What's that smell!!?

[fishfight]

I'm VERY new to this whole fish thing, but I have a 30 gal.(US) tank that I set up about a week ago, and there is a horrible smell coming from it. Of course it's a fish tank, and it's going to smell, but this is worse then my friends 30 gal., and my 10 gal., any suggestions on how to tame this? Is there an excessive amount of waste that can cause this? I have a silver cat shark, an albino clawed frog, two skirted tetras, and 2 angels. Is there an anti-smell fish I can buy?

 

[The Sandman]

If your using excessive amounts of carbon in your filter, that could be it!

 

[Opcn]

I'm not quite sure what the last poster meant, Is it a sulfer smell, AKA rotten Egg smell? that would be the result of anerobic decomposition, I think you are propably overfeeding and not vacuming thuroughly enought, also what kind of substrait do you have?

 

[a1wonder]

Also be sure to check under the hood and around the filters to make sure any mold is not growing on any of the comments. That is where my stinky smell came from. Thank goodness it is gone now.

 

[Morrgan]

Of course it's a fish tank, and it's going to smell...

Um, just as a sidenote, well-kept fish tanks don't smell. In general, smelly water usually means it's dirty. The only smelly thing about fishkeeping I can think of is the food.

 

[raygen]

I'm VERY new to this whole fish thing, but I have a 30 gal.(US) tank that I set up about a week ago, and there is a horrible smell coming from it. Of course it's a fish tank, and it's going to smell, but this is worse then my friends 30 gal., and my 10 gal., any suggestions on how to tame this? Is there an excessive amount of waste that can cause this? I have a silver cat shark, an albino clawed frog, two skirted tetras, and 2 angels. Is there an anti-smell fish I can buy?

has your tank been cycled cause in your post u say its been set up for a week?

 

[fishfight]

Of course it's a fish tank, and it's going to smell...

Um, just as a sidenote, well-kept fish tanks don't smell. In general, smelly water usually means it's dirty. The only smelly thing about fishkeeping I can think of is the food.

Um, well every fish tank I've ever seen in my life has had a smell to it. It's not rotten eggs, it's a normal fishy smell like my 10 gallon had, only stronger. I just thought it was because it's a bigger tank. I checked for mold...there is none. I have rocks on the bottom, not sand, and what is the recommended cleaning amount. Should I vacuum a little out(25%) and replace. Or would buying a pleco do something?

 

[LoachLover]

Of course it's a fish tank, and it's going to smell...

Um, just as a sidenote, well-kept fish tanks don't smell. In general, smelly water usually means it's dirty. The only smelly thing about fishkeeping I can think of is the food.

All tanks smell a little. If you put your head by the water and take a sniff you are going to smell something.

 

[pnyklr3]

My tanks (a 55) doesn't smell at all. My daughter's betta tank (1.5 gallon) had a natsy smell once, due to the fact that I had neglected to change the water a few times . Also, a jar (with the lid on) that I have snails in will have a sulfer smell after about a day of it sitting. Every time I have a bad smell, I need to change the water.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ahem, anyways, the smell is probably coming the substrate/rocks/gravel/sand whatever you have on the bottom of the tank; no matter how many water changes you do, the only way to clean the bottom is to physically move the substrate around with your hands stirring it thouroughly up and then do a water change/clean out the filters or gravel vac/syphon the bottom of the tank.

 

[nc_nutcase]

If the set up is a week old... nothing should smell.

Decaying food is very foul smelling and it is rather easy to get little pieces of flood stuck in weird places. I recently had a couple Cichlid pellets get stuck between two panes of glass and it reeked! Took me two days to find it though. It smelled like... what I call 'baby poop' although I've never changed a diaper so I really don't know what baby poop smells like... regardless it was awful.

 

[gadazobe]

Well kept tanks don't smell. Large well kept tanks may have a slight "earthy" smell to them, something like a garden after a huge downpour. Even new cycling tanks don't smell bad. If your tank has a strong "fishy" smell to it, then something is amiss. Old uneaten food that has decayed will make the water smell. Algae under the hood will also smell. Check for dead fish, a clogged filter, anything unusual.

 

[morgan]

If all is well there should be no unpleasant smell.When my tank smelt it was because (unknown to me) a small fish had got in the internal filter housing and was rotting. I always sniff the water when I feed the fish, as well as occasionally doing a proper test.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

am i the only one that thinks fish food smells good?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

am i the only one that thinks fish food smells good?

no. my fish agree with you.