# My fish/tank smells.. its VERY bad



## GSteg

Is it normal for the tank or the fish to smell? I just cleaned out the tank again, but it still has that distinct bitter/sour smell to it. It is annoying because everyone that comes into my house comments on how bad it smells. This is definitely not good and will force me to get rid of them, which I don't want to.









Does anyone have the same problem? If so, how did you guys get rid of it? I do not want to buy some spray or fragrance (spelling?) as it will only cover up the odor. I need something that will eliminate odor. Let me know. Thanks!!


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## fury

do you use carbon in your filter ? did you cycle ? there could be something rotting in the tank or in the filter....How often do you do water changes ?


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## AKSkirmish

ionizer should take care of it.


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## deezdrama

make sure your tank is cycled


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## deezdrama

do you vacuum the grave when doing water changes?


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## dutchfrompredator

check for decaying crud you missed like hidden pieces of food, and carbon added to your filtration really inhales some of the odor. i really only get a fishy smell with my shoal and that's when the old carbon is ready for a change. also, could it be mildew or anything. have you gotten anything wet while cleaning it that has been allowed to fester under or behind your equipment like rags or carpet. mildew really gets to smelling like ammonia after a while.


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## andiruleu

maybe its ur cover.. maybe dried out water got on your tank cover which caused it to smell.. my tank cover smells really bad.. im just lazy to clean it haha


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## deezdrama

Your fish are dirty and need an imediate bath. LOL j/k sometimes i get that smell when a water change is badly needed and carbon will definatelly also help, just make sure you get all the nasty crap vacuumed out of the gravel and out of hidden places. Ceck your filter media too- sometimes they stink when there real dirty


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## deezdrama

Also if your tank is new or recentlly set up just remember - you can never do too many water changes if your unsure, excpesially if your tank is not cycled, I did a small 25% waterchange daily for a month when i got my first tank just to be safe untill it cycled- but make sure you use water conditioner when making water changes


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## Grosse Gurke

My experienced is that a cycled tank doesnt smell. I would say that your tank is not cycled yet. I have 750 gallons of tanks in one room and there is no smell....and I have never used carbon.


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## fishofury

Grosse Gurke said:


> My experienced is that a cycled tank doesnt smell. I would say that your tank is not cycled yet. I have 750 gallons of tanks in one room and there is no smell....and I have never used carbon.
> [snapback]1184166[/snapback]​


I absolutely agree with Grosse. Your tank is probably not cycled. I have over 400 gallons in my living room and it doesn't smell one bit. 
I don't know what you feed your Ps, but if you feed it live foods, you may want to check on your floor, behind your tank or inside the stand for a rotting feeder. I remember when I had exos in my tank and one of them jumped out, but I thought my Ps ate it so I didn't even think twice about it and you wouldn't believe the funk that this little 2" exo was putting out. This little bastard made my living room smell like busted ass for a few weeks








I found it when I was cleaning my sump. A shribbled, dried up exo behind my wet dry.

I put the exo in a hospital tank and I added some melafix and some salt and it healed him right up. He started swimming around and eating within a few hours and I hope you know I'm just joking.









On a serious note, look around your tank and you may find something.


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## mashunter18

Moved to water chemistry.....


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## theanimedude

have alot of air going on in there, it'll clear that up, i remember when i was a dumb f*ck, i had no air pump and i kept my tank closed, and it stank like there was no tommorrow. and i only used carbon filter, once i started airing that thing out with air pumps and all, it started to go away. so try that!


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## GlassblowRBPown

its a fish tank, if your sensitive to smell, your prolly gonna smell it.
i gotta mad cycled 75G with 4 small pygos and an oscar. i got an xp3 and an emp 400. i do water changes just about every other day, and still get whiffs of fish goodness.


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## DepH

My tank smelled _real_ bad sometimes. The reason was just that I hadn't cleaned the sand/gravel enough. Their sh*t smells like sh*t!


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## GSteg

I cleaned the gravel and all that junk. There are no live plants or other fishes in there, just my reds. I thought it might be the location, so I moved the tank from the living room to the garage and it still smells.

My filter already has carbon.

I will try to cycle though.


