Immersion in clove oil with and without ethanol does not result in consistent anesthesia in mystery snails (Pomacea bridgesii).

Clove oil is inconsistent and clove oil combined with ethanol is unsafe for anesthesia in mystery snails.

This study evaluated clove oil (CO) as an immersion anesthetic in mystery snails (Pomacea bridgesii), a commonly kept freshwater gastropod in the exotic pet trade. Initial pilot trials tested CO (0.2–1 mL/L) and CO combined with ethanol (CO-E; varying concentrations) in 40 snails, followed by a randomized, blinded, complete crossover study in 28 snails comparing CO 0.5 mL/L, CO-E 0.5 mL/L, and CO-E 0.5 mL/L with ethanol 10 mL/L. Results demonstrated that CO 0.5 mL/L achieved anesthesia in only 11 of 24 snails, with a median induction time of 30 minutes and prolonged full recovery averaging over 5 hours. The addition of ethanol did not significantly improve anesthetic efficacy, achieving anesthesia in only 9 of 21 snails, yet substantially increased mortality to 21% (5/24) compared to 5% (1/21) with CO alone. Gross pathology revealed gill necrosis in all CO-E fatalities, suggesting direct tissue toxicity from ethanol exposure. Importantly, the authors note that CO and pure eugenol are often used interchangeably in practice, but CO demonstrated inferior anesthetic efficacy in this species. The study highlights significant safety concerns with CO-E protocols in mystery snails. Clinicians working with gastropods should exercise caution when selecting anesthetic agents, consider pure eugenol as a potentially more effective alternative, and avoid combining clove oil with ethanol in this species due to unacceptable mortality risk.

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