What could be the reason my snails are becoming like this!

[professorjimjam]

since couple of days, I am finding my snails which have very hard shell they are Mts and pond snails and yet their shell is broken and it looks as if something is breaking their hard shell and eating their flesh. It is not my puffers as they cannot break the hard shell and this was never the case in past 2 years. The only thing new addition in the tank that I introduced was few of Marisa cornuarietis snails but they do not have teeth so how could Marisa cornuarietis be eating like this these other Mts and pond snails?
Would you be able to guess what could be the reason for my snails becoming like this? are the photos

 

[Deadeye]

I’ve seen some shells wind up like that, it could be that they die and just eventually break down to look like that.
The ones completely broken in half does seem like puffer damage though.
I personally don’t think a schoutodini would have much trouble with a mts, it’s more of the smaller weaker ones like dwarfs and amazons that do.

 

[FJB]

My guess is your puffers are growing or becoming smarter.

 

[professorjimjam]

thank you Deadeye and FJB!
but my puffers their teeth are so overgrown that I have to chop the earthworms for them in small pieces as they cannot eat them because of overgrown teeth. So I am wondering how would they be crunching the snails where they cannot cut the earthworms.

 

[Deadeye]

Do you have pictures of the puffer mouths?
They are built for breaking hard shells.

 

[professorjimjam]

I do not have the picture of its mouth, the mouth structure of these puffers are different, the teeth are not visible unlike amazons, so it only becuases visible, if i hold it and then draw back the lips and by then it becomes visible. also when they eat, it would show, but now last time i saw, the teeths are too big, but they are overflown from the lips. all i know is that they cannot eat and cut the worms as they used to do.

 

[phreeflow]

To me it just looks like those are old shells of dead snails that are dissolving (demineralizing). My Schoutedeni had no issues eating pond snails as those were their favorite but none of them, even when full grown, could crack MTS shells.

You haven’t tried the Tranquil you bought yet? You should give it a shot if your puffer’s teeth have gotten that bad. Try sedating a goldfish first so you know how it works then go for it.

 

[professorjimjam]

To me it just looks like those are old shells of dead snails that are dissolving (demineralizing). My Schoutedeni had no issues eating pond snails as those were their favorite but none of them, even when full grown, could crack MTS shells.

You haven’t tried the Tranquil you bought yet? You should give it a shot if your puffer’s teeth have gotten that bad. Try sedating a goldfish first so you know how it works then go for it.

thank you so much!
This is great idea, I will use it first on goldfish. I got the tranquil and was too scared to use it. I will try to trim the teeth this weekend. Thanks very much