Has fast do Aquarium snails become toxic when dead?

Question

I brought a Ramshorn snail for my fish tank today, and I’ve just been told that they are toxic when they die. (Would have been nice to know that BEFORE I brought it...)

I’m exceptionally fond of my fish who’s nearly 7 years old, and I don’t want anything to happen to it… so now I’m paranoid the snail is going to die.

How quickly do they become dangerous to fish?
I have a 15-liter, filtered tank with one largish, and one small fish in it.

If it becomes toxic in a few hours, does that mean my fish will suffer in a few hours, or that the snail it’s self is toxic in a few hours?

Answer 1

They release ammonia into the water fairly quickly upon death. They aren't "toxic" in the way that they turn into poison, but decay causes ammonia and ammonia kills fish. Ramshorn snails are fairly hardly though and if the water is in good shape will live a reasonably long time.

To offset your worry, do a tank check when you feed your fish. Look for your snail, check to see if it's moving (or if it's in it's shell check to make sure it's not oozing out).

As long you remove them within 12-24 hours after death they are usually ok though. To be safe you can perform smaller more frequent water changes.

Answer 2

Well, like anything else, it'll rot when it dies producing toxic ammonia. However, it isn't like putting a toxic poison in your tank. It should not kill your fish.
In my first tank, a 10 gallon (~40 litre), the snail died and I didn't know until one day I saw the shell was empty. None of the fish died as a result.
Just keep an eye on it, and keep up with weekly water changes, and should be no problem if it does happen to die. Or you could look into getting a larger tank, as I would be concerned with the bioload of 2 fish and 1 snail in a 15 liter tank. Something like 30 or 40 liters would be better. This also means that if the snail were to die, the ammonia it produced would be much more dilluted.

Answer 3

probably a couple hours