Snail Comas?

[AnimalBoy333]

Hello again! Another newbie question regarding saltwater tanks. My friend said he had set up a saltwater tank and had neglected it for a while. He had a clown, like me, and a snail. When he started to neglect it, the SG and Salinity went up and the snail disappeared. His enjoyment rekindled when I purchased mine. When he started to do water changes again, he found the snail on the side of the glass. Can snails bury into sand and force themselves into a "coma" to escape bad water quality? Sorry if this is a very stupid question, both of us want to know how it survived. Thanks.

[Freshwater Tropic]

That actually isn't a stupid question at all. Snails, Shrimp, Craps & even Corals can't tolerate high nitrates. If the snail was still alive when he found him buried in the sand, Than what you probably ran into is a form of the snails "Safety". I have seen and personally read of people experiencing the very same thing. What I would probably say is it is an attempt to hide from the poor water quality. The only other thing I could really imagine is snails are really good at eating detritus(Uneaten food & or Non-Living Particulates), which can be found in sand beds[SB](Especially Deep Sand Beds). So what might have happened is the snail pretty much got lost or stayed out of view for a while as it was eating the detritus found in the SB. Mine from my prior tanks at times I would not see them for days sometimes upwards of 2 weeks, Than... They just would pop up out of no where.

Anyway, I know this reply is a little late. I just figured I would answer this for anyone else that may run into this. Hopefully we here from you soon AnimalBoy333.