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)

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

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

If you are gonna be up, do a WC. Good luck!

 

[mihkey]

Keep us posted.

I just re tested and I’m down to 0.25 so we are on the good road.. hoping to stay there I will test again tomorrow thank you to EVERYONE here
-Ashley

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I usually don't add fish in my new tanks until about 3-4 weeks in, sounds like you are doing a fish-in cycle, which is harmful to fish and inverts. If you haven't added any bottled bacteria, would suggest that you go buy a bottle, it should help cycle the tank a little faster.

 

[ScottJ]

If I can ask, are you using API test kits?

 

[mihkey]

If I can ask, are you using API test kits?

Yes I am, I know that they’re not the best but this week I will be buying a better one just not sure what one to buy.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

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.

Ammonia binding chemicals such as Prime should be avoided as they are of little to no use. Prime, for example, does not reduce free ammonia the way Seachem claims.

 

[vetteguy53081]

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)

Agree , prime is Not as implicated and is merely a water treatment for chlorine and chloramines and best recourse is a good water change, addition of high grade carbon and daily water changes if needed. Same applies to stress coat- It will add slime to fish's skin but will not reduce stress

 

[I never finish anythi]

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)

What test kits do you use ??

 

[mihkey]

What test kits do you use ??

APOI test kit.. when we were building out tank it was the only one that was in stores, but after reading how inaccurate they are we are buying a different one I’m just not sure what one to get.

 

[brandon429]

Clues missed in the troubleshoot so far

This was a skip cycle setup using existing live rock xferred in

Don't believe ammonia alert threads that post well after the cycle

Especially those reported with cheap nh4 test kits, .5 is what thousands of normal reefs read on api

Simply remove the snail, the ammonia fixes itself quickly

Don't expect the #1 misreading test kit to agree, just use updated cycling science. Post a pic of this tank for the ammonia troubleshoot win.

 

[brandon429]

We are trained to believe that cycling bacteria have failed with any stated level unverified = old cycling science

Pics of the tank are about to retrain but that doesn't mean next time an alert post happens using api we won't immediately revert to the prior training. Old cycling science cannot fathom a skip cycle setup: that's by training so that we constantly buy and refer bottled bacteria.

In all these reef tank conventions with fully stocked reefs 2 days old that transferred in live rock: those are full, aged and completed cycles. They're not actually 2 days old setups, must learn to read between the stated lines

Even if this was a dry rock cycle that used bottle bac: its done by two weeks. See any bottle bac study thread.

The reason this didn't crash the tank is because it's cycled. I do believe a large rotting snail can raise ammonia during its initial decline but no further remediation is needed beyond simply removing it. A water change to handle rotting compounds other than ammonia is a great idea, but ammonia isn't a risk once the carcass is removed the tank oxidizes extra ammonia in 15 minutes even if the test can't detect that due to lag issues known with those kits. = updated cycling science

 

[mihkey]

We are trained to believe that cycling bacteria have failed with any stated level unverified = old cycling science

Pics of the tank are about to retrain but that doesn't mean next time an alert post happens using api we won't immediately revert to the prior training. Old cycling science cannot fathom a skip cycle setup: that's by training so that we constantly buy and refer bottled bacteria.

In all these reef tank conventions with fully stocked reefs 2 days old that transferred in live rock: those are full, aged and completed cycles. They're not actually 2 days old setups, must learn to read between the stated lines

Even if this was a dry rock cycle that used bottle bac: its done by two weeks. See any bottle bac study thread.

The reason this didn't crash the tank is because it's cycled. I do believe a large rotting snail can raise ammonia during its initial decline but no further remediation is needed beyond simply removing it. A water change to handle rotting compounds other than ammonia is a great idea, but ammonia isn't a risk once the carcass is removed the tank oxidizes extra ammonia in 15 minutes even if the test can't detect that due to lag issues known with those kits. = updated cycling science

This is the tank today, I JUST did a water change and before it was reading at 0.25.. the fish seem totally fine, just a little upset that I did a water change but they will settle soon. This tank is completely temporary and we get a proper setup Wednesday with reef lighting.

 

[brandon429]

That's not much live rock / surface area/ agreed but it's strong enough with enough dilution and low stocking ratios to ride out minor insults. Nice setup

That's why I don't like snails in nanos, they produce ten thousand waste pellets per hour into the sand and they wait to die till we're on vacation and not home to remove them

 

[MDAquatics]

Agree on the microbacter and water changes. A clownfish should be able to stand up to some pretty aggressive water changes but im not sure what else you have in the tank. When it comes to clownfish, I have acted pretty aggressively in the past adding filtration media and big regular water changes because they can usually take it.

 

[brandon429]

Your ammonia is resolved by now even if the test kit lags and can't indicate that fact. Api didn't just quickly turn into a reliable indicator here, it was a finicky as searches show this whole time. Your ammonia concern widow has passed 15 mins after the snail was removed

 

[mihkey]

Agree on the microbacter and water changes. A clownfish should be able to stand up to some pretty aggressive water changes but im not sure what else you have in the tank. When it comes to clownfish, I have acted pretty aggressively in the past adding filtration media and big regular water changes because they can usually take it.

Only things were the snails and clownfish. I won’t be adding until our new tank is fully cycled, and ready to go

 

[mihkey]

Your ammonia is resolved by now even if the test kit lags and can't indicate that fact. Api didn't just quickly turn into a reliable indicator here, it was a finicky as searches show this whole time. Your ammonia concern widow has passed 15 mins after the snail was remove

Another thing is that we just tried mysis shrimp for the first time and at first they seemed to really love it, and now they are just letting it go by them.. do they not like it? We have been using flakes and brine shrimp frozen and they seemed to like the flakes the best but I prefer to give them the frozen food over flakes due to overly processed foods for them.

 

[brandon429]

Your tank is as cycled as it can be

The troubleshoots prior were 100% wrong. You are beyond cycling since your rock brought in the required bacteria

Moving rocks among tanks doesn't cause dieoffs nor loss of bacteria, that's old cycling science which is wrong and our hobby didn't know this until the advent of digital ammonia testing.

 

[mihkey]

Your tank is as cycled as it can be

The troubleshoots prior were 100% wrong.

So do you think their death was due to not having enough algae for them to eat? They would keep falling off the glass or rocks and I would constantly have to put them back onto them.

 

[Rmckoy]

Being only 2 weeks . It’s possible it’s cycled but I would question if the biological capacity was strong enough to process a dead snail . Especially if it was a larger turbo