I checked the water in the glasses of the two big snails (all safe zones). The newest one did move around, the other didn't. I'm worried. :( It's been about 12 hours and no movement. She laid eggs around Friday nite. I read somewhere that when a snail dies they retract INTO their shells. She's halfway out, even when I touched her...no response. Could she be vegging, waiting to lay eggs again tonight? I changed her water anyway, warmed her up a bit. I'll be moving the other one back into the aquarium after I buy the ammonia lock tomorrow. The N's and ammonia are all in the 'danger zones' but the babies seem to be doing fine. Munching away on the algae tab I put in Sat. Water is soft and the ph is slightly basic. aarrghhhhh. :huh: (this is about 3 hr.s later )...I had to put them back into the aquarium ( thought about the roaming they like to do in the dark ). I put both on their 'backs', tried 5 times and the newest one flipped over onto it's trapdoor side. The other is still 'upside down' and half open. With her syphon hanging out limp. None of the babies are going near her, not sure if that's a good sign or bad. :(

Snails can go days or longer without moving. When a snail dies, the muscles holding its trapdoor closed relax, and the snail's body falls out of the shell. If the shell were shut, the snail would probably be alive. Hanging half way out is a bad sign, especially if she doesn't respond to touch. I wouldn't write her off just yet. To be sure, wait a few days. If she's gone, her body will literally start to disintegrate and come out of the shell. You can do the smell test. If you sniff her and can't stand it, she's gone. If you pick her up, and she still hangs out of the shell, that would be unusual for a living snail.

what a bummer,,,she's dead. she smells bad. We decided to put the other big snail back into the pond. If he's going to die, he's going to be happier in the pond then being tortured in the aquaruim. The baby snails are not having a problem, even with the water being cloudy at the moment. I did a 25% water change this morning. I'm switching to the small tanks this weekend, until the big tank seriously balances out. Water changes are just too hard to do EVERY other day with the big one. I'll clean it/disinfect it and take the gravel out. I just need a new air stone for one of the little tanks.

I'm sorry the snail died. The other apple snail will not live below 50-55 degrees F so has no chance outside in a real winter. You should try him inside again. The daily or every other day water changes are only needed when a tank is first setup if it has ammonia spikes and such like you had. Established tanks only need weekly cleanings although most people only do them monthly. A good filter with biological media should help stabilize the system. They sell all sorts of dry, liquid, and gel stuff to seed filters with good bacteria. You can also borrow biological media from the pond filter if it has that.