Pewwww....water stinks!

[GrullaQuarters]

I posted here before about cloudy water. It still is. And now the water in my 75 stinks too....what to do? I've had this tank up and going for a year and a half, and never had this problem.....(except 'new tank syndrome' cloudiness back when I set it up.) Someone mentioned algae or bacteria bloom. I don't quite know what this means, or what I need to do about it. (Sorry!) The fish seem healthy and happy, I have been doing weekly water changes since this started (only two weeks ago)....I just did a 35% w/c on Sunday. Only thing I add to the water is Stress Coat. I'm not feeding any more or less than I normally do, and I vaccuum the gravel with my Python with each water change (not 100%, just spot cleaning mostly....about 50%).

I tested my water, and it is and has been the very same as it was when I filled the tank the first time, and after cycling was completed. The water is always the same as I'm sharing below. The water stays a steady 78 degrees. I run two filters on the back (Topfin filters....two for 40g tanks). I changed one filter's filters a week ago Sunday, and the other filter just this past Sunday....thinking maybe dirty filters is it...although I change each one about every 4 weeks.

Am I doing something wrong? There are no dead fish in the tank, there are only 6 in there....and they are all easy to keep track of.

Here's my parameters, and I really appreciate any input. I do get some brown algae from time to time, and have some green stuff in there too.....not tons, but some.

Please share any wisdom!
Angie

Nitrate-40
Nitrite-0
Hardness-25-50 (color is not much different between the two)
Alkalinity-300
PH- 8.0
Ammonia- 0

Thank you!

 

[Iron Man]

Wow....your fish load is very light, you vaccuum your gravel, you change your water regularly, and your water parameters are good. That's strange. The only thing I could come up with is an algae bloom. What color is the water?

I wouldn't know why you'd be having a bacterial bloom in good aged water. Do you have a lot of snails in your gravel where a possible die off could have occurred? Wait but then your ammonia levels would be thru the roof.

Are you vaccuuming your gravel all the way down to the bottom?

Wow I'm really stumped.

I noticed you use Stress Coat which has ingredients I don't think fish need. I think if fish needed aloe vera, for instance, it would be in their original natural environments. I make sure just to add only what is needed, like a nice dechlorinator/dechloraminator. But Stress Coat wouldn't cause that cloudiness that I know of.

Good luck with whatever it is.

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Thanks for your input! No snails! Wouldnt' know what to do with 'em if I had them! The water SEEMS clear...but looks like a greenish cloudiness....just a slightness in color perhaps. Yes, I vaccuum all the way to the bottom.....

I knew this would be the place I might get some ideas...

 

[annka5]

If you live somewhere with farmland near reservoir, could it be phosphates from fertilisers in your tap-water, which you wouldn't have tested for?

Or the food (high protein?) or some sort of aerosol spray / smoke / other fumes getting into your tank?

 

[Ethos]

I may be inexperienced compared to these guys, but whenever my water gets cloudy, I clean the tank, let it settle for a day, then I add 'Clear Water' by Jungle Tank Care.
It also deals with odors.

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Hmmm.... no smoke, no aerasol sprays.....same food I've always used......

We have our own well water here....just can't see how anything could have changed around here. We're out in the country....nearest farm is about a mile from here......I'm just stumped, and the smell of the water is just sickening sometimes....can't smell it OUTSIDE the tank, only when the lid is open for feeding...so must not be too bad.

I hope someone has ideas. Just what IS an aglae bloom?

 

[yvez9]

algea bloom is simply when algea takes over the water...

You have green water I believe, which is simply algea floating in water. Leave the lights off for a day or two and see if it clears. Keep doing water changes too.

Also have your water tested for phosphates as it could well be the cause of the problem. Is the tank getting any direct sunlight? If so, you should close the curtain or move the tank or something...

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Now my post didn't show up...grrrr

Would algae actually be visible in the water? Floating around in there, or the water just a greenish tint? Because this is just a slight greenish tint when you stand feet away from the tank, but looks clear.

