The rotten egg smell is more than likely hydrogen sulphide which is a
build up of decaying matter in the gravel. It smells like rotten eggs.
Do you give your gravel a routine vac cleaning?

Amquel Plus other than doing what Amquel does also locks up those
nitrates and nitrites, and makes them safe, but they will still show
them as present on a test. A water change wil dilute that reading, and
after 2 or three changes with proper feeding routine and vac of gravel
they all should be within limits.

On 14 Jan 2007 10:23:04 -0800, "JB" wrote:


JB wrote:
Have been getting spikes in my Nitrite, Nitrate, & Possibly Ammonia...
My test kit shows Nitrate near 40ppm, Nitrite lethally near 10ppm, and
I can't test for ammonia, but it smells strong in my tank...

It's a 10 gallon freshwater tank with (3) 2" adult Sword Tails, and
about 10 baby fry in a net... I just performed a full water change as
advised by PetCo, and cleaned out all the algae in the tank and things
were fine for about 5 days...

Also my Alkalinity (KH) is 40ppm and I know it's supposed to be 120-180
for freshwater fish, but the Pet store has no idea on how to raise
that...

I've used the AmQuel Plus that treats Nitrate, Nitrate & Ammonia for
the past 3 days and still it does not seem to be dropping anything....
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am hoping my fish don't
die...

I meant tyo type AmQuel Plus is supposed to treat Nitrate, Nitrite &
Ammonia.. I listed Nitrate twice for those who noticed.. Also after
washing my hands 2-3 times there's still a slight rotten egg or so
smell on my hands after dealing with my aquarium if this helps point
the way to diagnosis and treatment...



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!