Snail looks weird… what should I do?

[Sherry]

Did you cycle your tank?
 

I thought I had. I started with two Mystery Snails in late January - one is still thriving in my granddaughters’ aquarium.

I added gravel from Walmart and that’s when I started having trouble. I removed the gravel, and reseeded with bacteria cultures, but apparently there is something else I need to do…

I have used API Stress Zyme and Seachem Stability. My closest pet store doesn’t have Prime.

On 3/4/2023 at 12:56 PM, Lennie said:

 I think it is a miracle some fish are still alive ngl.

Well, they are tough.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/25/2023 at 1:11 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ouch.. I’m sorry you and your snail are dealing with this. There are no snail medications - even medications that say snail safe, hobbyists on the forum here have had trouble with and found the snails to be sensitive to.

Just want to confirm your snails were not in the tank you were medicating? @Sherry

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Just want to confirm your snails were not in the tank you were medicating? @Sherry

Unfortunately, my snails didn't make it.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 2:30 PM, Sherry said:

Unfortunately, my snails didn't make it.

I saw that, I’m so sorry. I was trying to determine the cause of death and whether they were exposed to fish medication. 

Here is a video I really like that explains the nitrogen cycle. It is how every newly set up tank starts off. If you don’t have these already, the test kits you need to start out with are ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. I know it’s a longer video, but it is super helpful.

 

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:31 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I saw that, I’m so sorry. I was trying to determine the cause of death and whether they were exposed to fish medication. 

I moved them, but apparently too late. They were exposed to the medication.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 2:34 PM, Sherry said:

I moved them, but apparently too late. They were exposed to the medication.

Ok. Again, I’m so sorry you and your grandkids are going through this.  The issue may have been the meds or it may have been the water parameters, or a combination. New tanks go through a lot of changes in water chemistry.  I posted a helpful video above which should explain what is happening with the water. 

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:37 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I posted a helpful video above which should explain what is happening with the water. 

Thank you. I thought I had done everything right. Fortunately, my grandkids are having a good experience. Their snail, Felicia, and Betta, Shrek, are doing good.

If all my fish had died I would just shut my tank down, but since there are still four alive in my tank, I will plow ahead.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:45 PM, Sherry said:

I did a 30-35% water change as recommended by Cory

Very good. You are on the right track. Something else helpful is to use Prime. Not sure if that is the one you have or not. If ammonia or nitrites exist in your water, Prime will make them nontoxic for a day, protecting your fish. The next day, if you still get a reading on them, you can water change again with Prime.

On 3/4/2023 at 2:42 PM, Sherry said:

If all my fish had died I would just shut my tank down, but since there are still four alive in my tank, I will plow ahead

Please don’t give up. Once the tank is not new anymore, the cycle is done, it stabilizes. The challenge is in the beginning when first setting up.

On 3/4/2023 at 2:42 PM, Sherry said:

my grandkids are having a good experience. Their snail, Felicia, and Betta, Shrek, are doing good.

That’s great! ☺️

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 2:16 PM, Sherry said:

I have used API Stress Zyme and Seachem Stability. My closest pet store doesn’t have Prime.

I see you don’t have access to Prime. Neither of these products dechlorinate the water. What brand is your dechlorinator?

Update: I see it’s Fritz complete! Sorry, had to go back a page. I’m getting caught up again. Hehe

Fritz complete is great. It works like Prime.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

You had asked why you have nitrites. It could be new tank. Then again it could have been caused by the meds. Some meds will kill the beneficial bacteria “crashing the cycle” as @Lennie mentioned. Either way just water test for those 3 things each day and if you see  ammonia or nitrites just use use Fritz complete with a  water change, and you can add your bacteria also, following the dosage on the package. Nitrates are ok unless they get high (40-50ish is high).

Edited March 4, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:44 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Very good. You are on the right track. Something else helpful is to use Prime. Not sure if that is the one you have or not. If ammonia or nitrites exist in your water, Prime will make them nontoxic for a day, protecting your fish. The next day, if you still get a reading on them, you can water change again with Prime.

Please don’t give up. Once the tank is not new anymore, the cycle is done, it stabilizes. The challenge is in the beginning when first setting up.

That’s great! ☺️

So Prime is only good for a day? I have been using Stress Zyme and Stability. I suppose there are the same.

[Lennie]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:02 PM, Sherry said:

So Prime is only good for a day? I have been using Stress Zyme and Stability. I suppose there are the same.

Prime claims to turn the toxic ammonia and nitrite into a state that is not toxic for 24-48 hours so expect your beneficial bacteria to use it and turn it into nitrate meanwhile. Normal dose d inetoxifies aprox 1ppm ammonia and nitrite if I am not wrong. So you can dose according to the label. You may need to overdose the safe overdose amounts package tells based on the amount you wanna detoxify for a period. However, these stuff bind oxygen as well. So make sure there is a good amount of oxygen available. 

I have only used prime my whole life so idk about fritz complete.

Unless a tank is fully cycled, it won't be converting everything to nitrate directly. There is also no evidence that ammonia and nitrite gets detoxified if I am not wrong, but better using them than nothing hoping them  to work tbh. There is lots of different opinions on the detoxification part. Just playing safe makes sense at the current point.

