How big of trouble am I in?

I was cleaning my tanks tonight and stirred up a ton of algae- not a big deal right? I performed a water change then checked a shell that hasn't been moving for awhile. It was a very large dead snail in the process of rotting. I removed it from the tank but now it smells terrible. I may of gotten some on me so I seem to smell it everywhere but my wife thinks the smell is coming from the water. I just did a water change on both tanks and am making more salt water right now but it won't be ready for some time. Am I in trouble? Things you should know

I don't have prime

I am running a very oversized skimmed (vertex, designed for 100 gallon tank and its going nuts)

I am running GFO and Carbon

I have good flow and macro algae in the sump

I haven't tested for ammonia yet, I wanted to get this open first

My corals seem to be pretty open and some of the fish are approaching me for food.

 

If you removed the decaying snail and your tank is established I doubt there should be much of an issue.

Size of tank please?

 

New to the SW hobby but experienced in FW. My first thoughts are you are prob going to be fine a single large snail should not wipeout a tank unless it is a really large snail or a really small tank. You removed it so it will not rot any further, you have a skimmer and macro to absorb organic matter, and you did a WC to help the situation. You fish and corals are looking healthy and are not affects at this point so you are prob in the clear. To be on the safe side I would test the water and ALWAYS have a bottle of prime on the side for emergency!

 

Rotten snails smell the worse, but unless its a picco or nano shouldn't pose much of a risk. Put in some fresh carbon, it will help with the smell. Do a full test and post the results. I would hold back on drastic water changes, you'll shock the system and create a real problem.
Personally I would have done none of this without testing first. Whenever worried, that should be the first thing you should do.

 

its a 55 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. I just started running carbon 5 days ago so i am hesitant to add any. Packleader- I may have mispoke, I had just completed a water change when I found the decaying snail. The snail wad very large, maybe the size of a 2 year olds fist? I am working on the tests right now, Its been awhile since I pulled out the ammonia one....

p.s. I did find an OLD bottle of ammo lock- it was expired in 2009...

 

Agreed, you cant fix a problem if you dont even know what it is or if there is one. Nothing is worse then a dead snail smell wise IMO

 

Not a fan of ammo lock and man that was a big snail!! What kind of snail was it?

 

Don't use it if its expired. Sorry I misread your post, I thought you found the snail, did a water change, and was mixing more to do more. Just didn't want you to go overboard.
FWIW, I had a turbo slightly larger than a golf ball die in a 40, no sump, and never caused any trouble. And seriously, dead snails are the worse smelling things in this hobby, at least to me. Taking it out of the water will make the house smell, that's normal. Doesn't mean the whole tank is polluted and dying though. Just do a full round of tests and see where you stand.

 

I think you are probably good. Turbos always smell horrible when they die.

 

Just thought of this, might make you feel better. After we got our clean up crew for my new tank, my wife went down to the LFS and was excited to get free shells for the hermits. Came home and boy it smelled foul. She told me what she did. The free hermits were dead nerites, about a dozen. This is a 30 cube, just cycled, no sump, no skimmer. Threw in some carbon and all was good in about six hours, no water changes. You'll be fine.