.5 ammonia level - Dead snail?

[moneymm]

I was cycled 2 weeks ago.... I did a water change a week ago, all of a sudden my ammonia level has crept up to .5 ... I have a CUC of 12 in my 45 gallon tank and my fish is in QT.

Nitrites 0
Nitrates 15
Salinity 1.025
ph also dropped from 8.2 to 7.6

How do I combat this ammonia level and what could be causing it?

Is this a lethal level if I added my fish?

One of the snails hasn't moved in about 5 days. Perhaps he died and that is causing the high ammonia level? Or could he have died from it?

I have clor-ax to get rid of chlorine and ammonia shoukd I use that?

 

[hampsterblade]

Sounds like chlorine to me. Are you using ro water, and if not any dechlorinator also are you premixing your saltwater? RO/DI water is high recommended and should be used. If you are running tap water you should absolutely be using declorinator and letting the water sit before putting it in your tank. I have experienced BB die off and lost a lot of inverts due to accidentally adding water with chlorine in it.

 

[moneymm]

Just got my ro/di today...

But before this I have either used premixed live water from nutri-seawate, and distiller water...

 

[Crooked Reef]

Shouldn't be chlorine then. Did you test the ph right after the lights came on? It will drop when the lights are off through the night, but not that drastic. Are you using an API test kit for ammonia? They are not very accurate and I can register anywhere from 0ppm to .25 ppm from walking from one light source to another. The snail not moving for 5 days may have just found a particular spot it liked. I have some turbos that do that periodically. Pick it up. You will know if it is dead. This is why I like hermit crabs even though a lot of people recommend against them. Hermits sometimes kill and eat live snails, but they always eat dead snails.

 

[moneymm]

Shouldn't be chlorine then. Did you test the ph right after the lights came on? It will drop when the lights are off through the night, but not that drastic. Are you using an API test kit for ammonia? They are not very accurate and I can register anywhere from 0ppm to .25 ppm from walking from one light source to another. The snail not moving for 5 days may have just found a particular spot it liked. I have some turbos that do that periodically. Pick it up. You will know if it is dead. This is why I like hermit crabs even though a lot of people recommend against them. Hermits sometimes kill and eat live snails, but they always eat dead snails.

No I tested Ph in the mid day. I will test that again tom. As I added a ph enhancer.

Yes but it's showing .5 on the test and also on on my ammonia badge.