Stability helps to introduce beneficial bacteria spores to the tank. You gotta dose it daily for 7 days, I dose it everyday until I finish the bottle I have personally. It does still take to cycle up to 6 weeks or even more sometime.

Make sure to use dechlorinator whenever you make a water change. Chlorine is there in the water to kill bacteria, and beneficial bacteria is also a bacteria. If you forgot by a chance, that might have crashed your cycle as well potentially

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Lennie

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 3:02 PM, Sherry said:

So Prime is only good for a day

To detox the ammonia & nitrite, it’s between 24-48 hours. Same with Fritz Complete. I try not to rely solely on that. Water changes with it, so that the toxic compounds continue to dilute and the tank stabilizes.

 

On 3/4/2023 at 3:13 PM, Lennie said:

Make sure to use dechlorinator whenever you make a water change

She is using a dechlorinator, Fritz complete.

[Lennie]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:55 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

She is using a dechlorinator, Fritz complete.

just a thought for a potential cycle crasher, in case she missed once by a mistake! it happens :')

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 3:00 PM, Lennie said:

just a thought for a potential cycle crasher, in case she missed once by a mistake! it happens :')

It could be. I have been testing pretty frequently, considering my tank is only two months old. I noticed changes before I got my fish - I blamed it on the gravel I put in the tank… I’m sure I rinsed it with straight tap water - maybe there was enough antibacterial stuff still in the gravel to crash my tank. I only had two snails in it so maybe the bacteria levels weren’t high to begin with.

The meds added insult to injury. Oh, well. I will do another water change tomorrow and go from there.

Thank you for helping me understand.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 6:34 PM, Sherry said:

It could be. I have been testing pretty frequently, considering my tank is only two months old. I noticed changes before I got my fish - I blamed it on the gravel I put in the tank… I’m sure I rinsed it with straight tap water - maybe there was enough antibacterial stuff still in the gravel to crash my tank. I only had two snails in it so maybe the bacteria levels weren’t high to begin with.

The meds added insult to injury. Oh, well. I will do another water change tomorrow and go from there.

Thank you for helping me understand.

I doubt it was the gravel. It is recommended to have 1 mystery snail per 5 gallons of water due to their high bioload. If the tank wasn’t cycled when they were added the bacteria that were trying to grow probably couldn’t keep up with their waste level.

[Sherry]

On 3/4/2023 at 7:23 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

 It is recommended to have 1 mystery snail per 5 gallons of water due to their high bioload.

Wow. I thought two snails would be a light load. Oh well. Live and learn.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:39 PM, Sherry said:

Wow. I thought two snails would be a light load. Oh well. Live and learn.

Some snails are, but not mystery snails! 🙂

[Sherry]

Well, here is my tank of death. The last Pygmy Corys died last night.

I stripped it down, filled it with tap water, and put in Fritz Complete. Now I’m getting it up to 76 degrees. I also put in a Wonder Shell.

I have several live plants to put back in. I plan to buy gravel this week. Then what should I do? I don’t plan to buy any fish for awhile, so how will the nitrogen cycle start?

[DaniV]

If you're going for a fishless cycle, get Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride Solution.  It's liquid ammonia, which is what you need to kickstart the cycle.  Without the ammonia, the beneficial bacteria will have nothing to feed off of.  When I set up my 10 gallon tank, I gave the fishless cycle a try, and it's pretty straight forward.  I ordered it off Amazon, then followed this step-by-step guide, and the tank was cycled in roughly 3-4 weeks!

Just be very mindful, it is pure ammonia, so wear gloves when using it!

EDIT - I think you can also achieve this by adding fish food and just letting it rot in the tank.  Never tried that method though, but maybe someone here has?

Edited March 6, 2023 by DaniV
Alternative method

[Lennie]

On 3/6/2023 at 3:12 AM, DaniV said:

EDIT - I think you can also achieve this by adding fish food and just letting it rot in the tank.  Never tried that method though, but maybe someone here has?

I did! I cycled my tank when I came back to hobby from a break and used stability+ fish food combo. It worked, but rotting fish food is messy and it adds more than ammonia to the water, mess that you don't really want in the tank so I'm not sure if I would do it again.

@Sherry do you have anyone that you trust their tank to? If so, you can get a sponge filter and let it sit in their tank for a couple weeks so it naturally grows beneficial bacteria there. So you can move it to your tank and add stocking very slowly and increase it over time. It is the best way to have a cycled tank imo if you can manage to do that. But please make sure that tank is healthy and one that you trust. You wouldn't want to introduce diseases to your own tank with that

[Sherry]

Thank you.

I don’t have any close friends in the hobby and my closest pet/fish store is 45 miles away. I have plants in my tank, and I bought a sponge filter to get ready for quarantine when I’m ready for fish.

I’ve been adding fish food and bacteria culture. I finally got a nitrite and nitrate reading so I changed water this morning.

I ordered gravel, sand and driftwood from Petco, and some more plants from ACO, so I’ll be able to play. 😄 I miss my little fish, though.

[Lennie]

Glad to hear you are having a progress!

plants definitely help a lot. 

I’m sorry for your loss again. Hope you face no more issues in the future and have a happy tank with your fish friends

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I’ve done ghost feeding before (dropping flakes in) and it works well. You don’t need to put much. Just a tiny bit.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Sherry]