John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images Aquatic snails might love climbing up your aquarium's glass, messing up your plants, and being risk-takers by falling from high places in your tank. But floating might seem a bit abnormal. Floating isn't usually a sign that your snail has passed away, although it might indicate that he's unhappy with the water. Some snails float because of trapped air in their lung, while others eat away at film at the top of the water surface. Trapped Air When some snails close up -- mystery and apple snails are notorious for this -- a bit of air gets trapped inside. Like a little balloon, they say goodbye to the bottom-dwellers and start floating to the very top of the tank. Once they open up, they'll fall back down to the bottom, or suction onto something. You'll often see this with snails who have a lung. Film Take a look at the surface of your water and you might notice a milky film. It most often results from harmless bacteria or poor surface agitation, which allows plant protein and food particles to join together and form a film.

Regardless of the reason, the film isn't harmful to your swimming friends. But some snails, such as pond snails and Malaysian trumpet snails, love to munch down on it. They float along the top, upside down, eating away at the film. Sometimes you can see their little mouths moving. Adding an air stone or increasing your filter power can sometimes disrupt the film. You can also lay a paper towel flat on the surface for a second or two to remove it. Bad Water Quality If your water quality has taken a turn for the worst, your snails might float in protest. You might also see them try to leave the tank by climbing out of it. They're trying to get the heck out of a bad environment. Your primary concerns are nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. Check your water with test strips or the more accurate liquid tests to see whether those levels are too high. Ammonia and nitrite levels should both read 0 parts per million, and nitrate should be less than 40 parts per million. If those levels are out of whack, change 20 percent of the water each day until they go down, and your snails will stop their floating madness.

Testing Knowing whether your snails are just chilling out at the top of your tank or actually dead calls for a bit of closer inspection. Pick up the snail in question to see whether he's closed inside his shell. If he's tightly shut, he's not dead. If he's hanging out of it and not reacting when you touch him lightly, he's probably either dead or very sick. The only way to know for sure is the smell test. Dead snails smell something horrid, usually within 12 hours of dying. References AppleSnail.net: Frequently Asked QuestionsDiscus Fish; Thomas A. Giovanetti, Matthew M. Vriends Photo Credits John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images See More Animals The Number of Snails Needed for a Saltwater Tank How to Tell if Your Snail Is Pregnant? Caring for Pet Land Snails What Does It Mean When Snails Start Bubbling?It can actually be kind of tricky sometimes. Here are a few ways to tell.1) Obvious one, but inspect for any obvious causes of death. Broken shell, big bite marks from other fish, algae/slime growing on it, etc.2) Dead snails smell awful if they've been dead for a bit (much like most dead things).

Take it out and take a whiff.3) Take a clear glass, fill it with tank water, and put the snail in it. A new environment may spur it to move and explore, and the clear glass makes it easy to watch.4) Pull gently on the foot (the sticky-outy bit). fish tank filter motorA live snail, even if sick, will have a reflex to keep it closed. fish tank plants canadaA dead snail has no such reflexes, and you'll have no trouble pulling it outward.5) Pay attention to its location in the tank, then ignore it for a few hours. fish tank snail factsSometimes snails hang out and don't move for awhile - sometimes upside down with the foot sticking out a bit (like it's lost its muscular abilities). I've thought all my snails were dead at some point, at least a few times for each.

But like always, I come back a few hours later and they're meandering about elsewhere in the tank. Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top Sometimes one fish dies, without any apparent disease. In previous aquariums I would always remove them as fast as I could. Now my aquarium is a bit bigger, and I have some laziness to remove those bodies: they are to deep, or in the back, or partially eaten. So I decide to leave some, and they tend to disappear in few days. Is there any safety issues by doing that? Will other fish die if they eat dead fish? Will they develop some mad fish disease ? Sometimes, after you have a established aquarium, with everything working as it should, fish might die simply because they get old, or have a shorter life-span due to its condition before being sold to you, or because some other fish had a fight with it. If only one fish died, without white / black spots, no sign of fungus or parasites, no alteration in the gills, I usually rule out diseases of environmental problems.

health fish aquarium death Assuming you're absolutely certain that the fish did not die from a disease or parasite (I'm not certain how you would ensure that, short of having absolutely nothing new introduced into the environment for an extended period of time prior to the death)... I would say it depends upon what died, and the other denizens of your aquarium. If you have a decent Clean Up Crew that will rather quickly consume the body, you're probably not going to run any serious risks of the body releasing enough toxins to jeopardize the other fish. If you lack sufficiently voracious cleaners, or your dead fish is on the largish side, you should pull it out of your tank sooner rather than later, though. Generally, at least among saltwater tank owners, leaving a dead fish for the CUC doesn't seem that uncommon. Like any other protein-based life form, dead fish give off toxic byproducts like cadaverine and putrescene, which can be toxic in high doses.

I can imagine that it's not urgent that you remove the dead fish, but letting them fester and degrade away may have toxic effects on the other fish. I don't have a reference to back that up, though. This article talks about their toxicity to humans when consuming fish with high levels of these compounds, so I would imagine with a much lower weight, the fish would acquire toxic levels much more readily and quickly.How could be you so sure that the fish died a natural death. I mean if it was due to some disease then it could be spread if other fishes eats the dead body. And if its due to some natural death but still its a risk of water pollution through the dead body degradation process. It can make water toxic, so why to take risk with your beloved fishes. And its important to know the cause of death, i mean if fishes are dying it could be due to high amount of ammonia in water or any toxic meter. So always take precaution for the lived ones. In my 200 L fresh water tank, which is an aggressive tank, fish occasionally get harassed to death.