New Tank Smells After 5 Days

[CSI_Nikki]

"I thought you needed a much bigger tank than you have to house clown loach?" - Thats weird, since a friend of mine had a 10gals with 2 clwon loaches and a few other small fish and they lived for like 2 and a half years but he had to take the tank down when he moved and the fish didn't survive the move...

"You could see if the shop will take back the clown loach?" - After I seen this I called up there and they said they won't take fish back unless they are dead or somethings wrong with them... not just 'because I didn't research good enough' idk, that whole response of theirs kind of p***ed me off.

"Is the water looking slightly misty at all?" - A little bit, but it clears up within hours. It's kind of werid

"get yourself to a descent small shop , dedicated to fish and aquariums" - I'll see what I can do, but if I remember right the only fish shop around is atleast a hour and a half drive and with how many times i've been going back and forth from the pet store and gas prices today... I might ask my friend if she knows of any fish stores closer....


"get a water testing kit asap that tests for ammonia , nitrites , nitrates and ph" - I'll be sure to get one when I'm out today


Thanks for all your help, I'll keep posting updates and hopefully I can get this all cleared up.

 

[Fishy412]

yeah never listen to petsmart again. i went in yesterday looking for sand and when i asked the guy where the sand was he asked me why i wanted sand in a freshwater tank

 

[chishnfips]

hi there,

In response to the misty tank question nikki, thats a sign of a bacterial bloom, I think, therefore not a properly cycled tank, stress zyme boost the colony of beneficial bacteria in your filter, it would be a good idea to get some if you dont have it already.

 

[Nevernormalalwayscrazy]

You will not get rid of the smell or the milky/funny water until your tank cycled. Hang in there, it will take a few weeks. Do 25% water changes (you have to take water out, you can not just add water) once a week to help keep your levels down, Whatever you do, do not change all the water or you will have to start the cycle all over. Also If you keep larger fish in a smaller tank it will stunt there growth and they will not live as long. If you got them from petsmart, petco, they should take them back and give you credit but if they don't you may just have to give it away later (I am guessing it is still small). If after 4 weeks your tank still smells you are overstocked.

 

[CSI_Nikki]

I aleady have been using the Stress Zyam stuff...

"You will not get rid of the smell or the milky/funny water until your tank cycled. Hang in there, it will take a few weeks." - Lovely. A few weeks. I know that I can try to deal with the smell for a few weeks but I'm not so sure if my "roommates" can.

How long does it take most of the time for the smell to go away and the tank to cycle?

UPDATE: I just found my orange and black swordtail dead under a rock in the tank... I'm gonna take him up to the pet store and get a credit and while I'm there I'll ask about them taking the clown loache back... though they already said no on the phone, but I'll try again...

 

[Neal]

Do you know that a clown loach is suppose to live over 15 years? And they can get as big as one foot, some people say a fish only grows to the size of the tank, infact it doesn't. It's body stops growing but it's organs and everything inside it doesn't, therefore shortening the life span of the fish and probably putting it through alot of pain. Sorry if you feel we are complaining about you, we aren't. We are just concerned about your fish

Neal

 

[CSI_Nikki]

I understand that you are concerned about my fish. Like I said, I'm going to try and take him back to the store tomorrow, but I'm not sure what to do if they say no (and they told me no on the phone, but I thought I'd talk to the manager in person). Tomorrow is the soonest I can talk to the manager. I'll yet you guys know what happens after I talk to her.

 

[Nevernormalalwayscrazy]

if they will not take him back, you can try finding someone in your area to take him, ask the pet store if they know of anyone or craigslist.

 

[CSI_Nikki]

Alright. I'll see what I can do about that.

 

[chishnfips]

Do you know that a clown loach is suppose to live over 15 years? And they can get as big as one foot, some people say a fish only grows to the size of the tank, infact it doesn't. It's body stops growing but it's organs and everything inside it doesn't, therefore shortening the life span of the fish and probably putting it through alot of pain. Sorry if you feel we are complaining about you, we aren't. We are just concerned about your fish

Neal

Neal how certain are you aboiut this, Personally I think its a bit of a myth about the organs continuing to grow. There have debates about it in the past. I cant see how that happens.

But hey if I am wrong, fair play.

 

[Neal]

Well, put it this way, a fish cannot live happily in these conditions and it does shorten their life spans. I'm not sure about what I said but I have heard it quite alot on this forum, and I personally believe in it.

Neal

 

[chishnfips]

Hi neale I am in agreement with you about the conditions of course.

Just not entirely sure about the organ business thats all.

 

[Fishy412]

Hi neale I am in agreement with you about the conditions of course.

Just not entirely sure about the organ business thats all.

it would be hard to tell if that was happening. luckily though we dont need to know if that happens. we do know that it shortens their life and stunts their growth. thats bad enough where you can tell someone its not healthy

 

[CSI_Nikki]

Just so everyone knows, I am going to go talk to the manager at PetSmart about taking the fish back this afternoon when I'm on my break. I'll be sure to let you know the out come.

Lets not get anyone upset about this, I didn't know that a clown loach need such a big tank and how big one gets, there for it was, yet again a mistake and again, I didn't know at the time. I'll make sure its taken care of.

idk, maybe I'm just not cut out of this whole fish tank thing.... *sad sigh*

-Nikki

 

[Nevernormalalwayscrazy]

Lets not get anyone upset about this, I didn't know that a clown loach need such a big tank and how big one gets, there for it was, yet again a mistake and again, I didn't know at the time. I'll make sure its taken care of.

idk, maybe I'm just not cut out of this whole fish tank thing.... *sad sigh*

-Nikki

Everyone makes mistakes, I put a catfish (that get very large) in my 5 gal tank. In about a month it went from 1in to over 3 inches , I ended up having to give him away along with half my fish because I had overstocked. If you get passed the cycle and stocking isssues you will be fine.