Stinky Tank

[SlateSpider]

When I walk into my room, I am almost blown out again by the smell! (okay, maybe a little exaggeration...) My tank smells like 10 gallons of fish poop! I have to open the window and turn the fan on in order to get most of the smell out.

When I do a water change, the smell is even worse because I sift through the gravel with the vacuum tube. The smell is SOOOO bad!

I have heard not to spray things like air freshener around the tank in order to not poison the water, so how do I get rid of the smell?

Thanks in advance!

 

[KcMopar]

You need to do better and or more vacuuming/water changes. You might even have a dead fish stuck in something.

 

[Thyra]

I do not believe you will solve this problem until you get your stocking under control. You were considerably overstocked before you put the fry in the tank. (Is the betta still in the bowl or back in the divided tank?) You need to do some research on Aqadvisor.com and figure out what size tank he recommends for the population you intend to keep. Then you need to figure out your resources (meaning money and space). I did some reading today but wasn't able to find how soon your fry can get PG, but as I remember it was pretty young and your existing females will have bigger and bigger "litters". Everything I read said even two mollies need at least a 15g tank. They are very active fish. You may find a cheap tank at a Thrift store or on Craig's List - just be sure its not a reptile tank. The thing is the tank is the least of your expenses - its the equipment - heater, filter, substrate, etc. The 10g tank can be your hospital, quarantine or nursery tank, but that needs to at least be heated. You could make a sponge filter for it, but you still need an air pump and you don't need substrate either. Figure out what you want in your main tank and what size it should be. Tell us what your desirable stocking plan is and I am sure you will get a lot of help, but as it stands right now, you could wake up to a disaster any morning. And I will still say you need to get a liquid test kit. You have never said your ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate readings. I would really think an overload of nitrate could really cause a smell, but anything that is off could also cause it.

 

[Hanna87]

Have you had your water tested sence the last time? You talked about breeding shrimp, then breeding mollies, doing this, doing that. It all costs money, so use it to buy liquid test kits. All the problems you have is most likly from bad water quality. Doesn't matter how many threads you make, your gonna get the same answer everytime...... Your overstocked, or even the same question.... What's your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[SlateSpider]

Hannah87, Thyra:
The person who tested the water didn't tell me any numbers, just said that ammonia was really high. I did get the water tested once since then, and that was at petco. The person at petco used test strips and didn't say any numbers, either. I guess next time I should ask for the readings...

Thyra:
The betta is back in the bowl, now, so that the fish can have all the room in the tank.

KcMopar:
I do weekly water changes, do you think I should do a water change more often? . I still count all my fish, so I don't think I have any dead fish anywhere.

I might get another tank to put the babies in, but I don't know for sure.

 

[KcMopar]

I know if your water stinks there is problem for SURE!!!! I see you say you have a 10G tank. There are others that say you are over stocked and that would make since for sure as well!!! Imagine having 10 puppies in a small kennel, how stinky would that be????? Now what if you only had 1 or two puppies in a small kennel, would it be cleaner then 10 PUPPIES??? Is sure would, your fish tank is the same. Is your signature correct on the fish count in the 10G???? With just three mollies you tank is overstocked. I have two 10 gallon tanks and none of them have more then two fish in each one. One has two shrimp and the other has two 2 inch fish. Both of these tanks do great and are very health and do not have any odor at all. If you are going to keep pets YOU NEED TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM, these are living animals that are under your care. I know how hard it can be to resist getting more fish because you love to have them, that's understandable. First off you need to be able to care for the pets you have before getting others, and with fish many times that means more tanks to have others. I know mistakes happen but, they should be years or several months apart.
I have just made a grave mistake with my Saltwater tank and its going to cost me about $500.00 or so. I lost two fish and am loosing a plate coral because I have gotten complacent with my tank conditions and have slacked a bit on doing every water parameter test 100%. I feel awful about!!! Sick to my stomach!!! All because of ME I have killed two fish and am slowly going to loose a plate coral as well. I know you are young and you love fish but, you and as well as I, need to be more proficient in our action to keep our pets living and comfortable.

