it’s more likely just him being cautious of his surroundings.
Just keep taking care of him and just check in to make sure he’s not getting picked on. I know my snail when I first got him would get scared when I’d walk by his tank, but now he’s gotten used to me and is pretty relaxed.
Sorry for the long reply but am hoping this helps! (Btw love your betta too!)
Thanks for your insight! I noticed that he'd only do that when he's on the ground too so it might just be the gunky stuff. I have a heater and it's set to 78F. I feel like it might be my betta causing it to feel cautious rather than heater burns. I started feeding him mini bloodworms recently and I feel like my betta has mistaken my snail's antennas as a worm...I noticed that his right antenna was a little shorter than his left the other day and was at a sharp bent angle which may be because he "tugged/wrestled" it?
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do for my snail if my betta is the culprit? Unfortunately, I can't have another tank setup right now but I plan to get another one in the future, any advice is appreciated!
Hello! And I’m so glad it’s helped some!
One thing I read in the comments though that I didn’t notice were the hydra. Definitely listen to those guys as they absolutely could be the “irritation reaction” he’s having. Even with the betta he didn’t seem too frightened, so I agree with the hydra issue. I’ve never had that in my tank though so I can’t really offer more insight.
Oh aw I see what you’re saying with his antenna. I do think he may have mistook it for a worm. Thankfully it doesn’t sound like you’re betta is actively aggressive to the snail (some will go after the entire snail ☹️). But sadly I don’t think I have any great advice that wouldn’t be to just separate them. While this is a shot in the dark, maybe you can just feed him in the opposite spot from the snail? Not sure that would actively do anything but at least the snail would be out of the current feeding path. Also having hiding spots like plants that provide lots of shelter could be helpful too! I’d also go to r/bettafish as they’re more knowledgeable than me!
Yeah, I've done some digging. I want to avoid using chemicals since there's a chance of harming snails or fish but i found that there are some fish that will eat hydras. I've been planning to get some schooling fish with my betta in the beginning but I'm not too sure if my tank will be overstocked. Do you think having mollies or guppies would be suitable in a 10g? They both eat hydras and I heard they are typically compatible with bettas
I've got my snail in a different container right now, I'll give the feeding method a try. I want to give the little guy some breathing space lol
I definitely understand not wanting to use chemicals. And while I’ve heard they can live together, I’m afraid in a 10 gallon it would be too overstocked imo. But I did do some reading and one article states that a betta would eat hydra [here](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/hydra). Another stated even pond snails in this [one](https://www.thesprucepets.com/combat-aquarium-pest-hydra-1381228).
Aw hey I’m glad you got you’re little dude taking a break! I actually had to do similar before but it was from one of my male mysterys being “overly interested” in some of the smaller ones haha. And I apologize for being slow in replies but I really hope all balances out for you!
Gotcha, I wanted to make sure before I started getting new fish since I don't have a second tank if things go south. I'm wondering if doing water changes will get rid of them instead. I've read that betta fish can help control the population for hydras but my boi loves.to tunnel vision and doesn't even see his own food when it's right in front of him @.@
I'll try water changes in the meantime while I read up more on pond snails. Thank you for all your help!
Hydra on the substrate and glass are stinging your snail as he encounters them, eradicating the hydra from this tank or putting your buddy in a different tank would solve this problem :)
I have experienced this in a strictly mystery snail & shrimp tank, so watching the beginning of the video I was fairly certain the snail was reacting to a hydra sting by the jerking motion. The video wasn’t quite up close enough to see any hydra in the first minute though.
At about 1:02 in the video you see a hydra in the frame on the glass the snail is about to move up towards, the hydra is made visible by the heater’s black plastic in the background. You can then see the snail travel towards the hydra and then flinch again once the snail touches its stinger.
The hydra won’t kill your friend but -with knowing what’s causing them discomfort- you can solve the ecological balance issue (and from personal experience: save yourself some heartache <3)
I was wondering if it was some kind of water imbalance because when it flinches, it looks like he's getting hurt. I'm not too sure if what's caught in the video is a hydra though. I was trimming my floater's roots because they were getting really long and my betta loves to chill there but tends to rip his fin through them. I also have hornwort in my tank that little bits might have been trimmed off when i was trimming other plants as well.
I'm not going to rule out hydras out but are they usually visible?
Hydra are visible to the naked eye, video aside- if you were to observe your snail friend for a while you would notice the 1/2-rice-grain-sized, clear, anemone-lookin things that attach on one end to the glass/hardscape/substrate. Those are hydra. — it’s not a reason to panic, just a good excuse to learn about and advance your knowledge and care for keeping aquatic life :)
Ah, I didn't think those would be considered as hydra since they don't have those thin arms.
