Assassin Snail In Cycled/cycling Tank - Is This Ok?

[Mamashack]

I have the 2 tanks as described in my signature. I had added one assassin snail to my 60L when I got hitch-hikers on the live plants I'd added previously. I've recently noticed that Wally (well he has a stripy jumper and I have to find him before I do anything else! lol) has been very sluggish. I thought at first he was shell-shocked (sorry!) after I accidentally buried him under gravel during a gravel clean. Then I had a light-bulb moment this morning (there ought to be a light-bulb smiley!) and wondered if he was too cold. I'd reduced the temperature slowly in the 60L tank to try to slow down the platies breeding cycle. I transferred him to the 30L cycled tank which is running about 29°C at the moment compared with 23°C in the 60L and he immediately started bezzing about the tank like he was on speed or something! So clearly the temperature had slowed him down.
Now my concern is that until I get my betta on Monday I'm still adding 1ppm ammonia to keep the FBs munching and happy. Is this likely to affect Wally or are snails not affected by ammonia levels?
Would be grateful for any observations or advice - cheers!
Ros

 

[the_lock_man]

Reminds me of my racing snails. I had one particular snail that was very slow compared to the others, and I was advised by an expert that it was down to aerodynamics, so I should remove the shell completely. So I did that, but if anything, it made it even more sluggish.
 
 
 
Ahem, well, anyway....
 
 
 
I would say move Wally back to the platies until your fighter arrives. Nothing likes ammonia, apart from certain types of bacteria.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I would assume (but don't know conclusively) that high ammonia is bad for all aquatic species including snails.

As for sluggishness. When I got my first few assassins... they seemed to do nothing... but now I have probably well over 100... and no pests... so... they were doing something afterall. HAHA

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks TLM and Prairie!
I suppose he can manage a couple more days in suspended animation until the betta arrives. I'll leave him in his warm bath for now - it's 12 hrs since I added the ammonia and the levels are Amm 0 nitrItes 0 so he should be alright until I add tonight's dose - I'll make sure I move him before adding it.

 

[Wildbetta]

If your tank is cycled and you are just adding some ammonia to keep the tank cycled then I believe the assassin will be fine in the tank.  If anything it will add some to the ammonia which will help keep the tank cycled as well.  I have found snails to be quite resilient and most of the time they will try to escape from the water when the levels get way to high for them.  I am only saying this because you are getting levels of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrIte at the moment, if you hadn't gotten to this point already, I would have advised moving him back to the other tank.

 

[Mamashack]

I only asked because I recently put some plants in there and there were some hitch-hikers - pond snails I believe including a couple of small ones, that don't seem to have been affected by up to 2ppm ammonia until I changed to 1ppm a couple of days ago!
I think he likes being warmer but didn't want to cause him any harm in the process! For the sake of a couple of days I'll transfer him back to the 60L and do a temp acclimatisation - poor little chap! Still, it's not long to Monday then he can bask in the tropical waters with a new friend!