# HELP! Dead nerite snail fouled the water; how do I clean the water?



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

30-50% WC, run carbon, run Purigen, probably won't need your UVS.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Thank you, epic. I greatly appreciate your help.


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

First thing you should do is relax... breath in and out... 

Only one dead snail in a 75g? hell, that water is still drinkable.
The plants will consume the snail goo.

I would remove Popeye from the main tank, chances of him
returning to normal are slim.

I could ask many questions, so I will ask two:

Is the tank in question recently setup?
Have you rinsed the filter media lately?


Just keep the tank clean with weekly pruning and water changes
keep the filter media rinsed monthly-ish without destroying the 
beneficial bacteria., and a little carbon in the filter never hurts.
Don't over feed, if you do, a water change will fix that.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Breathing... One dead snail, but it was a large nerite snail.

I can't catch popeye. He's become so good at hiding, it took me 15 minutes just to find him this morning. I will keep trying, though.

Your questions are dead on. This tank was just moved. Put the fish in on Thursday, using SafeStart. Lost most of my plants so plant mass is pretty low, but have a bunch on order to arrive soon.

The filter media was more than just rinsed; it was sterilized. I ran bleach through the empty tank with both filters running in an attempt to once and for all get rid of BBA.

I did a 50% w/c yesterday, and then added two more bottles of SafeStart this morning. Is it better to do another w/c now and risk loosing any bacteria in the water from the SafeStart? Or is it better to try to get as much bacteria in the tank as possible since I just did the w/c yesterday?

And is there any way to get this horrendous stench off of my hands?


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Complexity said:


> And is there any way to get this horrendous stench off of my hands?


Vinegar or scrub your hands with lemon peels. I like the lemon peels.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Hadn't tried vinegar. Getting some immediately. Dead snails stink worse than anything I have ever smelled before. :icon_eek:


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## Wö£fëñxXx (Dec 2, 2003)

Complexity said:


> Breathing... One dead snail, but it was a large nerite snail.


I'm sure you already have but remove the carcass.
Use tweezers 




> I can't catch popeye. He's become so good at hiding, it took me 15 minutes just to find him this morning. I will keep trying, though.
> 
> Your questions are dead on. This tank was just moved. Put the fish in on Thursday, using SafeStart. Lost most of my plants so plant mass is pretty low, but have a bunch on order to arrive soon.
> 
> ...


New tank with fish and few plants is why you are having issues,
do small daily water changes, and you don't need the safestart.
Get those plants ASAP, the ecosystem needs them, that will balance
out the fluctuation's that are causing your inhabitants grief.

BBA is from to much light, go very easy on the intensity of the light
so you won't run into that problem again.
The filter will have to rebuild as you may very well know, so go easy
on the lighting which in turn makes it easier on the system.
small daily water changes for a few days, don't add anything to the
water that is unnecessary. ie safestart, you are already having problems
I am positive that, that chemical does not help.
Let the system build at its rate, be patient easy on the light, small
H20 changes and in a week you should be good to go.



> And is there any way to get this horrendous stench off of my hands?


Bleach water.


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## klumsyninja (Apr 16, 2008)

Complexity said:


> Dead snails stink worse than anything I have ever smelled before. :icon_eek:


A group of us were camping out on a point in Muskoka and enjoying many pops by the camp fire when someone noticed an ENORMOUS dead snapping turtle in the water maybe 3 feet out. A little bubbly from drinking all those pops he thought maybe he should drag it out of the water to get a good look at it! THAT is the WORST smell you will ever smell in your life. The smell stayed all weekend in the air and completely ruined any chance of breathing.

( I had a couple big apple snails die in my 90G tank and didn't notice it for a while and everything in the tank was fine... )


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

No worries! I leave dead nerites in the tank until the shell is empty because they smell SO bad!


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## niko (Mar 8, 2006)

I don't know if BigStick is joking, but he is right about not worrying too much about one dead snail. 

Dead Neritinas smell truly refreshing and their smell stays on your hands longer than your wildest hopes. But from what I have seen the strong smell doesn't really mean the water is utterly poisonous. It smells really bad but fish and other snails seem to pretend very well that they didn't notice anyone dying. 

Given the amazing smell I cannot explain how the water is not seriously toxic, but that but that's my observation.

--Nikolay


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I want to thank everyone who offered suggestions and information. I was quite concerned, as could be seen. I envisioned the water being toxic to my fish, and given that I couldn't get the smell off of my hands, I took that to mean that the toxic problems would remain on my substrate, plants and decor even with water changes. It's great to know that, while extremely putrid to smell, it's not harmful to my fish.

So now I'm back to my normal previous goals of watching the cycling, doing water changes and products to bind the ammonia when needed, and stuffing the tank with plants. I have over a dozen plants arriving this week that should help.


Thanks also to klumsyninja for the warning to never go anywhere close to a dead turtle! :hihi:


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Im not joking! They reekkkkkkkkkkk bad!


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