help with my smell in my fish tank?

Question

my fish tank has this horrorble smell in my fish tank that smells like trash
-no its not growing algae (i dont know if algae smell or not)
-no i do not over feed
-no i did put too much fish in fishtank
-yes i do water change monthly
i need help with which product i should buy to remove smell, please help =(

Answer 1

Okay, do NOT empty all your water. There are much easier ways to get the small out.
Do NOT opt for an undergravel filter (UG). They are inefficient. The story goes that they pull all the excess food and waste into the gravel where it all biodegrades. Doesn't work that way, there is usually too much waste for a UG filter to handle, and more often than not, the waste just piles up into the gravel. And because many people with UGs think they never have to clean their gravel, they don't realize what is happening until all their fish die or their water just exploded which bacteria. It's like continuing to throw food on the ground in your backyard. Yes, it'll rot and biodegrade, but not faster than you can keep piling food onto it.
Do NOT turn your filter off at night. Filters should run 24/7.
Do NOT use vinegar or bleach on your tank. If you must clean anything, hot tap water should more than suffice.

Anyway, first of all, get a better filter, and a hang off the back filter (HOB). Aqua Clear is a good brand, so is Penguin. I don't know how big your tank is, but get a filter that's rated for 20 gallons MORE than your tank size. So if you have a 20 gallon tank, get a filter for 40 gallons. I do this on all my tanks. You can't overfilter.

Do WEEKLY water changes. You can get away with monthly water changes if you tank is WAY over stocked, but if you have a reasonable-to-high level of fish, you need to change the water weekly. Change 20% or so of the water every week. (Do water changes once every couple days till the smell goes away)

Use a GRAVEL VACUUM to clean the gunk out of the gravel. That will suck up all excess food and waste and discard it, instead letting it rot in the gravel.

Overfeeding and overstocking are easy things to do if you don't know any better, or if you just listen to the petstores (petstores will tell you that you can put bala sharks in a 30 gallon tank, when they need over 100 gallons.) What do you have for fish in your tank? Goldfish, for example, need 20 gallons each. Common pleccos need 30 gallons. Those are the biggest waste producers.
Most tetras need 1.5-2 gallons each, and bigger fish need comparatively more room. When your fish get to over 3 inches, they will need 2-4 gallons of water per inch (including fins) - now, that is a very rough guide, you should research each of your fish to find exactly what they need.
And of course, you can cut back on feeding. I don't know how much you feed now, but one two-minute feeding per day will suffice.

Something you can add is an airstone (and an air pump)... It won't make the water cleaner, but if you have oxygenation / stale water issues, it will help with that.

One last question - do you have live plants in your tank? In my experience, rotting bits of plant leaves and roots are the worst for stinking up a tank. If you do have live plants, take them out, prune them, and replant them after taking out 20-30% of the water (uprooting plants causes all sorts of dirt to be kicked up)

So, keep up with the weekly water changes, vacuum the gravel, get a better filter and be sure not to overfeed, and your tank should be fine.

Answer 2

I think it's food. Not that you feed your fish too much, but the filtration isn't working. I use an under-gravel filter. Water is sucked down into the gravel and food and waste particles with it. The gravel absorbs the waste and it biodegrades naturally. Clean water comes out of the top of the filter. The system is self-sufficient and the only monthly cleaning I have to do is brush the algae buildup up off the sides of the glass. I turn the filter off at night and one time I'd neglected to turn it on for a couple of days. That's when you get the foul smell, because the food is sitting on the bottom instead of under the gravel. Anyway, that's my theory. Buy an under-gravel filter and aerating system for about $50.00. That's the product I'd recommend (as opposed to some chemicals). By the way, my goldfish (Orinda?) is over 10 years old and still going strong. I lost count of how old he is.

Answer 3

If you don't have a filter then get one

Get a siphon and clean the rocks

Do a 50% water change

All aquariums have a smell but its should be a small smell.

Algae can smell but if you have an issue with that then leave the lights off for a few days.

Answer 4

How big is your tank and how many fish do you have in it? I keep a lot of tanks and do 50% water changes and general tank cleaning every week, and all of our tanks have filters running at all times. The gravel get "vacuumed" once a week. What kind of dechlorinator are you using? Some of them (Amquel Plus) make the water reek (like rotten eggs). As already mentioned, do more frequently tank cleanings and water changes, run a filter with carbon in the filter media to nullify some of the smell (the filter won't remove the ammonia and nitrites though).

Answer 5

Zoe, above, gave you the correct answer. It's the carbon in the filter that removes the smell. Carbon is porous, and eventually the pores get blocked with bacteria. Once the pores are blocked, the carbon is not longer filtering the odor from the water. Filters like those made by AquaClear allow you to change the carbon filler monthly without upsetting the biofilter.
Along with changing 10% to 20% of the water weekly, you need to change the carbon in your filter every month.

Answer 6

Look on the water conditioners and treatments that you've put in your aquarium. Do any of them say "Sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate" in the ingredients? Or anything else with "sulfonate", "sulfite", "sulfur", etc. in it. Usually when people complain of a "trash" smell or "rotten egg" smell in their aquarium, they are smelling sulfur. Two products that I know can cause that smell are Prime and Amquel, although I am sure there are others out there as well. If this is the cause, the smell is fine and nothing to worry about, but if it bothers you, you can switch to a conditioner that doesn't have the ingredient. Good job on being concerned about the smell of your aquarium. The smell is usually a good indication of whether everything is going right (or wrong).

Answer 7

Make sure to use a filter in the water to help take some of the smelly waste out of the water that have ones that sit on top of the tank and others that go under the gravel. Also having some airation in the water helps it from becoming stagnent and smelly

Answer 8

I have had fish where I changed my water every week..It depends on the set up and the size and type of the fish and what you feed them...I would deffinately increase the water changes and cleaning..I have had many tanks for many years and this has helped me to avoid smells..Good Luck

Answer 9

I would suggest getting a tank filter if you don't have one and maybe a cleaner fish...they will help with the smell by cleaning all of the old food off of the bottom of the tank...short, but simple...good luck

Answer 10

Change every 2 weeks