Smelly water

Aug 10, 2005
2
0
0
Marietta, Ohio
#1
Hi everyone. I'm a newbie here. Also a newbie with fish. I just set up my tank over the weekend and got my fish on Monday. Today is Wednesday, and the water has clouded up and has a strange odor to it. The fish seem happy, but it smells funky.


10 gallon tank
2 Silver Mollies
2 Black Mollies
3 Orange Mollies
1 Plecostomus
 

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
May 16, 2003
8,589
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Colorado
#3
"strange smelling" could be pretty much anything from ammonia to the normal fishtank smell that kinda smells earthy...like dirt sort of.

The cloudyness is normal for a new tank, probably a bacterial bloom...which is a good thing.

Since you just set your tank up you might want to check out the cycling threads (stickied at the top of the beginner forum) and get some ammonia/nitrite and nitrate test kits...so you know how your cycle is going.
 

May 9, 2005
128
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47
West Haven, CT
#5
Definately check out cycling.
Do you have a test kit (very necessary) aquapharm is my personal fav. they have a comprehensive one for ammonia, no3 no2, and pH.

Look forward to changing your water frequently if you haven't cycled, to keep the water healthy (readings of 0 if you get aquapharm testers).
 

svetlana

Large Fish
Feb 16, 2005
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Gaithersburg, MD
home.uchicago.edu
#8
Your tank looks overcrowded. If you did not cycle your tank you should have awfully high ammonia levels. Check out - your fish might feel bad already. Pleco has to go to bigger tank eventually. You'd better take couple of cories and get rid of couple of mollies.
 

LongTime

Large Fish
May 16, 2004
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69
Florissant, MO
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#9
No way the tank could have cycled "over the weekend". The ammonia levels have to be high. NTS will likely start killing the fish. :( If you don't want to use a chemical do a 1 to 2 gal water change in the morning and in the evening every day for at least 10 days. If you want a chemical, and you should at least do a 1 to 2 gal water change every couple of days, use Prime. I do not recommend Ammo Loc.

I wish you the best.
 

Dec 8, 2004
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#12
did you add all the fish at one time? they're probably soaking in their own toxic waste right now if the tank's not cycled. and the tank does look overcrowded. if it's not right now, it will be really soon. mollies can get up to 3 inches each, and that doesn't take long. plecos can only stay in a ten gallon for a few months before they have to be upgraded. they grow pretty fast and can get up to a foot and a half long. the rule is one inch of fish per gallon, and you have to account for the adult sizes of the fish. you may want to be doing some research pretty soon- good luck!
 

Aug 8, 2005
4
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BC, Canada
#13
Fish often look "happy" right up to the point of death from toxic water. Sorry, not to be mean, but I think you made a big mistake adding this huge load of fish to an uncycled tank. Here's my advice for possibly saving them:

1. See if you can get some Bio-Spira to add to the tank which will get it cycled quicker (don't let the LFS talk you into "Cycle" or another product.)
AND/OR
2. See if your LFS or a friend will give you some used filter media or at least a couple handfulls of gravel from an established tank to add to your tank (just plain dirty tank water won't help much - it has to be something that the bacteria are living on) This will also speed up your cycle.

3. You must have a test kit - test ammonia every day and change enough water to keep the ammonia under 2.0 (under 1.0 = even better) which will probably mean every day or even twice a day.

If you can't keep the ammonia under control, be prepared to loose fish, you very well might start to see things like ich and velvet start to appear as the stress weakens them. Another idea is to get another tank right now and divide the fish up between them, as you will have to do that in the near future anyway, as they outgrow the 10 g. and cycle them both at the same time with a smaller bio-load in each tank.
 

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