# Water stinks after feeding Tilapia



## robert69

Hello all. Lately, my tank has started to stink after feeding Tilapia. The smell gets very strong within hours after the feeding. Without asking me what my water parameters are, does anyone know why this occurs from past experience?

Thanks


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## Piranha_man

Can you post your water parameters?

Just kidding... is there possibly any uneaten food that's going unnoticed?


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## Rough996

Piranha_man said:


> Can you post your water parameters?
> 
> Just kidding... is there possibly any uneaten food that's going unnoticed?


HAHAHAHA... It could be that you're leaving it in long enough to decay too much. The water breaks down the fish meat faster, so you really don't want to leave any uneaten portions in there longer than an hour or two. When my rhom was recovering from an illness and injury, he wasn't eating, but I would leave the tilapia in there over night on occassion to entice him. My tank still never developed an odor as you described, but I do a 25% water change ever 2 days, so going back to P_Man's first question and the one thing that you don't want to hear, it might be in the water parameters. ammonia has a strong smell.


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## NegativeSpin

Try nuking the tilapia in the microwave long enough to kill whatever microbes might be living on it before feeding to your fish. There are some strains of bacteria that cause odors that can make a goat puke.


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## Piranha Dan

I like to give my Reds really big pieces of Tilapia and watch them gang up and shred it. Fun to watch, but in the process they always leave a few scraps floating around. If I miss one of those scraps I get the exact same smell you're describing. Clean the tank really well after feeding, even a piece the size of your fingernail will stink up the tank.


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## robert69

Thanks to all for your replies. There is usually no food left over. The piece of Tilapia is completely eaten before it has a chance to hit the bottom of the tank. So, I know it is definitely not left over food. Any other causes?


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## need_redz

Well why don't you post your params you dink, that could obviously help.


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## Soul Assassin

need_redz said:


> Well why don't you post your params you dink, that could obviously help.










bullseye!!!!!!!!!!


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## robert69

TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ASKED ABOUT MY WATER PARAMETERS:

I was looking to hear from people who have had this problem before or ACTUALLY knows what causes this. Does it really matter what my water parameters are???? Either you know why tank water gets stinky after feeding or you don't. I don't mean to sound like an a$$hole, but people are always asking what the water parameters are. And yes, I do agree they are very important to the health of our fish. But sometimes I am just looking for a simple response i.e. "your tank stinks after feeding because Tilapia that is thawed too quickly causes it", etc, etc, etc. Or someone who actually knows what they are talking about may say "typically a tank stinks when blah, blah, blah....." Here are my water parameters:

Ammonia-0 ppm
Nitrite-0 ppm 
nitrate- around 20 ppm

Now that I have posted my water parameters, does it truly make a difference?? Is there something magical about the numbers that is going to help you come to a conclusion that you couldn't come to before? Please, please, please, someone who knows what causes this stinky reaction in my tank, let me know. From past experience, what causes this?

Thanks


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## need_redz

Well we don't know how much you know, the params could help thats why I asked. You could have made this alot less stressful for youself and just posted them in the first place smart ass. Anyways did you do any BIG water changes lately?


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## robert69

There is no need for you to call me a smart ass. I didn't attack you, so show me the same respect! Now that I posted my water parameters, is there something different(productive) you have to add?


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## FEEFA

robert69 said:


> Thanks to all for your replies. There is usually no food left over. The piece of Tilapia is completely eaten before it has a chance to hit the bottom of the tank. So, I know it is definitely not left over food. Any other causes?


 There will always be dust from feeding left behind and IMO that could be the cause of the smell.


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## need_redz

robert69 said:


> There is no need for you to call me a smart ass. I didn't attack you, so show me the same respect! Now that I posted my water parameters, is there something different(productive) you have to add?


let me ask you the same question for the second time...DID YOU DO ANY BIG WATER CHANGES.


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## Piranha Dan

Jeeze take it easy on the guy.
Robert, the reason we ask for water params so often is that whatever problems someone is having can usually be linked to water quality (especially smelly water). Your's look good though, so it's not that.
How stinky is stinky? Are we talking you can smell it when you walk in the room or just when you're over the tank? I remembered your post when feeding my Reds last night and deliberately stuck my nose right by the water and did notice a slight fish odor, so I guess even if you clean up after them real good it can still smell a little bit. I couldn't detect anything after closing the tank top though.


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## robert69

It is a very strong smell that goes thru the entire house. It lasts usually overnite then the smell is gone. Again, I understand the importance of good water parameters. Someone who really knows why the smell occurs would have been able to tell me so. They would have been able to say that either my nitrates or nitrites, ammonia levels are off, etc without asking for my water parameters. In other words, I was looking for someone who had this problem in the past and could easily tell me why they had the same issue and how they resolved it. As you can tell, posting my water parameters has not helped come up with a solution.....


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## need_redz

.


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## need_redz

You're worse then a woman on perks and caffeine!
Stop crying about all this...oh params this params that all I want to do is cry about people asking me for my params...
Start reading the info that could help resolve your problem, NOW FOR THE 3RD f*cking TIME, DID YOU DO ANY BIG WATER CHANGES LATELY?