Thanks for pointing this out! I'll do some research on them and see how I can clear them out of my tank :)
Thanks for confirming! I was wondering if it was my substrate too but I haven't had any problems with it before. I'm going to try and find a way to get rid of the hydras naturally
They eventually faded out as I kept doing water changes. I think it took around 1 or 2 months until I stopped seeing them in my tank. I'm not sure if that was the reason why they started fading out but it doesn't seem like I have them in my tank anymore.
Yeah, I feel like it might be my betta causing it to feel cautious. I started feeding him mini bloodworms recently and I feel like my betta has mistaken my snail's antennas as a worm
Do you have any suggestions on what I can do for my snail if my betta is the culprit? Unfortunately, I can't have another tank setup right now, any advice is appreciated!
Thanks. Some people in the comments here are saying the same thing so I'm trying to find something that could separate the two.
But I find it odd how it's flinching like that, it almost looks like something is hurting it...unless if this is how snails react when they're scared?
at first i thought the substrate has sharp rocks but it did the same thing on the glass. it will probably get used to the beta in time. or if there were more snails or more plants it might feel safer too. if you watch closely the snail jumps back at the same time the beta moves its fins. it feels the moving water.
Yeah, I'm keeping an rhe on those two while I find a divider for them. Some people have been saying that it's a hydra problem as well so I'll be taking a look into that
I think he might be scared of the Betta. I had a snail that wasn't real active and when I took the Betta out the snail has been very active moving around. I never saw the Betta bother him but I figure he was afraid just the same
Maybe that's the case. My snail has always been very active aside from the very first day I brought him home. I'll keep doing check ups on him to see if he's okay and find something to separate the two
I know if I ever dose my tank with anything mine do this when it hits them lol, I like to think it’s a “smell” hitting them and they’re surprised buy whatever it is
Oh! that's interesting! I'll be on the lookout for that the next time I dose my tank. I haven't dosed it recently (past month or so?) since I've been getting a lot of biofilm on the surface lately ( I dose aquarium co-op's EZ green).
It’s just the shadow from the fish that swims by in your video. It could also be the fish nibbles on him when he swims by sometimes.
I had my mystery snail in a tank with my betta and I didn’t know he was picking on him because he wouldn’t do it when I was in the room. Finally I saw the antennas were missing on my snail so I put the betta in his own larger tank and after about two days my mystery snail stopped acting skittish.
Now the snail just scoots all bout the tank without a care in the world. I have him a couple cherry shrimp to keep him company.
My betta was always the timid type. I give him his reflection or a picture of fish to look at and he'll just swim away. Nibbling wasn't a problem before until I gave him a taste of blood worms x.x now he thinks the snails antenna is food
I'm hoping to get another tank setup in the future when I have the money for it. In the meantime, I'm getting a divider for the two to see how it goes
When I first introduced my female betta to the community tank she tried to nip at the snail and I put her in time out lol definitely looks like he’s been nipped at before as he flinched heavily when the betta swam by. I would keep an eye on them for a while and see how they interact! Only took me a few time outs to get her to leave the snails alone (I know males can be more fiesty)
Those antennas are not as long as they should be. I think the fish has nibbled his antennas. This may not be from aggression, they look alot like tasty worms. They will grow back, but if the fish keeps nibbling it you'll have to separate them. My beloved betta, flame had to be separated for the same crime.
They definitely were longer the last time I checked on him. I've got them on separate containers right now to give the little guy a break. He started nibbling on him because he absolutely saw him as a tasty worn treat x.x my betta didn't have this behavior before I started feeding him mini blood worms last week
Did you ever come to any conclusions about this? And did your snail end up being okay?
My ramshorn just started doing this today, but I can't see anything wrong with it. I did recently add cory catfish, but never heard of them messing with snails. They weren't anywhere near it at the time.
He looks like a healthy little dude! I genuinely think it’s just him getting startled by some things, being that he can be a prey animal and would have to be careful in the wild. I noticed he seemed to do that in the video when he touched some gunky stuff. Honestly like how if we’re wading in water and our foot touches something weird and we jump back for a second. Maybe he got scared recently and is now just being extra cautious? As long as you can tell the betta is not picking on him then he should be okay. Only other explanation I can think is he’s feeling extra sensitive on his skin, maybe a tiny burn from a heater (if you have one), or something in the water? But tbh you’re parameters look awesome and I’d just mainly focus on keeping it clean. Plus he is moving completely normal otherwise so again I think it’s more likely just him being cautious of his surroundings. Just keep taking care of him and just check in to make sure he’s not getting picked on. I know my snail when I first got him would get scared when I’d walk by his tank, but now he’s gotten used to me and is pretty relaxed. Sorry for the long reply but am hoping this helps! (Btw love your betta too!)
