wakingupnow

Okay, I got 4 mystery snails to put in my 20 gal tank two days ago.

I don't really know how the snails act so tonight I took all of them out and touched them to see if they would move. All but 1 did move and he is just hanging out of his shell so I am assuming he is dead.

Also, since adding these snails, there has been a serious algae bloom and I have done a 25 percent water change 2 nights in a row and it seems to be getting worse.

pH is 7.0, ammonia is 1.0-2.0 (it's not very specific on the color card) and the temp is 74.

I also read that the only way to tell if a snail is dead is to smell it..I smelt all of them and even the dead one has no stink to him at all.

I'm wondering if the dead snail could be causing this bloom.

I've had this tank running for weeks now (unfortunately I've had to do a fish-in cycle) and also the snails have what it looks to be green algae on their shells.


What should I do? Thanks.

momo9700

What is your nitrite/nitrate? If you have ammonia, your tank may not be cycled yet. Then this cloud would be a bacterial bloom, which is also "new tank cloudyness" I think.

wakingupnow

My nitrates are at 0ppm and I don't have a nitrite kit as of yet. (they were out of stock at the pet store).

momo9700

If you don't have any nitrates then your tank isnt cycled yet. So i was correct, the cloudyness is not because of your snails, in fact, your snail probobly died because of the ammonia. Even just a little ammonia in your tank will kill your fishies.

agabr123

since your tank isn't cycled it's probably just a bacteria bloom. are you still using the stress zyme? if you are i wouldn't continue to use it, it has the wrong kind of bacteria that isn't self sustaining and you will have to add it for the entire life of the tank, which can get really expensive when nature can take care of that for you. also, since you aren't cycled you should be doing 50% water changes daily with prime or stress coat +, that should help take care of some of the cloudiness. is the algae brown? if so then it's probably just diatom algae which occurs very often in new tanks, it's annoying but harmless and will go away with time.

momo9700

And if your aquarium info is up to date, if your ammonia is 6.0, then your tank is basically a death trap for any fish.

wakingupnow

Yes, I have been using stress coat every time I do water changes and the cloudyness is white. I have chosen to stop the stress zyme and I'm even wondering about ammo lock these days since it doesn't seem to help anyways..

No, my ammonia spiked at 1 point, but since I have been doing water changes it's been getting lower. Also, I had all of my fish (minus the snails) in an 8 gal for about a month but my fiance threw away the old filter so I had to start all over again with the cycle. He is not to touch anything that has to do with the fish..lol

Also, I have my 8 gal back up and running tonight, but I want to cycle it before I put fish in. can I use the dead snail to do this or should I consider another method?

I'm sorry I have so many dumb questions. I just don't want any more of my animals to die. I didn't even get to name that snail.

agabr123

ah okay i remember now, yeah i would ditch the ammo lock and just use stress coat + or prime. does your stress coat have the + on it? if not then you should actually keep using the ammo lock until you can get some stress coat + or prime for the water changes, just regular stress coat doesn't detox ammonia, remove chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals.

i probably wouldn't use the snail to cycle it, you can either use fish food, a piece of raw shrimp, pure ammonia (people have had luck finding this at ace hardware, has to be just ammonia and water and if you shake it and it fizzes and has lots of bubbles then you DONT want it) or you can use tetra safe start and add the fish at the same time.

your questions aren't dumb, believe me, we were all new to this at some point or another (i got my first fish back in the beginning of november)

wakingupnow

The stress coat bottle says it's more effective than original stress coat and it also says it detoxes ammonia, and removes, chlorines, chloramines and heavy metals..There isn't a plus sign on it though.

Okay, I'm going to look into these methods more to figure out which one I will do.

Thanks a lot for the help and being kind to me.

agabr123

hmm, that's interesting but if it says that it does that then you should be fine using it for water changes

there's a good thread around here on how to go about using the different methods, i'll look around for it.

you're welcome

EDIT: here's a thread if you decide to use the pure ammonia method, with the other methods you just add the raw shrimp and let it be, or just add the fish food daily. if you go with the tetra safe start just follow the directions on the bottle
Ammonia instructions for a fishless cycle

wakingupnow

Update.

Okay, I decided I'll go with the fish food method considering I have some that I don't give to the fish anymore. Are there any article about this method? There are a few things I'm curious about like should I water change, gravel vac, how much fish food, lighting etc.

The water is still cloudy, the ammonia is 2.0 and the ph is up at 7.6 so I'm going to do a water change in a few mins. Do you think I should do a 25 or 50 percent? I've come to be great dear friends with the gravel vac during these times even though I still get water everywhere..lol.

By the way, I forgot something really important! I got a pleco at the same time as the snails. When he (I don't really know if it's a he, but oh well) gets bigger, it will give my fiance and I reason to get another much larger tank (possibly a 50-55g). He is very shy and I thought the par-boiled zucchini would be great for him until I get some algae wafers. I'm not too sure if I should give him the zucchini now or until the water clears. He and most of his tank mates at the LPS are tattered considering they share a tank with Mollys...

Anyways, thanks again for the help. Hope to hear from you soon.

By the way, I checked out your tanks, they are really nice and your bettas are b e a utiful.

P.S. It might be late where you are so I'm going to do a 30 percent water change.

wakingupnow

Well, I did a 30 ish percent water change last night and the water seems to be clearing up.

agabr123

feel free to go ahead and give your pleco the zucchini, that shouldn't be too bad for your water

i'll look for an article on the best way to cycle with fish food but i don't know if there is one, you just sort of dump it in, lol. it's messy but it works

Thanks!

wakingupnow

Well, I parboiled some cucumber from my grandfathers garden (no chemicals) and put 2 slices in the tank. I thought it was zucchini, but cucumber is in the same family. All of the fish went crazy except for Snowy which now I have come to know as a male and Blackie was a female (learned about the anal fin).

I just did a 25% water change and the water looks much much better.


And you are welcome. :-)

momo9700

Gl getting your tank cycled and such

wakingupnow

Thanks momo. :-)