Mystery snail just snapped off my labn fin

So I am in the process of putting together a semi-aquatic terrarium when I look over at my main display tank and my long fin albino bristlenose plec is spinning in circles with a 1 1/2" mystery snail on his fin I went to get my tongs to seperate them (the tank is too high without it) and snap I heard a loud pop and a piece of my plecos fin is now deep inside of the snail I did not know this happened any Ideas of why or any one seen this before.

seen it happen once before at a friends house

think as the mystery snails work as a clean up crew it probably just got too close to the LF and thought its fin was part of the next gourmet meal.

may mean you have to keep a eye on the snail or snails in future and move them to another tank with out the long fins.

never had a problem with them in my tank, though my longfin was a fast mover and sensitive to things close by, while others can be more tame
and not mind any thing near them.

just monitor and any problems I would separate the species rather than risk it happening again.

good luck

i have been processing and if the bns have bred again then he is protecting his brood again and maybe they were fighting over the eggs either way I am watching both of them closely
thank you i hoped i wasnt the only person to have seen/heard this on here

Don't despair, the fin will regrow, I would add some Melafix, just to ward off a secondary infection...

not a bad idea thank you guys and gals for all the advice it is much appreciated

Mystery snails eat fins? I should really be careful... I have a question what if the bone part of the fin is damaged? I have a long fin bristlenose the bone part has broken clean off. Now it's hold on by the fin part. I'm too scared to remove the bone, so just wondering what happens if I leave it like that?

http://www.bristlenoseworld.com/t1971-broken-fin

sounds like amputation time to me, the other link si a good one

never amazes me what people go to - just to ensure a sad bristlenose gets a little better....

"mystery" snails are actually a group of apple snail species, Pomacea being the genus. Species like canalculata, if hungry enough, have been known to eat fish. I had a particularly large pair of specimens (tennis ball sized) that chased down and ate a common pleco entirely, leaving only the skull. I never would have thought it possible, except that I witnessed the chase: the snail: creep creep creep the pleco: you can't see me, I'm a leaf, dang, (swims away) repeat. I thought the pleco would get tired, so I made a cave of slates (not attached) thinking the pleco could get away when he was tired of being chased and went to bed. When I got up in the morning the slates had been pushed apart and all that was left of the pleco was the skull.

So you have, I'm thinking, a canalculata. I would put it in the freezer until frozen solid and then throw it in the trash. They're banned for sale in the U.S. because they're invasive, and a big problem in the south. If you bought this in the U.S. you should take it back to the store and say "Hey, you sold me the wrong species, this is a canalculata, these are illegal to sell, I want you to take it back." or if its been a long time, just euthanize it.

On the other hand, there's Pomacea bridgesii diffusa, the other species commonly sold as a mystery snail. They won't even eat live plants, they only eat dead plants and will starve to death in a lushly planted aquarium if there isn't enough algae, dead plant material or extra fish food. They're very easily bullied by fish. My bristlenoses usually chase them off the algae tabs with no problem just beating on them with their noses, I don't think they'd have any difficulty defending a breeding cave from one, although they do eat dead fish and would probably be interested in unguarded eggs.

How do you tell what it is before you buy? The diffusa has a 90 degree angle between each new whorl of shell, so if you look at the spire from the side, you should see roughly 90 degree angles between each step. The canalculata has a greater than 90 degree angle. Or, if you are in the U.S., you should be safe buying almost any apple snail, since selling canalculata is illegal, although people do sometimes bring wild snails home to their eventual regret. I also hear Walmart is terrible about compliance with the canalculata ban, and their pet store snails are sometimes the wrong species, so don't buy snails from Walmart.