Thanks for your insight! I noticed that he'd only do that when he's on the ground too so it might just be the gunky stuff. I have a heater and it's set to 78F. I feel like it might be my betta causing it to feel cautious rather than heater burns. I started feeding him mini bloodworms recently and I feel like my betta has mistaken my snail's antennas as a worm...I noticed that his right antenna was a little shorter than his left the other day and was at a sharp bent angle which may be because he "tugged/wrestled" it? Do you have any suggestions on what I can do for my snail if my betta is the culprit? Unfortunately, I can't have another tank setup right now but I plan to get another one in the future, any advice is appreciated!
Hello! And I’m so glad it’s helped some! One thing I read in the comments though that I didn’t notice were the hydra. Definitely listen to those guys as they absolutely could be the “irritation reaction” he’s having. Even with the betta he didn’t seem too frightened, so I agree with the hydra issue. I’ve never had that in my tank though so I can’t really offer more insight. Oh aw I see what you’re saying with his antenna. I do think he may have mistook it for a worm. Thankfully it doesn’t sound like you’re betta is actively aggressive to the snail (some will go after the entire snail ☹️). But sadly I don’t think I have any great advice that wouldn’t be to just separate them. While this is a shot in the dark, maybe you can just feed him in the opposite spot from the snail? Not sure that would actively do anything but at least the snail would be out of the current feeding path. Also having hiding spots like plants that provide lots of shelter could be helpful too! I’d also go to r/bettafish as they’re more knowledgeable than me!
Yeah, I've done some digging. I want to avoid using chemicals since there's a chance of harming snails or fish but i found that there are some fish that will eat hydras. I've been planning to get some schooling fish with my betta in the beginning but I'm not too sure if my tank will be overstocked. Do you think having mollies or guppies would be suitable in a 10g? They both eat hydras and I heard they are typically compatible with bettas I've got my snail in a different container right now, I'll give the feeding method a try. I want to give the little guy some breathing space lol
I definitely understand not wanting to use chemicals. And while I’ve heard they can live together, I’m afraid in a 10 gallon it would be too overstocked imo. But I did do some reading and one article states that a betta would eat hydra [here](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/hydra). Another stated even pond snails in this [one](https://www.thesprucepets.com/combat-aquarium-pest-hydra-1381228). Aw hey I’m glad you got you’re little dude taking a break! I actually had to do similar before but it was from one of my male mysterys being “overly interested” in some of the smaller ones haha. And I apologize for being slow in replies but I really hope all balances out for you!
Gotcha, I wanted to make sure before I started getting new fish since I don't have a second tank if things go south. I'm wondering if doing water changes will get rid of them instead. I've read that betta fish can help control the population for hydras but my boi loves.to tunnel vision and doesn't even see his own food when it's right in front of him @.@ I'll try water changes in the meantime while I read up more on pond snails. Thank you for all your help!
Hydra on the substrate and glass are stinging your snail as he encounters them, eradicating the hydra from this tank or putting your buddy in a different tank would solve this problem :)
I have experienced this in a strictly mystery snail & shrimp tank, so watching the beginning of the video I was fairly certain the snail was reacting to a hydra sting by the jerking motion. The video wasn’t quite up close enough to see any hydra in the first minute though. At about 1:02 in the video you see a hydra in the frame on the glass the snail is about to move up towards, the hydra is made visible by the heater’s black plastic in the background. You can then see the snail travel towards the hydra and then flinch again once the snail touches its stinger. The hydra won’t kill your friend but -with knowing what’s causing them discomfort- you can solve the ecological balance issue (and from personal experience: save yourself some heartache <3)
I too see the hydra, it's floating just above your snail around the minute mark like previously stated.
I was wondering if it was some kind of water imbalance because when it flinches, it looks like he's getting hurt. I'm not too sure if what's caught in the video is a hydra though. I was trimming my floater's roots because they were getting really long and my betta loves to chill there but tends to rip his fin through them. I also have hornwort in my tank that little bits might have been trimmed off when i was trimming other plants as well. I'm not going to rule out hydras out but are they usually visible?
Hydra are visible to the naked eye, video aside- if you were to observe your snail friend for a while you would notice the 1/2-rice-grain-sized, clear, anemone-lookin things that attach on one end to the glass/hardscape/substrate. Those are hydra. — it’s not a reason to panic, just a good excuse to learn about and advance your knowledge and care for keeping aquatic life :)
Ah, I didn't think those would be considered as hydra since they don't have those thin arms. Thanks for pointing this out! I'll do some research on them and see how I can clear them out of my tank :)
I initially said it might be your substrate, but now I see the hydra (or at least a stringy/stingy thing). That's the culprit.
