Ammonia 0.50 dead snail?

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Dasmms45

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I've tested the water and ammonia is at 0.5 ppm, nitrite 0 ppm and nitrate 20 ppm. Done liquid API and strip ammonia tests so its pretty certain
Fish arent gasping or looking symptomatic of ammonia.
I noticed a snail was missing and found it dead inside a structure it got wedged in, may have been dead for 2 or 3 days.
Would this cause the spike?
Big water change required?
Gravel vac?
Cheers
 
Sorry tank is 54l with 6 glowlight tetras and 2 guppies (was 5 guppies)
 
Any dead beastie is likely to have an effect on water chemistry if the beastie concerned is not removed immediately

A water change certainly will not do any harm along with a bit of a vac of the substrate. Always best to have zero ammonia than to have even the slightest sniff of it
 
Brilliant thank you, my filter overflowing problem is much improved after degunking the foam by the way 👍🏻
How did you degunk the foam? Because if you rinsed it under tapwater, then that could also be causing an ammonia spike.
Although yes, a big enough dead snail can certainly release enough ammonia to cause a spike. Lucky that you caught the problem and resolved it!
Always water change if there's a problem with the water. "The solution to pollution is dilution" (as @Colin_T 's siggy states!). Continue water changes until ammonia is back and remains at zero, it cane take a while for the tank to stabilise again.
Also worth considering some fast growing live plants to the tank, for the future. They can help immensely when things like this happen, sucking up excess ammonia before it has a chance to do harm.
Sorry about your snail though!
 
How did you degunk the foam? Because if you rinsed it under tapwater, then that could also be causing an ammonia spike.
Although yes, a big enough dead snail can certainly release enough ammonia to cause a spike. Lucky that you caught the problem and resolved it!
Always water change if there's a problem with the water. "The solution to pollution is dilution" (as @Colin_T 's siggy states!). Continue water changes until ammonia is back and remains at zero, it cane take a while for the tank to stabilise again.
Also worth considering some fast growing live plants to the tank, for the future. They can help immensely when things like this happen, sucking up excess ammonia before it has a chance to do harm.
Sorry about your snail though!
I rinsed and agitated the foam is old tank water, j asked the guys on here so followed the right procedure.
It was quite a big snail and had been missing for some time.
Plus I'm probably guilty of some over feeding I think, havent fed them today though and will reduce that from now on.
Will do a water change this evening and maybe a gravel vaccuum. Thanks for the advice 🙂
 
I rinsed and agitated the foam is old tank water, j asked the guys on here so followed the right procedure.
It was quite a big snail and had been missing for some time.
Plus I'm probably guilty of some over feeding I think, havent fed them today though and will reduce that from now on.
Will do a water change this evening and maybe a gravel vaccuum. Thanks for the advice 🙂

Definitely give the substrate a good gravel vac anytime you water change! Especially if you've overfed. It's super easy to overfeed, and especially when we first begin the hobby it's incredibly common. But knowing that alone can help reduce the urge to add more food than we really should. Remember that fish take things like their body temp from the water they're in, they don't require food to maintain body temp the way mammals do, so they really don't need as much feeding as we tend to project onto them. While it's fun to see them eat, at least try to reduce the amount per meal, even if you don't reduce frequency. Watch where the food goes, you'll see a lot hit the substrate or goes into the filter rather than into the fish if you're overfeeding.
 

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