 

[Thyra]

I have forgotten how much water you say you change weekly, but under the circumstances and until you do something about either downsizing your population or getting a larger tank, IMO you need to do 50% water changes daily. But with 15 fish in a 10g tank that still will not completely solve your problem. You say you MAY get another tank, but what is there about the problem you don't understand?? Are you just going to wait until the population dies to fit the tank? What is your current plan to stop them from reproducing? I learned a valuable lesson when I was quite young - two stray dogs followed me home. Turned out both were PG and we soon had 17 dogs and very little money. For a while I didn't know if my parents were going to get rid of me or the dogs, but the dogs finally had to go and it wasn't nice and I still remember. As a result none of my kids - (all grown with kids of their own) ever had a dog or cat that could produce any litters, they were all neutered before they could even come on the place.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Smelly water has been tied to a bit of overcrowding and overfeeding over time in my experience. Things that have helped reduce this include water changes, as mentioned by others, and reduced feeding.
I was feeding too much and too often for a time early in my fishkeeping. I now feed much less and generally skip feeding a day or two a week.
I also like to have snails in all except for breeding tanks. Snails will not cure a smelly tank but are good for eating food in places that fish can not get to. The MTS snails are good at plowing thru the gravel and I feel this helps with reducing the buildup of stuff in the gravel itself.
I like to have live plants in my tanks.
I like to have a good amount of bubblers in each tank.
I have now gone to a reduced stocking density of fish over the years, but was able to keep tanks stocked at high densities successfully for a lot of years.
None of these measures will impact smelly tanks much if overfeeding is a big contributing factor.
My overstocked tank setups basically had to be broken down cleaned and set back up more often than my current setups do even with reduced feeding.
I smell the water often and have for many years. Water changes are the best short term help.
I was facing setup problems largely on my own for a few decades. A few trips away from my tanks without any feeding gave a clue over time. When I returned the tanks would often look and smell better than before I left. Reduced feeding also reduced the snail population over time.
My experience with smelly tanks may not reflect what is going on with with your setups, so keep checking things out for your self. Good luck.

 

[SlateSpider]

I think I solved the problem, now. I do 50% water changes, and am planting a couple of live plants in the tank. I am getting another tank, but i'm not sure how many gallons. I will put the babies in the new tank, and ask a couple of my friends if they want a couple babies. 12 mollies in a 10 gallon would make it WAY overcrowded! I will still be able to go see them, too! Anyone have any more questions or objections?

 

[alwaysadore]

i agree with skyjl47 get some mystery snails most fish leave them alone and the will HELP clean up the gravel, however they will not full clean it, for now get about 2-4 they practically take care of themselves, they will eat the food your fish are not eating, skip out on feeding once or twice a week, and do 20% water changes about 3 times a week.

 

[SlateSpider]

ok, that sounds like a plan! My tank is a bit over stocked, so I will just get 2 I guess.

 

[Hanna87]

So I see you now have a 55 gallon. I'm really interested to hear what your gonna put in it. So share please! Lol.

 

[SlateSpider]

Hamsters.

 

[Hanna87]

Why not use the 55 for your fish sence your already overstocked, and convert your 10 over to hampsters? Sounds like a good idea to me. Sorry I'm not a hamster person. You could always find parts for the 55 on Craigslist.

 

[SlateSpider]

That was my first plan (since we have another 10g that has been used for hamsters in the past), but my mom said to give them more room by just putting a Plexiglas divider in the middle, and having one hamster on each side. The 10g hamster tank can't be used for fish because it has a crack in it.

 

[Hanna87]

So sence one of the 10 gallons has a crack and you want to seperate them (thats the way I understand it at least) use the two 10 gallons for hamsters. I would still use the 55 for fish. Not trying to tell you what to do though.

 

[Kiara1125]

I have to agree with Hanna on this one. Hamsters are little turds and I hate them (no offense to you). It's so hard to come by a cheap fish tank and hamsters only need 10g for a couple, not 27.5 for 1 hamster. I would die and revive myself for a 55g tropical fish tank. I only used my 55g as a Goldfish tank cuz I had 3 Goldfish (still babies) in a 10g. They needed at least a 40g, so with my 55g, and regular maintanance, I can have 6 Fancy Goldfish in my tank. If you're obsessed with separating the hamsters, then keep one in each 10g and then you will have less problems with the 55g for fish.

 

[SlateSpider]

The golden rule of hamsters is "One Hamster to One Cage". Otherwise they could kill each other. I will talk to my mom about putting the hamsters in the 10g's and the fish in the 55g.

 

[Thyra]

There are golden rules for fish too - do not put mollies in a 10g tank and no more than 3 in a 15g tank.

 

[Hanna87]

How many hampsters do you want? I guess if it was me I'd be using some of that money to go out and buy a test kit for my fish. Sorry but that's just my opion.