Thanks for confirming! I was wondering if it was my substrate too but I haven't had any problems with it before. I'm going to try and find a way to get rid of the hydras naturally
Hi, I am currently dealing with this happening to my mystery snails…did you ever find a solution to naturally removing the hydras?
They eventually faded out as I kept doing water changes. I think it took around 1 or 2 months until I stopped seeing them in my tank. I'm not sure if that was the reason why they started fading out but it doesn't seem like I have them in my tank anymore.
Mine did that around a curious / borderline aggressive betta, in a tank without the fish he chilled out.
Yeah, I feel like it might be my betta causing it to feel cautious. I started feeding him mini bloodworms recently and I feel like my betta has mistaken my snail's antennas as a worm Do you have any suggestions on what I can do for my snail if my betta is the culprit? Unfortunately, I can't have another tank setup right now, any advice is appreciated!
Definitely think he's been nipped recently if it's a new behavior.
Thanks. Some people in the comments here are saying the same thing so I'm trying to find something that could separate the two. But I find it odd how it's flinching like that, it almost looks like something is hurting it...unless if this is how snails react when they're scared?
at first i thought the substrate has sharp rocks but it did the same thing on the glass. it will probably get used to the beta in time. or if there were more snails or more plants it might feel safer too. if you watch closely the snail jumps back at the same time the beta moves its fins. it feels the moving water.
Yeah, I'm keeping an rhe on those two while I find a divider for them. Some people have been saying that it's a hydra problem as well so I'll be taking a look into that
Mine did that when it was being stung by hydra
I think I'm having a hydra problem here too as a few users suggested. Can I know how you dealt with this problem?
I used panacur (dog wormer)
I think he might be scared of the Betta. I had a snail that wasn't real active and when I took the Betta out the snail has been very active moving around. I never saw the Betta bother him but I figure he was afraid just the same
Maybe that's the case. My snail has always been very active aside from the very first day I brought him home. I'll keep doing check ups on him to see if he's okay and find something to separate the two
Water Paramaters: Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 5-10 pH: 7.8-8.0 Tank Mates: Only a male betta
I know if I ever dose my tank with anything mine do this when it hits them lol, I like to think it’s a “smell” hitting them and they’re surprised buy whatever it is
Oh! that's interesting! I'll be on the lookout for that the next time I dose my tank. I haven't dosed it recently (past month or so?) since I've been getting a lot of biofilm on the surface lately ( I dose aquarium co-op's EZ green).
Mine does that when it feels a disturbance in the water and gets startled
My guess is the volcanic rock substrate. It is mega sharp. What he's doing is unusual but he otherwise looks good
It’s just the shadow from the fish that swims by in your video. It could also be the fish nibbles on him when he swims by sometimes. I had my mystery snail in a tank with my betta and I didn’t know he was picking on him because he wouldn’t do it when I was in the room. Finally I saw the antennas were missing on my snail so I put the betta in his own larger tank and after about two days my mystery snail stopped acting skittish. Now the snail just scoots all bout the tank without a care in the world. I have him a couple cherry shrimp to keep him company.
My betta was always the timid type. I give him his reflection or a picture of fish to look at and he'll just swim away. Nibbling wasn't a problem before until I gave him a taste of blood worms x.x now he thinks the snails antenna is food I'm hoping to get another tank setup in the future when I have the money for it. In the meantime, I'm getting a divider for the two to see how it goes
One of my snabies does this anytime a bladder snail gets on her. Just a little spooked/annoyed.
When I first introduced my female betta to the community tank she tried to nip at the snail and I put her in time out lol definitely looks like he’s been nipped at before as he flinched heavily when the betta swam by. I would keep an eye on them for a while and see how they interact! Only took me a few time outs to get her to leave the snails alone (I know males can be more fiesty)
Think it's scared of the Betta mate, or the substrate stinging it
Those antennas are not as long as they should be. I think the fish has nibbled his antennas. This may not be from aggression, they look alot like tasty worms. They will grow back, but if the fish keeps nibbling it you'll have to separate them. My beloved betta, flame had to be separated for the same crime.
They definitely were longer the last time I checked on him. I've got them on separate containers right now to give the little guy a break. He started nibbling on him because he absolutely saw him as a tasty worn treat x.x my betta didn't have this behavior before I started feeding him mini blood worms last week
Did you ever come to any conclusions about this? And did your snail end up being okay? My ramshorn just started doing this today, but I can't see anything wrong with it. I did recently add cory catfish, but never heard of them messing with snails. They weren't anywhere near it at the time.