Just started leaving the light off today....there isn't any 'direct' sunlight per se, but it is in a room with a larger window.... so natural light, yes, direct sunlight, no.

I hoped that this wasn't the issue, because this is the first it's happened....wouldn't it have happened before now? Not an option to find another feasable place to put this...I'd have to sell it over moving it somewhere else I think!

Hopefully leaving the light off with make an improvement...should I be doing daily w/c or keep up with my weekly? Not sure, never dealt with this before...

 

[red-devil0602]

is your tank in any direct sunlight, and does it have a current

 

[GrullaQuarters]

No DIRECT sunlight.....no.

There is movement in the water from both filters running, but nothing more.

 

[Iron Man]

Well its obvious you have green water...which is free floating algae. I had the same problem with my tank once and had never had it before....until I added an Eheim canister filter to the tank. I guess maybe it caused the nitrates to go up a little and that was all it took to trigger it....dunno. But once it starts it will take over your tank...at least mine did.

I had an african cichlid tank and couldn't pack the tank full of plants (besides I didn't have lighting for them back then) so I had to get some barley straw pads and put then in the Eheim canister filter. It took maybe 3 weeks at the most and my water was crystal clear after that. The barley straw slowly dissolves in the water and when it does the microscopic particles floating in the water kill the algae and keep new cells from developing. I don't know how it works but that's the best I know of it. I was just glad it works and I have kept an extra pad ever since. The funny thing is they are nontoxic to everything else and only kill the freefloating algae....not plants, fish, or invertebrates.

If you find you my want to use them after nothing else works, then you can find them at the local PetSmart or at petsolutions.com and I'm sure Big Al's, etc. may have them too.

 

[yvez9]

from what i read, Barley Straw competes with algea for the nutrients, so it would probably hurt plants too but nothing else, since all it does is absorb nutrients...

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Hmmm....I don't have any live plants in there, so maybe I could try this. I didn't turn the light on at all today, and will leave it off. I am also going to skip a day on feeding, will any of this maybe help?

I just don't understand why now......I do a partial w/c every 10 days, sometimes up to 14, I do keep the light on about....12-14 hours a day. Is this too much? I have had a brown algae problem often, where I just get it on the fake plants, and a little on the glass, and had read MORE light might help that....but maybe the MORE light caused my green stuff. However, I've had the light on this long for quite a long time...and not until now do I have a problem.

So an algae bloom...aside from a greenish haze in the water, would it also cause the water to smell like it does? It smells like something is dead when I open the top for feeding....but I KNOW there is NOTHING dead in there...I only have 6 fish in it...nothing else living (except algae...LOL)

I had been told before that my nitrates were high (40). This is just my water, because nitrates were the same when the tank was filled and let sit before cycling. Could the nitrates also cause this?

And why, after a year and a half, all of a sudden? Someone told me once real driftwood could help this too.....anyone agree with that?

Thanks for all the input here, this is really driving me nuts.

 

[annka5]

Not sure the alga would make the water smell really that bad, and to be honest, I'd have thought if it was a bacterial bloom caused by organic pollutants your fish would have died before the bacterial bloom anyway - just with the high level of organic pollution.

If your tap water is 40 nitrate then that could be that the phosphates are also high, as to me it does sound a bit like it could have agricultural run-off - well water could still be contaminated in same way as public mains water can. Can you get it tested?

Run-off could explain why after a year-and-a -half as it could be a chemical or fertilizer not used on land that often.

Is it an elderly water small, or something more sulpherous or rotten vegetables, or... v. dificult to describe a smell, i appreciate that!

 

[GrullaQuarters]

Smells like I'd be 100% sure there was a dead fish in there....but there is not! I have not had the light on in 48 hours....going to turn it on today, and do a w/c

The last w/c was last Sunday, 35% about. Would it be beneficial to do a larger w/c today? How much?

Wish I understood more about water chemistry...as far as nitrates, phosphates, etc.