Fish water smells.....why?

[Cheese Specialist]

Your tank is hugely overstocked. I doubt you are going to be able to buy the right sized tank for them all, unless you go custom made.

As someone said, they get to 10" each. They get very fat as well. I have never seen such an overstocked tank, ever. Sorry.

What is the shark you speak of?

 

[Sky042]

RO water is "Reverse Osmosis" water. You can get it from your local grocer. I get Randall's Brand Drinking Water. Usually, you will pay about $.35 per gallon. Usually, the drinking stations set up along grocery stores have RO water. It tends to be very soft too compared to my local water, so check the chemistry before adding to make sure it is what you want it to be.

Unless you're setting up a black water tank of pure amazon tank you don't want to fill a tank with RO water as it DOESN"T contain the minerals needed and can cause PH instability.

Also yes change bio media less frequently and if you have a filter with two bags only change 1 at a time. However that tank is very overstocked and I don't think there will be enough filtration and water changes in the world you could do to keep from having problems.

 

[InvisibleKat]

What is the shark you speak of?

He's the biggest parrot fish in my tank, most aggressive too. >^-^<

RO water is "Reverse Osmosis" water. You can get it from your local grocer. I get Randall's Brand Drinking Water. Usually, you will pay about $.35 per gallon. Usually, the drinking stations set up along grocery stores have RO water. It tends to be very soft too compared to my local water, so check the chemistry before adding to make sure it is what you want it to be.

Ok....Thank You! >^-^<

 

[Becca]

Uhh...you mean tank water, right? I think Tropjunky did too.

Yes, I meant TANK water. Sorry, typo! LOL, I'll fix!

 

[cometcattle]

OMG. That's alot of fish.

How did you end up with so many?

 

[Sorrell]

I hate to ever have to suggest this, but you seriously need to find new homes for your fish. A 30gal is not big enough for even one parrot and your fish are going to end up with serious problems. How long has it been set up like this? How did you cycle the tank before adding fish? Over what time period were these fish added? How long after adding Angel did she die? I'm shocked that you have only lost one fish. All of these questions will be helpful if you could answer them, but the smell of the tank is really only a side effect of the immediate problem at hand.

I'm not trying to be rude or mean, but as Snuff said, you'd want a 55 for two.

It's obvious that you are concerned for the health of your fish because you have come to the forums for help, but sometimes the best thing that you can do is find homes for them where they can be properly housed.

If you are seriously considering investing in a larger tank, we would be happy to help you determine stocking levels for whatever size you decide on.

 

[Becca]

As everyone else has said...you're overstocked.

I had the same problem you're having now - the rotten egg smell. It was with a 10-Gallon I tried a few years ago. The problem was that I had my tank WAY overstocked and the hardware I had hooked up couldn't support the fish...mainly the filter.

Either get a bigger setup (though, form what I've heard, you'll be hardpressed to find a tank that will fit all of those fish) and/or give some back to your LFS. Most stores will give you a credit towards new fish, maybe you can get some that will be more compatible with your setup!

 

[InvisibleKat]

OMG. That's alot of fish.

How did you end up with so many?

Father's fault, 18 lucky# so 18 fishes.

How long has it been set up like this? How did you cycle the tank before adding fish? Over what time period were these fish added? How long after adding Angel did she die? I'm shocked that you have only lost one fish. All of these questions will be helpful if you could answer them, but the smell of the tank is really only a side effect of the immediate problem at hand.

The set up has been like this for I think 2 or 3 years. I had Angel for about 3 years. At first my father took care of everything until he got lazy I took over (about a year ago). I'll consider everyone's advice, I'll find them new homes and maybe keep the smaller ones or the ones that stop growing. (I don't know if I'll be able to let go of them but I'll try).

 

[Sorrell]

If they aren't stunted already, they will be. In three years you should have really good size fish. The problem with stunting is that the internal organs continue to grow, but the body doesn't. You end up with miserable fish that die early deaths.

 

[Tropjunky]

don't cange ur bio media! bio media is the stuff that keeps ur tank relitivly clean (chemistry wies anyway).
problems can take a lot of time to stort out so ur gonna have to stick it out.
do this:
1)change ur water every 2 weeks about 25% or 10% every week
2) wash ur sponge in take water 9just give it a couple good squeezzes every 2 weeks
3) use RO water and not tap RO water is better thhan tap but u doo need to add minerals to it (it replaces the importaint ones that were lost in the proces)
4) change bio media half at a time and ONLY do this every 1-2years.
5) TRY NOT 2 USE AS MANY CHEMICALS IN UR TANK UR FISH WILL THANK U 4 IT
6) Use active carbon or if ur an american charcol.

THIS WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEMS STRAIGHT AWAY BUT GOOD MAINTENANCE WILL HELP AND IT'S THE BEST METHOD FOR LONG TERM STABILITY IN UR TANK

Thanks for your advice I'll give it a try. (What's "RO water"? What type of minerals should I add?) >^-^<

RO Water is pure water and ur lfs should beable to supply u some and u should use something like re-mineral or RO Right