MY TANK ABSOLUTELY STINKS

[Papillon]

Yuk...

There is nothing dead in it. I have done a partial water change.. The plants are doing well, Henry is doing well, eating well..

I replaced the fliters, the water parameters are fine...

Help my small apartment smells like a sewer!

Marie

 

[FishMan10005]

Hmm im not sure whats wrong but get an air freshener thingy for your apartment!! lol that might help a bit, maybe :-\

 

[Papillon]

Laughing here.. Tried that to no avail!! I think it's something inside the tank, it's almost like the bio wheels reek..

 

[fishlover25]

get some carbon that might help

 

[fishface]

mabe you left the lid of the fish food? i did that once didnt no what it was for 20 mins!

 

[mimi13chan]

do a whole cleaning and scrub the galss , and under the rocks, clean the gravel in a bucket of warm water

 

[fishboy]

What are your ammonia and nitrite levels? Lots of times the "fishy" smell is caused by high levels of ammonia and nitrite.

 

[MrMup04]

open ur windows and let the air go out....or maybe theres a fish that jump out and died...that can happens sometimes...

 

[Papillon]

No. Nobody died.

I am not sure about the glass scubbing etc, won't that destroy my whole cycling process that took forever to get there?

I did a 50% water change and "vaccumed" the bottom and ir seems much better...

I have an Emperor 400 on a 38 gallon so definitely a "kick ass" filter! Lots of carbon there...I srcubbed out the filter with the wee brush they give you....


Nitrites 0

Amonia 0

Nitrates 5

so everything in that dept is cool.. I just wish I knew what causes this.... I don't think I am over feeding. I feed him one big pinch once a day...

 

[kimbo]

Are you sure it's the water that stinks? Maybe it's somethng else.

 

[Papillon]

absolutely! Bio wheels too, but I suspect because they are churning the water... I guess I will do weekly water changes of different degrees, especially as I am going to get 2 more fish.

 

[wayne]

How deep is the gravel? Any plants? Any oily scum on surface?

 

[fishface]

a pic could help a lot

 

[Sandie]

Did you clean your hood too? I had a similar problem once, and found out the odor wasn't from the tank, it was crud on the hood from water evaporating, causing a 'mouldy' smell

 

[bobrob]

This is kinda dumb but I did it once. I left my bloodworms out once by mistake and they melted and stunk up the joint. Do you feed your fish bloodworms.

 

[mandi0808]

Do you have an undergravel filter? Could your substrate have become compacted? Anerobic bacteria can build up in both creating a stinky rotten egg smell. Is that what you might be smelling?

 

[Papillon]

Hi,

Sorry been busy.. Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera so no pictures are available...

I don't have an underwater gravel filter ( hate them) I have an Emperor 400 which I have thoroughly cleaned out, changed filters etc. As I posted above, I have done everything I can think of... I don't overfeed, only once a day, a nice sized pinch, and he feeds and scavenges most of the day eating what has fallen...

No I haven't given Henry bloodworms, he gets brine shrimp once and a while....

Marie

 

[bumblebee]

How old is your carbon? If it has absorbed a lot of nasties, it could be full. Try changing it. Also, I have 2 filters on two different tanks with bio-wheels, and neither of them stink. Do you have an algae problem? That could add to the smell too. Hth,
JC

 

[Grosse Gurke]

I have an Emperor 400 which I have thoroughly cleaned out, changed filters etc.

This could mess up you cycle more than cleaning the glass or the gravel. 90+% of the good bacteria resides in the filter media. The only tank that I have ever had smell was uncycled and once the cycle was complete it was fine....and I never use carbon unless I am removing meds.

 

[Papillon]

Didn't touch the bio wheel, where most of them reside!! So far so good, I talked to my LFS they said to get more carbon if need be!!