Can a Saltwater Aquarium Snail Flip Itself Over?

If you have a saltwater aquarium with snails, you will probably know at this point that certain snails end up upside down from time to time. Can they flip themselves back upright?

The quick answer is that some of them can.

A lot of the algae eating snails, when they land on their backs, can’t easily flip themselves back over. This can be a common issue for a lot of aquarium operators.

I know that myself, I have to flip over snails from time to time. Probably the worst scenario was when I had a couple of crown snails. They flipped over all the time, I was usually flipping one of the two crown snails back over on a daily basis. They needed a lot of help.

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they liked to climb on the glass. That made it easy for them to fall and end up on their backs. I also had a lot of steep live rock structures, which also did a good job of making sure the snails fell down, upside down, from time to time.

Turbo snails are also known for ending up upside down. It’s just a thing that you have to deal with when you have these particular types of snails.

What’s the easiest way to deal with snails flipping over?

Just have something handy that makes it easy to flip them back.

I usually flip them back when I’m feeding the fish, since I have the top of the aquarium open anyways. I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I keep an aquarium glass scraping pole handy, it has a really long arm and a plastic flat blade at the end. What makes it my snail flipping tool of choice is the fact that I can reach anywhere in my aquarium with it, quite easily.

I would suggest that you do to the same. Find something that you can use to easily reach any part of your aquarium, without having to stick your hand in the water. Even longer pieces of wire can work, if they are stiff enough. You can even mold stiff wire to fit into tight spots. Clothes hangers can work well for this, the wired type, if you cut them and mold them with your hands to be the shape and length that works for you.

Be careful when flipping snails. You don’t want to poke or injure them. You can usually just give them a light tap, with a flipping motion to get them upright. It doesn’t take much.

About Luke

the owner and caretaker of a 75 gallon aquarium in his home studio. Good times.

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