Rotten smell!

[Caper]

Last month I was unable to do my usual monthly cleaning of my tanks because I hurt my back. I was doing weekly water changes but not much vacuuming was getting done.

In my 10 gallon, there is only 1 ornament that I remove to clean, the rest including my artificial plants stay in the tank (ottos take care of them ).

In the 29 gallon (not the new one) I remove the artificial plants & clean them but leave the ornaments in (so that there would be algae for my algae eater) but move them to vacuum.

Well, today when I moved my ornament (looks like, sort of a oh heck I don't know what you would call it), anyway the point is today when I moved it...OH MY WHAT A STENCH...horrible, yuk. Some kind of white stuff came from under it too. Now this was not anything that was living, so I was wondering if it was possible remains of my poor sailfin molly that died and disappeard although I have it pushed into the gravel so I don't know what it was.

Needless to say, I removed all the ornaments and gave them a really good rinsing.

You couldn't smell anything until I lifted the ornament, oh my it was rotten.

Anyway, some of my fishies were scratching...a little more than the odd scratch so to speak. I was trying to get the parasite clear that I used last year when my mickey mouse platty was scratching alot. Couldn't get any, but NOW I am wondering if it was the stuff under the ornament that could have been the culprit, what do you folks think????? I'll watch my fishies tonight to see if the scratching has decreased any yet.

[antwan]

my guess would be the remains of the fish, i have no idea what else it could have been. if the molly died quite a while ago, im sure it probably would start to smell a bit. Do a big 50% water change, and that should remove a lot of the bugs that the body has left, then just observe them like you said you would, and see how they go.

[Faran]

Whenever you disturb gravel that has been sitting for a long time you release bacteria that can smell quite awful. This is known as 'dead gravel' and should be avoided by gravel siphoning or even simply raking the gravel occasionally to release nitrogen bubbles and give the bacteria some oxygen. Could have been the molly but that's not really the issue here. The release of that bacteria will create a possible oxygen depletion in the water so keep an eye on your fish and add aeration if they look crook. A water change is DEFINITELY needed now and you may as well do a big gravel vacuuming now. Just don't touch the filter at the same time as the gravel and vice versa.

HTH

Blue

[Caper]

Thanks folks

I did all my usual monthly maintenance today with the additional removing and rinsing of the ornaments. But I only changed 25% of the water, should I change more tomorrow?

I have never missed my monthly cleaning before and I have never had that smell before either!

BlueandKim I do have an airstone running in the tank.

So, do you think this could have been what is causing my fish to scratch????

[Freakyfish]

Hey i woul,d think that the remains u found was themolly and because it hadnt been moved much is why it had broken up and totally disintegrated and when youmoved the ornament it broke right up and this was the smell you could smell.

I would be doing more then a monthly clean on your aquarium probably a fortnightly water change and a good clean every month.

Also i would be doin a water change Approx 25% in a few days and then again next weekend cos the amount of ammonia from the dead fish would not help your filter keep the waterclean and might require alittle assistance from you.

I dont think this would cause yourfish to scratch as this is usually as sign of parasites or worms though if you have a water test kit check for ammonia nitrite and nitrate and make sure these levels are within acceptable levels being ammonia and nitrirte zero and nitrate under 50ppm

Brad

[Luke*]

I think Blue is on the money there, although the molly could have contributed to the smell. The bacteria that forms in small pockets under the gravel is called anaroebic and it actually converts nitrate into nitrite instead the aerobic bacteria we want which does the opposite. So you definitely don't want it and the best way to get rid of it a thorough plumbing of the gravel with your gravel vacuum. It's common to smell a bad rotten egg kind of smell as it gets released into the atmosphere. It's rarer in heavily planted tanks because the roots move around and absorb nutrients down there.

[Caper]

Thanks all

This is what I normally do:

weekly (once in a blue moon I may skip a week, but this is rare): 25% water change, vacuum gravel mostly just the top & don't move anything

sometime within the month - when doing weekly water change, I go deeper with the vacuum (usually distrupting artificial plants!), rinse/replace filter depending on the "gunk" that is on it

monthly - 25% water change, vacuum all the gravel (moving whatever is in my way!), give filter a good cleaning (the last bucket of water houses the bio filter) and replace new filter cartridge

I will check my ph, nitrites & ammonia tomorrow in all my tanks (when I checked my new tank the other day it was reading 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites).

Fishies were still scratching tonight, although the neons were scratching more tonight. Nothing visible on any of the fish, at least to the naked eye

I will keep trying to get the parasite clear because that is what worked for my platty that time. Any other suggestions if I can't get it?

[Tillie]

I actually think it was the stagnant water inside the ornament. I had the same thing happen - I was getting a really high nitrate reading, and thought there couldn't possibly be something decaying in my tank - when I thought about the ornament (previously in another tank and when taken out to close down that tank got the same rotten smell) and took that out of my curennt community tank. Yep. Same smell. Like really bad rotten eggs aye? It was the water rotting inside the ornament as it didn't have a flow in and out of it. It's no longer in my tank and nitrate returned to stble level.

