felix_dovetail
New member
I have two tanks: a five gallon and a 35 gallon. The 35 gallon is well established and has a betta sorority and several schooling fish. The five gallon had a male betta and a large apple snail.
Unfortunately, I lost the male betta a little more than a month ago. He got dropsy and died (it happens). I had him for over a year. I took the snail home, threw him in my 35 gallon, and didn't think about it again.
Everything was hunky dory until today, when I noticed one of my bettas AND one of my danios in the 35 gallon has dropsy. The water in the tank is very clean, with frequent water changes, etc. The only thing I can think is that the snail is a transmitter of whatever gave my betta in the small tank dropsy and he's spreading it to my fish in the big tank.
So two questions:
1) Can snails carry and pass diseases to fish that could cause dropsy?
2) If the snail is transmitting a disease, what can I do about it. The snail itself seems fine, but I don't want to sacrifice a whole tank of fish for him and I don't have anywhere else to put him. I couldn't in good conscience give him away because he'd just make the new owner's tank sick.
Any help is appreciated!
Unfortunately, I lost the male betta a little more than a month ago. He got dropsy and died (it happens). I had him for over a year. I took the snail home, threw him in my 35 gallon, and didn't think about it again.
Everything was hunky dory until today, when I noticed one of my bettas AND one of my danios in the 35 gallon has dropsy. The water in the tank is very clean, with frequent water changes, etc. The only thing I can think is that the snail is a transmitter of whatever gave my betta in the small tank dropsy and he's spreading it to my fish in the big tank.
So two questions:
1) Can snails carry and pass diseases to fish that could cause dropsy?
2) If the snail is transmitting a disease, what can I do about it. The snail itself seems fine, but I don't want to sacrifice a whole tank of fish for him and I don't have anywhere else to put him. I couldn't in good conscience give him away because he'd just make the new owner's tank sick.
Any help is appreciated!