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## fishofury

GSteg said:


> I cleaned the gravel and all that junk. There are no live plants or other fishes in there, just my reds. I thought it might be the location, so I moved the tank from the living room to the garage and it still smells.
> 
> My filter already has carbon.
> 
> *I will try to cycle though.*
> [snapback]1184914[/snapback]​


I'm assuming that you don't know how to cycle your tank and in fact your tank has not had a chance to finish cycling. From your first post on July 6 you were trying to set up your tank. In two months, your tank should have fully cycled, but I'm guessing that you probably changed the filter cartridge and replaced them with new ones. That would have caused your tank to re-cycle because you got rid of your bacteria colony. I didn't know about cycling when I first got into the hobby, but I learned the hard way. I lost all my natts putting them through it.

Read this: Cycling

Also, IMO carbon is not needed unless you are trying to remove meds, tannins, chemicals...etc. I have not used carbon in years. Its a waste of money to actually use it on a regular basis.


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## doctorvtec

At this point to help you more, the following bits of information would be very helpful:

Tank Size
Amount and Size of fish
Filtration
Aerating equipment
Water changing schedule.
Parameter (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate)

This will give us a better idea of what is going on, and assist us in assisting you.


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## Joga Bonito

hey doc, i have the same problem, can u help me

on tuesday night my reds must of killed my pleco, so in the morning i took out his body and the water did not smell. bud when i got home my tank smelled really bad, so i did a water change but it still smells bad.


doctorvtec said:


> At this point to help you more, the following bits of information would be very helpful:
> 
> Tank Size
> Amount and Size of fish
> Filtration
> Aerating equipment
> Water changing schedule.
> Parameter (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate)
> 
> This will give us a better idea of what is going on, and assist us in assisting you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [snapback]1185175[/snapback]​


Tank Size 60 gallon
Amount and Size of fish 3 reds 8" - 9"
Filtration 1 ac500 and a tetra filter
Aerating equipment 1 powerhead
Water changing schedule. once every friday
Parameter (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate) every thing is good, tank has been cycled for 6 months.


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## doctorvtec

henry 79 said:


> Tank Size 60 gallon
> Amount and Size of fish 3 reds 8" - 9"
> Filtration 1 ac500 and a tetra filter
> Aerating equipment 1 powerhead
> Water changing schedule. once every friday
> Parameter (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate) every thing is good, tank has been cycled for 6 months.
> [snapback]1185199[/snapback]​


How much of a change are you doing, and what do your nitrates look like before and after the change?

With that many large fish, in that size tank, it may be a good idea to do more smaller water changes. Like say 25% 2-3 times a week.


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## Joga Bonito

doctorvtec said:


> henry 79 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Tank Size 60 gallon
> Amount and Size of fish 3 reds 8" - 9"
> Filtration 1 ac500 and a tetra filter
> Aerating equipment 1 powerhead
> Water changing schedule. once every friday
> Parameter (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate) every thing is good, tank has been cycled for 6 months.
> [snapback]1185199[/snapback]​
> 
> 
> 
> How much of a change are you doing, and what do your nitrates look like before and after the change?
> 
> With that many large fish, in that size tank, it may be a good idea to do more smaller water changes. Like say 25% 2-3 times a week.
> [snapback]1185207[/snapback]​
Click to expand...

see the problem is that my water has never smelled like that, until they killed the the pleco.

i will test my water right now

With that many large fish, in that size tank, it may be a good idea to do more smaller water changes. Like say 25% 2-3 times a week.
okay, i quess i will have to do that then


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## Joga Bonito

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0 
Nitrate: 20+
PH: 7.6


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## doctorvtec

A good rule of thumb that I go by is that if your nitrates are dropping below 20 ppm after a 25% water change, then your water changing schedule is decent. I like for mine to be 10 ppm after a change, and never rise higher than 20 ppm.

Do a good gravel vac to be sure theres nothing rotting in there as well. You can also try cleaning the underside of your hood as well.


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## Joga Bonito

doctorvtec said:


> A good rule of thumb that I go by is that if your nitrates are dropping below 20 ppm after a 25% water change, then your water changing schedule is decent. I like for mine to be 10 ppm after a change, and never rise higher than 20 ppm.
> 
> Do a good gravel vac to be sure theres nothing rotting in there as well. You can also try cleaning the underside of your hood as well.
> [snapback]1185246[/snapback]​


OKAY, thanks Doc


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