Quarantine Tank - What Went Wrong?

[Ricester61]

Finally got a small Eclipse-3 system to use as a quarantine tank. Set it up on Friday. Put the biowheel into my main tank to gather up some bacteria. New fishies on Sunday.
Put the biowheel back in the eclipse and added a little water from the main tank for good measure.

By Monday evening, the quarantine tank stank so bad I had to move the new fish to the big tank. It smelled like garbage left out on a hot summer day - like rotting fruit or something.

What the heck did I do wrong?

 

[freddyk]

Is anything else in the tank in terms of decoration, substrate or livestock? How big is the Eclipse 3 and how many fish were being quarintined?

I keep my quarentine tank empty at all times, stored out of the way in a closet. When I need it it comes out, it's filled with water from the main aquarium, and a sponge filter kept in one of my tanks for this purpose is moved into it. Never fails.

 

[Ricester61]

Eclipse 3 = 3 gallon.

3 juvenile (1/2" maybe) panda cories and 2 small (1") skunk cories.

Added an old decoration from the stash - no plastic/silk plants, just a "cave" sort of thing. It's been dried out for 6 months now, don't think anything could've survived on it.

I had it on a kitchen counter. I wonder if heat from the oven made this happen?

My wife is convinced the teensy filter on the eclipse wasn't stirring the water up enough. It has a tiny (2" diameter by maybe 2" wide) biowheel, but the flow out of it is just a dribble.

Dunno. All of the cories are happy in the main tank though. Eating like pigs and playing in the bubble wall...

 

[blitztidus]

Skunk cories... hmmm... maybe it was them. LOL just kidding