HELP!! Ammonia level spiked after dead snail

[mihkey]

Everything looked fine last night, and I moved my snail to the rock because that is really the only place algae is. Today, I noticed it was still in the same spot all day but I thought I saw it move.. I went to check it today, and it came out of the shell and smelled horridly. I tested the water and everything was normal except for the ammonia which was reading at about 0.50. I love my clownfish dearly and do not want anything to happen to them! Do I do a water change or add chemicals? I only have stress + and quick start currently, so please help!
-Ashley(Mikey’s gf)

 

[Red_Beard]

.5 pretty not good. Get the dead snail out, do a water change and monitor from there, the ammonia levels should drop to .25 w 50% water change, but if you do 75% it will put you around .125ppm. Beyond that if you hand some chemipure our carbon that can help too. What else is in the tank?

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Not familiar with those products but yes do a water change. And I'm sure you removed the snail so a water change will certainly help, your biological system just got overwhelmed so it will need a little bit of time to adjust.

 

[littlefoxx]

Everything looked fine last night, and I moved my snail to the rock because that is really the only place algae is. Today, I noticed it was still in the same spot all day but I thought I saw it move.. I went to check it today, and it came out of the shell and smelled horridly. I tested the water and everything was normal except for the ammonia which was reading at about 0.50. I love my clownfish dearly and do not want anything to happen to them! Do I do a water change or add chemicals? I only have stress + and quick start currently, so please help!
-Ashley(Mikey’s gf)

Water change for sure. I dont think that the snail caused that, more like the ammonia was high and killed the snail.

 

[Pickle_soup]

This sounds like a new and small tank. Tell us more about it. How old is the tank?

 

[Red_Beard]

Clown fish usually hold up pretty well to poor water conditions, you should be ok for the night after a good water change. But for sure keep watching ammonia levels to make sure it isn't just a dead snail causing the spike. If stuff hasn't dropped in the morning you could get some more bottled bacteria, or ammoguard or similar from your lfs for a short term bandaid.

 

[mihkey]

I just did a 5 gallon water change with quick start to remove the ammonia. The tank is 36 gallons, and the tank is about 2 weeks old. I have live rock, and live sand. I know you should wait, but I did not buy the fish and his mom came home with the clowns and snails which I didn’t want to do because I really didn’t want to kill anything. The levels were totally fine last night, and then today the ammonia spiked. The clownfish do not seem stressed whatsoever.. we are upgrading to a 75 gallon tank Wednesday and letting it cycle fully before adding the clowns in there.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Seems like a huge jump in amonia for just a dead snail

 

[Pickle_soup]

Yeah, you are going through a cycle. If you have old LR in there, that .5 might be the highest it goes if you have enough of it and it's actual LR from an established tank. I would have to agree with other posters, I think the ammonia killed the snail.

 

[Red_Beard]

2 weeks? Likely littlefox is right and it was high before the snail died (likely killing the snail) the quick start should bind up a lot of the free ammonia in the tank, but i *think* that may still cause some test kits to read high because it is still there even if safely bound. Definitely get some bottle bacteria like dr. Tims or microbacter7, you may need to keep up with lots of water changes and some more quick start to keep it safe untill the bactera can get a good foot hold.

 

[Pickle_soup]

Btw, was it a turbo snail? That smell, it's unforgettable.

 

[mihkey]

I’m praying that is the highest it will go. I have about 15 pounds in there, that has been established for a while from my local saltwater store. Should I test it again since the water change or leave it until tomorrow?

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I’m praying that is the highest it will go. I have about 15 pounds in there, that has been established for a while from my local saltwater store. Should I test it again since the water change or leave it until tomorrow?

just leave it and hit another water change tomorrow.

 

[mihkey]

Btw, was it a turbo snail? That smell, it's unforgettable.

Oh my gosh I just got over covid so my scent isn’t that great and I got a good hit of that smell and almost puked

 

[Red_Beard]

Test it now and again in the morning. If it is going up you have problems, if its going down you are on yhe right track. But that will help you get a baseline

 

[Pickle_soup]

Since it's late and there is probably nothing you can do about it, I would let it be, unless you're planning to stay up all night. .5 ammonia is not the end of the world. If you take out too much water you will slow down the cycle. But adding bacteria at this point is a must to get you through this mini-crisis. I am a Seachem person, I use their Stabilize.

 

[Pickle_soup]

Oh my gosh I just got over covid so my scent isn’t that great and I got a good hit of that smell and almost puked

Sounds about right

 

[littlefoxx]

Im questioning if the tank cycled correctly and the ammonia is from the cycle fluctuations. Dont go dumping a bunch of chemicals in there for ammonia control, they have little effect and will throw your cycle off. You probably need to test everyday to make sure the clowns are okay, seems to me youre doing a fish in cycle, most likely unintentional. Read up on that and it will help with your problem, would not add anything else to the tank until your water is stable

 

[mihkey]

Since it's late and there is probably nothing you can do about it, I would let it be, unless you're planning to stay up all night. .5 ammonia is not the end of the world. If you take out too much water you will slow down the cycle. But adding bacteria at this point is a must to get you through this mini-crisis. I am a Seachem person, I use their Stabilize.

I work over nights and work tomorrow so I will be up all night I’d I need to do a water change or whatever I don’t want to lose my clownfish

 

[Pickle_soup]

I work over nights and work tomorrow so I will be up all night I’d I need to do a water change or whatever I don’t want to lose my clownfish

Keep us posted.