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## Brian5150

This is strange. Ive never had this problem with the water smelling that bad.
Have you washed your upper lip recently? LOL


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## OneEyedPiranhaGuy

Maybe the smell he is talking about is the smell of his fish digesting/farting/pooping several hours after he feeds them. I know that everytime I feed my fish, several hours later I can smell their gas, as if they had digested the food and already pooped into the water/farted.


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## Rough996

OneEyedPiranhaGuy said:


> Maybe the smell he is talking about is the smell of his fish digesting/farting/pooping several hours after he feeds them. I know that everytime I feed my fish, several hours later I can smell their gas, as if they had digested the food and already pooped into the water/farted.


I believe that is officially the first reporting of somebody smelling a fish fart.







First I'VE heard of, anyway.


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## robert69

I won't rule that out haha!


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## Piranha_man

OneEyedPiranhaGuy said:


> Maybe the smell he is talking about is the smell of his fish digesting/farting/pooping several hours after he feeds them. I know that everytime I feed my fish, several hours later I can smell their gas, as if they had digested the food and already pooped into the water/farted.










Dude, that totally is classic.


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer

Brian5150 said:


> This is strange. Ive never had this problem with the water smelling that bad.
> Have you washed your upper lip recently? LOL


^
















There's probably something rotting somewhere, maybe even something in one of your filters try cleaning them out . I've never had a smelly tank before and I've let a few get pretty dirty. They all have like a little earthy smell to them if you put your nose right up to the water but that's it, i cant imagine having a tank stinking up the whole house.


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## robert69

I have double and triple checked the filter and underneath all the rocks, plants, etc. There is no left over food rotting. If there was rotting food in the tank or the filters, the smell would be present all day/night. The smell only occurs within hours after feeding and remains for 24 hours, then goes away.


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## NegativeSpin

Try a different source of tilapia or replace it with catfish or something else. After that finding out the source of the smell from the old source becomes academic if there is no longer an odor. Out of curiosity, could you describe the odor?


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## Piranha_man

Yeah... since it's such an enigma... it appears as though the most logical answer might be to just stop feeding tilapia.


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## robert69

I buy my Tilapia from my local grocery store. It is frozen in individual packets. Each bag consists of 5 individual packets. It's nice and easy. Just cut the packet open, rinse off the Tilapia and drop in the tank. I have consistently used this same brand of Tilapia. I just started having this issue with the last two bags purchased. Not sure how to describe the smell except to say it is very foul, like something has died. It reminds me of the time when a mouse died inside one of the walls of my house and it rotted for a few weeks. I am going to stop feeding Tilapia for awhile and see what happens. Thanks to all of you who provided constructive feedback, especially the fish farting comment


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## nataz

Whats your tank temp? I get a smell once in awhile and noticed it usually when my temp on my tank is in the 80's. I can't say for sure what foods I feed before the smell, but it doesn't last long thou. I think I only notice it in the summer when my basement gets hot. I will see if I notice this week when I feed mine Tilapia.


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## Piranha Dan

robert69 said:


> I have consistently used this same brand of Tilapia. I just started having this issue with the last two bags purchased.


I would throw those bags out and go buy new ones. Sounds like you got a bad batch of fish. You could always eat it yourself then sue the sh*t out of the store when you get sick too







j/k


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## roccov12345

nataz said:


> Whats your tank temp? I get a smell once in awhile and noticed it usually when my temp on my tank is in the 80's. I can't say for sure what foods I feed before the smell, but it doesn't last long thou. I think I only notice it in the summer when my basement gets hot. I will see if I notice this week when I feed mine Tilapia.


I second this quote....I had been feeding mine tilapia for a while and when the tank temp was 80 and over I did get the wretched smell, like someone took a sh*t in my living room. The fix was lower the temp down to 78 and do a thorough gravel vacuuming.......


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## Rough996

I feed tilapia almost exclusively. My tank temp is currently at 85 degrees and I feed daily. Because my rhom has been battling HITH, his appetite has been low, so I've actually left half-dollar sized pieces of tilapia through the night in my tank... I STILL DON'T GET THE SMELL that's been described. In fact, I never get ANY smell... if the tilapia has been in the water for 12+ hours, it might have a "dead" smell when I remove it, but I don't smell ANYTHING emanating from the water, itself.

IMO, it's in your filters. If you have a means of maintaining your beneficial bacteria (bio wheels, bio balls, ceramic, what EVER), go ahead and replace them then see if the smell continues. If that doesn't work, clean your entire house.







... I mean, I just don't get it.


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## roccov12345

The tank size may have something to do with the concentration of decaying foods. How large is the tank? The tank I had that was producing the smell was a 55......


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## jamesw

what i would do is stop completely with the tilapia. feed them something that does not cause a smell and then do a series of four 25% water changes over however longer period u want which will mean 100% of the water that contained the smell in night after feeding would in theory been cleaned out. Then buy another packet of the tilapia and see how it goes.?


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