Snail euthanasia, ammonia in tap water

[jdsunflower]

well after multiple partial water changes trying to get to the bottom of my fish's distress, and sudden ammonia problems, I finally thought to check the tap water ammonia levels; 2!!! I'm annoyed with myself at not thinking to check this. We take tapwater for granted, don't we? Yet here, pH is 9, etc, etc...
Unfortunately, the stores are closed today here, so cannot even get Ammo Lock (would you guys recommend use of this in such an emergency?)
In the meantime all I can do is put back the plants I'd removed because I thought they weren't doing that well and were adding nitrates... They'll at least help somewhat, won't they?
The only survivors of this recent crash of my system (things make a bit more sense now, but not completely), my rasboras died, and my snail had to be euthanized, VALIANT little guy that he was. His feelers looked seriously damaged (the tips looked crushed or melted--it was awful) and he was staggering, and seemed blind to his surroundings... As much as a snail can look like it's suffering, this one was. What a heart-wrenching thing to have to do. Thanks to the thread on proper euthanasia, I think it was a painless as possible (boiling water), but I won't lie, I shed a few tears and felt like a monster. Would he have healed on his own? I don't think it was possible, but please let me know if in future I should let them be awhile longer...but he wasn't eating, and seemed quite tortured...
JD

 

[bs6749]

I am pretty sure he would have recovered. I've heard that snails can grow their feelers and eyes back if they are damaged.

 

[jdsunflower]

oh boy...
Well I'll know better next time. It was an awful thing to watch, I'll tell you. Have to tell myself that snails die all over the world every day, etc, it doesn't help much.
This was my first snail, and I thought I hadn't neutralized the parmanganate for my plants...

 

[Zagz]

Sorry for the loss of your snail. Ammo lock is not a recommended way of removing ammonia from the water. Water changes are best. Do 50% and then test a few hours later and if need be do another water change.

Was your tank cycled?

 

[jdsunflower]

recent mini-disaster

thanks for your kind words, Zagz, valiant is the best word for 'him'---he was a real character. One of my corys really took to following him around as he always knew where the good food was!
No, my tank is not cycled. I cycled it originally in a fishless way, with plants and over 2 months...
Recent crash of my system seems to have been due to a spike in tap ammonia (I actually never thought to measure tap water, so when I was trying to do partial water changes, it wasn't helping).
New test kit complicated things in that I kept the WRONG CARD--and was getting readings I couldn't understand. I've now found a website with a card that seem useful.
To make this long story short, no, I had to take the tank down (creatures + suspected poisoning, etc--not sure what happened). Lost my rasboras, but I managed to salvage the corys although I thought they would die. They are still looking a little shaken up, frankly.
Currently, tank is having to cycle again (40B with only 5 corys, and plants). I'm going to load up on new plants and try to cycle gently...
Do you know other fish that are more tolerant of ammonia like the corys, I'd hate to lose more fish if tap ammonia is sometimes this high....
JD

 

[Alaris]

A lot people recommend using Prime as your dechlorinator. It can help with chloramine and ammonia (read below).

Prime

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Prime™ is the complete and concentrated conditioner for both fresh and salt water. Prime™ removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia. Prime™ converts ammonia into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank’s biofilter. Prime™ may be used during tank cycling to alleviate ammonia/nitrite toxicity. Prime™ detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify any heavy metals found in the tap water at typical concentration levels.Prime™ also promotes the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat. Prime™ is non-acidic and will not impact pH. Prime™ will not overactivate skimmers. Use at start-up and whenever adding or replacing water.[/FONT]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/cycle-not-104765-4.html#post890080

Many test kits will read both the harmful Ammonia and the detoxified Ammonia. In these situations you have to trust that you have dosed the appropriate amount of Prime and that your fish are okay. You can watch your fish for signs of stress to further check whether this is the case or not. In an established aquarium that is well cycled, you won't see elevated levels of either Ammonia or Nitrite. You may see a spike after a water change if your tap water contains them, but these should be quickly handled by the biofilter within a matter of hours.

 

[jdsunflower]

thank you, I should have trusted the fish, rather than the first ammonia kit I had (must have been getting old). Read 0, but fish at surface (I'd never had fish do this before, and didn't know how to interpret it).
live and learn...