Do snails produce any ammonia?

[Joey17]

I was just curious if malaysian trumpet snails or any other aquatic snail release ammonia like fish.

[Toirtis]

They do not release ammonia so much as their waste, without enough nitrifying bacteria, will decompose producing ammonia....and yes, but tiny amounts.

[krap101]

id think they would lower the ammonia amount? they do produce ammonia, but they also eat the uneaten food. uneaten food would make more ammonia than poop. (amount eaten vs amount of poop made from eating it)

[Joey17]

Couldn't they be used to cycle a tank then?

[jrp1588]

maybe a whole lot of them

yes, snails like any other creature on earth secrete waste products, although they do eat uneaten food, they still produce waste which does produce ammonia. I would think you would need a HUGE ammount of snails to cycle with though.

[krap101]

well, if they died then..

[FawnN]

Even if you had enough snails to even cycle a tank, they would never survive the process.

If they died during the cycle they would produce even more ammonia! ... which could be beneficial to the cycle, and if you had an overabundance of snails... kinda help get rid of some

[FawnN]

Too much ammonia will slow down the growth of bacteria and prolong your cycling.

[malkore]

inverts (shrimp, snails, crayfish) are far more sensitive to ammonia and nitrites than most fish. Not a good idea to try to cycle with them.