Cowrie snail- dead?

[Melia]

A friend of mine today gave me a large cowrie snail, asking me to clean it out for her to use as a shell. I told her I would, but I’m not gonna go and hurt a creature like that so instead I put it in my tank at home. Once I got home, I put it in and I did see it move a bit, but I’m afraid it was out of water too long. I’m not sure if it’s dead or not, but lots of slime coming from the snail-clear web like stringy stuff almost like when an anemone dies- started coming from it. I don’t really know a whole lot on cowries, so is it dead? Is it dying? Please let me know.

 

[DLHDesign]

Never had one, so can't say for sure. I believe that these snails prefer slightly cooler temps, so if you run a hotter reef (80F range), then it's possible that it wouldn't tolerate that. Nitrates also have to be very low for these to survive long...

Perhaps someone on the #reefsquad can help more. If you have a QT tank, I'd move it to that just in case it is dead (you don't want an ammonia spike in your tank).

 

[DSC reef]

Never kept a cowrie. That's a big snail so keep an eye on it. Once it's dead it will have a foul smell to it so check it often.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

+1 when it's dead it will smell horrible.

 

[Melia]

Thanks for all the replies, I just woke up and turned on my tank light and it was out and moving. Not sure why it was letting out strings of slime, but perhaps it was due to stress.

 

[jdclement]

Looks like a mauritia depressa. Here are pictures of my depressa from Kwajalein RMI (not alive)

. Nice live cowry for sure.