Trumpet Snail question

[bsantucci]

Hey all,

I've done basic troubleshooting and am running out of ideas. Been riding high nitrates for a bit, around 80ppm. I've checked the tap and it's got no nitrates. I checked my test kit against distilled water and it came up showing none either so the test kit is fine. I stopped dosing no3 for a few days and i've done 50% water changes each day. Cleaned my filter, shook off all trays in tank water, replaced the pre-sponge and filter floss with new stuff too. The nitrates haven't budged.

Now here's my question. I had a my trumpet snails die off for some reason, my substrate looks like a grave yard on the surface. Do you think they may have also died under the substrate and are rotting, leeching nitrates? I can't image any other place the nitrates would be coming from. Fish are all fine though. I have no ammonia and no nitrites. ph 6.8. I run pressurized co2, all plants are well and healthy.

 

[Rivercats]

Interesting question. A mass die off could have caused an ammonia spike which in turn would increase nitrates. Another thing is do you have any DW, rocks, or other decorations that could be loaded with detritus under or in them? Can you gravel vac the substrate or do you have too many plants?

 

[wildroseofky]

+1 what RIverCats said. I had the same problem before. Moved decor and found tons of stuff under it. Even dense clusters of plants become hiding spots for gunk. Clean under and around those and do a massive water change.

 

[bsantucci]

I did have an ammonia and nitrite spike like a month and a half ago. I had some root tabs pop up from the dirt and attributed it to that. But currently no ammonia just nitrate.

Only the one manzanita branch but it's not harboring detritus. I actually had it out of the tank last week to add moss to it. I always vacuums the eco complete weekly. I use a turkey baster to stir up the detritus so I can suck it up.

So basically the only thing I can think is mass die off and the bodies under are rotting.

I'm frustrated but secretly thinking of using this as an excuse to get a Mr aqua 48 gallon rimless and starting with new substrate.

So do you think mts die off is a possibility? I can try to sift through an open area that isn't planted and see what comes up. Other than that I'm out of ideas.

Sent from my XT1060 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Rivercats]

You know until soil is about a year or so old, depending on the brand used and the depth it will continue to breakdown the organics adding more nutrients to the tank. The amount and type of plants used may or may not be able to use all the nitrates.

In my 220 especially I have to run my hands lightly through the thick planting before my weekly 50% WC as they can collect a ton of fine detritus. I'm often amazed how much thick plantings can collect even with good water flow.

When you rinsed your sponges did you rinse them until the water coming out of them are clear? I've found my canister sponges if not kept thoroughly rinsed/cleaned out every 3 to 4 weeks can be the main cause of rising nitrates. My 220 is way over 2 years old with dirt and an eco cap along with a pretty high bio-load yet my nitrates stay right about 10ppm.

 

[bsantucci]

You know until soil is about a year or so old, depending on the brand used and the depth it will continue to breakdown the organics adding more nutrients to the tank. The amount and type of plants used may or may not be able to use all the nitrates.

In my 220 especially I have to run my hands lightly through the thick planting before my weekly 50% WC as they can collect a ton of fine detritus. I'm often amazed how much thick plantings can collect even with good water flow.

When you rinsed your sponges did you rinse them until the water coming out of them are clear? I've found my canister sponges if not kept thoroughly rinsed/cleaned out every 3 to 4 weeks can be the main cause of rising nitrates. My 220 is way over 2 years old with dirt and an eco cap along with a pretty high bio-load yet my nitrates stay right about 10ppm.

I don't think it's the plants, I actually hacked everything down very short two weeks ago and it's just coming in nice and bushy now. I definitely use the turkey baster to loosen and lift anything on the ground to the water column too before changes.

I did rinse them till clear initially, but I actually changed the sponges and the filter floss so they are both brand new. Tomorrow is water change day anyway so we'll see where we are at with this one and the clean filter material. If I'm not seeing drops this week then i'm at a loss. What's wild is I've had apisto spawns, cory spawns, and now peacock gudgeon spawns all this last month, so the fish are clearly fine with the water.

 

[bsantucci]

So I'm still trying to get the nitrates down, but in doing so I came across the cause for the die off I think. I'm fairly certain I have a calcium deficiency in my tank which caused the snails to die. I noticed a ramshorn snail alive still, but his shell was bumpy and pitted and light in color. They move very slow too. All the MTS shells are light colored also. I do have some plants showing as possible Ca deficient too. I recall my gH was only like 3 when I tested originally. So I have some Seachem Equilibrium coming soon. I suspect the Ca deficiency was keeping my plants from uptaking the no3 in the water quick enough which is leading to my spiked nitrate.

Does this sound correct?