[Caper]

Okay just checked all 3 tanks:

ammonia - 0

nitrites - 0

pH - oh I hate this one, depending on how you hold it, leans more towards the 7.6 but this never changes, if it does a fraction & again, could just be how I'm holding it.

As I said, can't get nitrate test kit here sometime this summer I'll get to a pet store that has one & will get buy it.

Oh Tillie, the smell was rank, soon as I lifted the ornament! I never thought of it till you mentioned it, but the water wouldn't be circulating under this thing so it would get stagnant! I don't want to remove it if I don't have too, do you think if I remove it with my weekly water changes and rinse it that would be enough???? Now, I wonder...hmmm, I have what looks like a hollow log that has 3 or 4 openings in it...I think I better move it more as well just in case!

My fishies are still scratching and I don't what I can do. I'll keep trying to get the parasite clear, it worked like a charm last year for my platy.

[jude]

If you like the ornament maybe you could put an airstone in it - it might look cool with bubbles coming out the holes

[Tillie]

I guess cleaning it when you do your weeklies would work? Mine isnt in any longer - It was a hassle trying to keep the water in it so it didn't all spurt into the tank the first time - I don't think I want to be doing that every week! (It's a large ancient ruins statue) I think I may have to make a bigger hole in the bottom and have airline going in to flush all the water around, as the last poster said. Yes, the smell, I agree - was bad. Very bad. My partner has to rush from the room!

[Freakyfish]

ok i think the PH is to high for the fish you have with neons preferring a lower 6 reading then over 7

I was getting a really high nitrate reading, and thought there couldn't possibly be something decaying in my tank

You dont need something decaying in your tank to get high nitrates

Your nitrates will constantly rise in your tank due to the Nitrogen cycle of your fish tank with nitrates being the end of the cycle unless its heavily planted

I believe it would take a large ornament with alot of stagnant water for a period of time to create a large enuff smell to be created so you could smell it outside of the tank as bad as you described

I still believe it was the dead fish that was tuck underneath the ornament

Definalty move them around alot when your cleaning the tank so this doesnt reoccur and regular gravel vacs

Keep up the water changes at the moment to make sure the ammonia levels and kept low

The bacteria that forms in small pockets under the gravel is called anaroebic and it actually converts nitrate into nitrite instead the aerobic bacteria we want which does the opposite

Anaerobic bacteria actually convert Nitrate into Nitrogen gas which is what happens in your tank all the time just not enuff to keepo out nitrates to a minimum

What your trying to say is the gravel say under a large ornament is still for awhile and the water there becomes stagnant and there is 0 oxygen in the water then the Anaerobic bacteria will convert Nitrate into Sulphur Dioxide which smells bad and is deadly to your tank mates not nitrite

The nitrogen cycle in your fish will very very rarely infact go backwards it will happen in the right situation but its not something we will have to worry bout

Brad

[Caper]

ok i think the PH is to high for the fish you have with neons preferring a lower 6 reading then over 7

Way back, the concensus was that my pH was ok for my fish. I also made a little chart & went to several different sites to see the recommended pH, temp & such for the fish I had, mind you I don't have the chart anymore but again pH & such were all within recommended limits.

As I said, this was the first time I had missed my montly cleaning & hopefully my last!

[Freakyfish]

OK then well Mollys and livebearers do like a PH above 7 but neons prefer it around 6 so what other fish do you have in your tank

Even though PH wont definalty kill your fish it will stress them enough to lose colour and not look as bright as they can be

Brad

[sharn]

im not sure what side i sit on on this fence. while it is ideal to get your ph to a natural level for the fish you keep its more of a stability thing IMO, ive known people keep discus at a ph of 8 and have them breed (not sure how well the babies developed) but neons arent overly sensitive, as long as it aint swinging all over the place and isnt to extremes i think youll be ok.

[Freakyfish]

I agree that some people have bred fish from different extremes in PH and also a fluctuating PH is very dangerous

I have found fish thrive better in a PH from what they are used to

Neons are very very touchy to ammonia spikes this is because in a low PH the ammonia levels are safer they dont handle high PH very well at all They lose the majority of their colour

I believe we should all try and keep fish in something close to what would make the fish the happiest

Brad

[herefishiefishie]

Yep that is true Brad, just like plants. Both will give you optimum growth, reproduction, colour...when kept in the conditions they are reccomended for.

Sure kept outside these ideal conditions they will survive, breed... but won't be as good. Depends on what tickles your fancy.

Also the white blob, mass...would of been the dead molly, especially when you said the smell, that got my attention. It is unforgettable & very very strong like knock your head back I can't believe anything could stench like that. Had that happen a fish got stuck in a shell, I hadnt noticed for a couple of weeks...eeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwww :oops:

Frenchy

[Caper]

At some point last year, I did try, can't think of the name off hand & it is downstairs, anyway it was supposed to reduce the pH. But, I didn't see any difference & then after the comments here & doing that chart thingy I just left it alone. As I said, it doesn't fluctuate...from the best I can tell, hate the test on this one!