Dirty dishrag smell...

[obliviontrain]

I just set up a ten gallon tank this last weekend. Right now it houses a pleco and 5 dwarf puffers. The pH is 7.0, and I checked the ammonia and nitrite levels last night. The ammonia level was slightly high and I added Ammo Lock 2 as directed. The nitrite was inbetween 0.0 and 0.25. I keep the temperature between 78-80 degrees fahrenheit. Four of the puffers are eating frozen bloodworms twice daily and the other one, the runt, won't eat, just lays on the bottom of the tank, breathing heavily. I'm concerned about him, but mainly... I'm worried about the smell that's coming from the tank. It smells exactly like a dirty wet dishrag. This is my first time ever having an aquarium, so I just followed the instructions that came with the tank setup. How can I tell if the filter I have is doing it's job? And how can I correct the foul smell? Also, what can I do to correct the cloudiness of the water? I tried to season the tank before getting the puffers by putting four goldfish and my pleco in there.


Thanks much for any help,
-Lindsay

 

[Thomas A. Anderson]

Is the cloudiness a kind of whitish colour if so then this sounds like a bacterial bloom which is a good thing nd it should disipate.

Although if you only set up the tank last weekend I doubt it would have cycled yet and puffers need almost near perfect water quality as they are quite delicate (IMO)

What sort of Pleco do you have as some of them grow to such a size that will soon dwarf your 10 gallon tank.

As regards to the smell - sorry can't help you there but I'm sure someone will have an idea.

 

[obliviontrain]

The dishrag smell and cloudiness are both going away... the sickly puffer died but the other four are doing okay, a couple of them eat well, the other two just seem to nibble occasionally. I'm not sure what kind of pleco I have, I know it's a fairly common one with dark grey coloring and a few lighter grey spots. I think I saw somewhere that they grow up to 18" long and I HOPE that's not the case. My friend who knows a few things about fishkeeping said that it won't get big unless I get a bigger tank.


Thanks for your reply,
-Lindsay.

 

[cichlidmaster]

Lindsay,

Your friend was right....in a manner of speaking!!!!!!

Some fish WILL only grow according to the size of the tank provided them. They will also be sickly, not very colorful and soon die!!!!!!!

By not providing fish with appropriate tank space, you are in essence stunnting that fish's growth.It will not grow to it's full potential, be sickly, and possibly cause outbreaks of disease before eventually dieing!!

Sorry to be so blunt, but that's the truth of it. If you think there is a chance it is a pleco that can grow to a large size and you have no plans to get a bigger tank in the near future....please do yourself and the fish a favor and take it back to the shop where you got it from!!!

To be honest with you, IMO even some of the smaller plecos available will not work in a 10 gallon tank for long!! They require good water quality and good filtration due to the vast amounts of waste they produce. A 10 gallon tank just would not be able to handle the eventual load.

CM

 

[Camelogue]

B) btw you can use activated carbon in your filter it will help you get rid of the smell as it worked for me before... but I am not sure as I m also a beginner maybe chiclidmaster would have an idea about this...

 

[obliviontrain]

I was thinking about taking the pleco back and I will now. Do you have any suggestions as to what algae eater would be suitable for a ten gallon setup and the puffers? I would adore getting a bigger tank but I don't have the space and can't really afford it. Would it be a bad idea to buy more puffers, as well?

About activated carbon, I'll check it out.


Thanks,
-Lindsay

 

[angelphish]

Hi, I'm not real familiar with puffers, but, I was under the impression that they were a brackish water fish. If so your ph will be way too low for them. Maybe someone else here is better familiar with them.

 

[obliviontrain]

I don't know too much about them either, it's hard to find info on them, but I'm pretty sure with the dwarf puffers, they can be completely freshwater or a little brackish. I asked for the parameters of the tank I bought them out of at the fish store and they told me they keep the pH at 7.0, they were in the same tank as gouramis, so... they seem to be doing okay, they're eating bloodworms and nothing else(they won't eat krill and I put some ghost shrimp in there, but... the shrimp are bigger than they are, so I don't think they'll eat em like I want them to), but the ammonia level keeps going off the charts, I did a water change last weekend and it was fine for a couple days but now it's back up again... at 4.0... aren't they supposed to be dead by now, if it's really 4.0? The nitrite and pH levels are perfect, but the ammonia... I don't know what to do.

 

[CFC]

Are you using Ammo lock or a similar product?Products that "lock up"amonia dont remove it from the tank but just change it into a safe form so that it still shows as a high reading on the test kit without actually harming fish

 

[sgtbirch]

obliviontrain I am really suprised that your puffers are doing so well I would keep a very close eye on them as it sounds your tank is still not finished cycliying (cloudy water and smell) ammoinia and other things are showing up as a result. As a rule of thumb I never use and additives to a ank unless its an emergency and a water change makes no improvement. Only thing adding additives does is send the cycle in another direction. Just be very careful now and try and regulate the by water changes and youll be allright and your 2 other puffers appetite may increase. About the cat fish you have. 10 gallon is way too small for 80 pecent of plecos. You really dontneed an algae eater in a 10 gallon but you still can have a pleco. I own a nice growstar pleco L005 who is a carnivour that might also be a nice selection for you since he can go around and eat the left overs from your puffers helping your water quality. Or check out planet catfishes website. at planetcatfish.com