Stinky, cloudy water

S

stoopid

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May 15, 2003
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My water is becoming increasingly stinky and cloudy. I searched for dead guppies, but found none. I did a 3/4 water change yesterday, but within 3 hours it was back to the same cloudy, stinkyness. I bought some clearing stuff at walmart and won't know until this evening if it works (makes the water a strange tint of red, and the water still stinks). I spoke with my LFS and they thought the water change would solve it, otherwise they said it was a biological imbalance triggered by my stirring-up Sunday moving the decorations and disturbing too much of the gravel bed.

Did a search and found some suggestions (accu-clear)... looking for more explanation to 'why' this happened so I can avoid it in the future.
 
The water is stinky and cloudy because your having a bacterial bloom... I wouldn't add anything to your tank... just let the bio-filter balance itself out.... You may have stirred stuff up, or you may have started feeding your fish too much. But time will clear it up, just have patience :D
 
How frequently are you doing water changes, and do you clean the substrate at the same time? If the tank is smelly, you should consider doing more frequent water changes. Keep in mind--water changes are good--you could do one every day and not cause a problem.

The only time I can smell anything in my tank is when I am cleaning the filters, or the algae gets out of hand. Otherwise, there should not be an odor.
 
It was going well until Sunday, so I'm assuming it's just the stir up.

I usual siphon some of the gravel, and it's still a relatively new tank. The fish are happy, but I worry about the stink and cloudiness.
 
I'd worry too. Even when I stir everything up or clean the filters, all I get is an earthy kind of smell. I would strongly recommend siazable water changes with gravel vacuuming every few days until the smell and cloudiness go away. There shouldn't be so much stuff in your gravel that stirring it will cause this kind of problem, and I doubt if it will disappear on its own.
 
More troubleshooting with my LFS and we've finally concluded it's an algae type he's seen in his own tanks. We came to this conclusion based on how fast the water got cloudy after a 3/4 change (only 3 hours) and how the smell persists.

Just did another 3/4 water change and added a full dosage of algae destroyer (Simazine). In 2 days, another 3/4 change and more algae destroyer. I'll check back then.
 
The pink stuff was potassium permanganate, an oxidizer.

If your cloudy water looks pale green in a white coffee mug in the daylight, then yes, you have planktonic algae.

If you used Simazine in your aquarium, you removed all the plants first I hope. Follow the directions if you are using a flocculant. Is it alum?

Stirring up the substrate at intervals releases nutrients into the water column.

You are likely to be overfeeding. Try a "fast day" followed by three days on one day's worth of flakes and see if the water clears.
 
I agree with Wetman, if it is a bacterial bloom, starve the bloom. The three things that you can control that will feed the bloom are: fish food, fish waste and light.

Vacuum the gravel surface (but don't stir up the gravel) well, feed just what they can eat in four minutes (after a day or two fast) and even cut back on the amount of light the tank receives.
 
I've tried so many different things I have no idea which, or which combination have worked... :(

But the water's clear again :)

Still smells a little, but I can live with that...

I think it was an over feeding problem, I have put 4 new fish in and were still working on 'how much' I needed to feed them. After the fasting day it seemed to clear for good.
 
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