My fish tank smells horrible...

jpigford

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Jan 1, 2006
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Denver, CO
www.sabotagemedia.com
I'm not sure if this is normal, but my fish tank and the supplies (like the net) smell horrible. The tank is only 5 days old and it smells up the entire room. Is this normal? Is there anyway to fix it? Air freshener doesn't seem to do the trick...sort of masks but doesn't get rid of the smell.
 
Do you use carbon in the filter? That should remove a lot of the odor.

It really shouldnt be smelling in only 5 days though.
 
here is a resent thread that mentions a number of possible reasons for a smelly tank.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65257&highlight=earthy+smell


I know that some people also complain about a bad smell from ammonmia during cycling, if this is your problem it should go away once the new tank is established


PS: I would be careful useing air freshener around the tank, I don't like to spray any household chemicals above or around a fish tank or it's equipment.
 
jpigford said:
I just did an ammonia test and it's at around 2.0...I'm guessing I need to get something to level that off?


You don't have fish in there do you? You must have some biological activity for it to cycle, I hope at least you don't have fish you care about keeping alive for very long... Going through a cycle will hurt your fish. For more info research cycling...

Product like "Ammo Lock" can help for ammonia. I'd recommend "Bio Spira" to cycle the tank prior to adding fish.
 
graphicdesign_r said:
You don't have fish in there do you? You must have some biological activity for it to cycle, I hope at least you don't have fish you care about keeping alive for very long... Going through a cycle will hurt your fish. For more info research cycling...

Product like "Ammo Lock" can help for ammonia. I'd recommend "Bio Spira" to cycle the tank prior to adding fish.
I actually have 6 fish and a snail in there.
 
You need to research some of the basics of fishkeeping I think. Let me guess, you got this tank for christmas and set it up and added fish the same day?

Let's at least get you some good advice for now. What kind of fish are in your tank? How big is it?

As you are cycling with fish you need to learn more about "fishy cycling" (going through a cycle with fish in the tank) I don't do it personally so I can't speak from experience. I like to cycle a tank before adding fish... There are quite a few threads and articles which address the subject, for those of us giving advice here, let's at least make sure your tank has been set up with a successful bioload, otherwise you're just going to have more problems down the road.
 
graphicdesign_r said:
You need to research some of the basics of fishkeeping I think. Let me guess, you got this tank for christmas and set it up and added fish the same day?

Let's at least get you some good advice for now. What kind of fish are in your tank? How big is it?

As you are cycling with fish you need to learn more about "fishy cycling" (going through a cycle with fish in the tank) I don't do it personally so I can't speak from experience. I like to cycle a tank before adding fish... There are quite a few threads and articles which address the subject, for those of us giving advice here, let's at least make sure your tank has been set up with a successful bioload, otherwise you're just going to have more problems down the road.
I actually got the tank setup and added fish 48 hours later.

It's a 10 gallon tank. It has the following fish:
2 - Mollys
3 - Zebra Danios
1 - Snail
1 - I don't remember. It's orange with a black tail..about the size of the mollys.
 
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