Smelly Water

[kyu]

I'm just wondering whether my fish tank should be giving off strange
odors. (I don't know how to describe it. It smells sort of tepid?)

All of the other parameters seem ok. (Zero ammonia, zero nitrites,
minimal nitrates, water temp 80.) (Ten gallon tank, 5 small tiger
barbs, partial water changes 1-2 times per week including vacuuming the
gravel.)

[Elaine T]

kyu wrote:
> I'm just wondering whether my fish tank should be giving off strange
> odors. (I don't know how to describe it. It smells sort of tepid?)
>
> All of the other parameters seem ok. (Zero ammonia, zero nitrites,
> minimal nitrates, water temp 80.) (Ten gallon tank, 5 small tiger
> barbs, partial water changes 1-2 times per week including vacuuming the
> gravel.)
>
A mild "pondwater" smell is normal for a some healthy, cycled tanks. If
the smell is strong i.e. you smell it across the room, then something is
probably wrong. A fishy smell indicates nitrites or a dead fish.

--
__ Elaine T __
><__'> http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><

[Casper]

Smells can be an indicator of a few things.

Rotten Eggs: anaerobic bacteria (pardon the spelling if I'm wrong), can
indicate dead fish, turned off filter, excess debris in the gravel. If
you've vacuumed the gravel recently, and bubbles arose, that'd be anaerobic
bacteria gasses, smell like burning sulfer or rotten eggs. It's fine in
small amounts, aeration and circulation of the tank will clear it out.

Light Pond Smell: That's a ok smell for a cycled tank, like when you walk
around a lake, light smell. That's the aerobic bacteria, fungus, and other
stuff in the water that you can't see.

Strong Harsh Pond Smell: This is usually accompanied by a light to deep
white cloud in the tank, bacterial bloom. This can occure during the change
of filter media, large water changes, overfeeding, many things. A lot of new
fish tank set ups go through this. Carbon can remove this, along with
aeration and circulation from a power filter, like a whisper (for a 10g
tank), but when it comes to an establishing tank, it's time that takes the
smell away, 3-5 weeks. If there's a cloud, good aeration is essential. Won't
make the smell fo away, but helps irritate the water surface to add more
oxygen to the water for the fish. The fish won't mind the cloud, but need
the oxygen the cloud is obsorbing. White Cloud in refered to as a bacterial
bloom. If you have a deep white clound, this can sometimes be associated
with high nitrate as part of the initial tank cycle. I have that in my 90g
right now, I got a slight white clound with a musky smell, nitrogens a bit
high because I had to change the media in the filter.

Medicine Smell.... Melafix.... :) Smells like a hospital.

Strong Harsh Pond Smell, Green Tank/Water: Algae Bloom. Pretty much same as
above, usually seen with over populated tanks, or over fed tanks, under
filtered tanks, direct sunlight, or just a new tank. Nothing serious, once
the filter catches up and establishes itself, it'll regain control. Water
changes will help, lessen feeding a bit, again, aeration is good as the
algae will absorb quite a bit of the O2. Make sure your tank isn't in direct
sunlight, and turn the tank light off an night, algae's a plant, needs light
to live.

There's a few other causes, but whatever you do, NEVER EVER use a chemical
to remove cloud, may kill the benificial bacteria that your tank needs to
survive. Let the tank run it's course, if the fish are upset, they'll let
you know. Lack of oxygen is top of the tank and fast breathing, botton of
the tank with rapid breathing, high ammonia or nitrate.

Cheers



"kyu" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I'm just wondering whether my fish tank should be giving off strange
> odors. (I don't know how to describe it. It smells sort of tepid?)
>
> All of the other parameters seem ok. (Zero ammonia, zero nitrites,
> minimal nitrates, water temp 80.) (Ten gallon tank, 5 small tiger
> barbs, partial water changes 1-2 times per week including vacuuming the
> gravel.)
>