Bad Egg Smell

[RossC]

My aquarium stinks, after some research it sounds like I've got bacteria in the substrate which is now a lot deeper than before. I'm guessing I need to be disturbing it regularly to get rid of the gases?

 

[CezzaXV]

It's a good idea to stir up the substrate every now and then.

You've not got apple snails, have you? I kept a dead apple snail in a bottle for a few days (to establish that it actually was dead). The smell was horrendous. Easily one of the worst things I've ever smelt.

 

[RossC]

It's a good idea to stir up the substrate every now and then.

You've not got apple snails, have you? I kept a dead apple snail in a bottle for a few days (to establish that it actually was dead). The smell was horrendous. Easily one of the worst things I've ever smelt.

Nope only a few pest snails lol

 

[RossC]

Ok so this is becoming a real problem, nearly everyday I'm stirring the gravel and its smelling sooooo bad this can't be healthy for me or the fish. I'm also getting white patches on my gravel. I've added carbon media to the filter and switched the UV on to try and kill bacteria and neutralize chemicals. I'm also regretfully going to have to tear my scape apart and remove a good amount of gravel to reduce the thickness. All my hard work down the pan

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Are you doing gravel vacs by sticking the syphon end right down into the bottom of the gravel and letting it suck all of the muck out? You just leave it in the one spot until the poo stops coming out and then move to the next space along ,etc etc.

Check out youtube for videos of how to do it if you're not sure.

 

[Gilli]

You need to be doing deep vacuuming when you do your weekly water change because its poor tank hygiene of uneaten food and poo left behind and building up thats causing it. Take everything (except rooted plants) out of the tank and vac until the water runs clean. Stir it up and turn it over and get right down to the bottom of the substrate. Cut back on feeding to avoid uneaten food build up.

 

[RossC]

I've cut the feeding already, I've took all plants out and reduced the gravel thickness by half, going to let the filter run with just gravel, water, stems and fish in there to get the waste out. There was quite a lot. I do vac but not deep due to it being so heavily planted. I need to rethink the layout so I can maintain it better. Feel so bad for the fish there was so much gas trapped in there

 

[FishFanatic04]

I get this with sand sometimes in the places where I have it banked up to 6 or 7 inches deep. I use a thin chopsticks and poke at it during water changes. The problem you are having is harder to handle because gravel allows the waste to become trapped, where sand becomes packed and nothing gets under the top layer.

 

[RossC]

It seems to have helped fix the issue now, the smell has totally gone. I've replanted some plants left others floating. I'll leave the light off for 24hr to de-stress the fish. Planting is going to be a real challenge now with the thinner gravel but the fish must come first. Tomorrow I'll resyphon the gravel just to get the last bit of waste out before I rescape it all.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Good luck bud!

 

[RossC]

Good luck bud!

Thanks

 

[RossC]

Got everything back in, here's the thread thats covering it. Photos of it finished, let me know what you think please

 

[LoachLover]

The tank looks very nice. I like your choice of rocks.

 

[RossC]

The tank looks very nice. I like your choice of rocks.

Thank you, I actually had 8 in there before the rescape, took 3 out now so I can access the substrate more.

 

[RossC]

Ok I'm getting pretty frustrated now, I've had to remove nearly all my wood and rocks as waste somehow is getting trapped underneath even though they're buried, I'm still getting that smell, not as bad but its still there and I keep getting patches of gravel turning white. I'm beginning to wonder whether its the gravels shape of size that's causing this as I never had a problem with the larger grain stuff. I'm doing deep gravel vacs and really cut down the feeding. What else could be causing this?