Driftwood SMELLS! Help!

BlackSunshine

Registered Member
Mar 22, 2009
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okay guys I am having issues with this.. I just finished moving around my aquarium and noticed that my driftwood smells like standing water.. what should i do? and do you think this is why my fish have started dying?? ugh.:rant2:

Laura
 
Tell us more about your tank and filtration, including how you treated the wood originally.
 
okay i got the wood from the lfs.. it is ment for fish tanks.. I soaked it in a tub for about 2wks and changed the water every couple of days.. I have had this piece in the aquarium (75g) for about 4-5mths.. I am running a wet/dry sump I do water changes about 1x a month.. I currently have 5 angels, a hand full of black tetras, 1 bristle nose, 3 loaches and 2 threadfin rainbows. also this is a planted aquarium and I don't have a co2 injection system. . I have lost about 3 tetras 1 bristle nose 2 corys and 2 angles.. the angels are about silver dollar size..
 
You should be doing water changes more times than once a month. They should be done about once a week.
 
Maybe your tank lacks water flow in that area allowing for a possible stagnation? If this is the case you can correct it by either moving your filtration around assuming it is adequate for your size tank and or adding a powerhead type device to increase water movement to the filter.
I am an advocate for over- filtering especially if you overstock or overfeed .

I would also up the water changes just in general practice to remove waste products produced by the fish that a filter can't totally remove.

If these things don't change the smell around the wood and/or the tank in general then I would take it out of my tank.
 
The water doesn't smell just the wood.. on the left corner where all the plumbing goes there are two heads that throw out water facing different directions..

ugh. another angel and 1 rainbow died last nite i am assuming :(
 
What does standing water smell like? If the driftwood has a sour or otherwise pungent odor (like rotten eggs, or cabbage, or sour milk), it's probably a good idea to get the wood out of the tank because that kind of smell comes from bacterial breakdown of organic matter, and that shouldn't be happening in properly cured driftwood (at least not to the extent that you would be able to smell it).
 
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