An unknown disease I had, with a horrible smell.

[Nabbig2]

Disclosure: This post may and can be taken be out of context so I am providing a disclosure regarding my aim not to derail the thread in any way.

When, I first read your thread title I thought that you had a debilitating disease like leprosy or something similar. You did mention YOU had an unknown disease. I almost laughed out loud when I read the body of the thread....

Regarding the "disease" or bacteria that in your tank, hopefully, the knowledgeable members of this site can help you with that.

Ha...well, I hope somebody can help too.

 

[Lupin]

Oh, okay, thanks. So I guess I will have to vaccum clean the gravel. But how does this form, just from waste like food falling to the bottom? It seem like something is wrong...what can I do to permanently get rid of this?

Always vacuum out food leftovers or limit your food rations and disturb the substrate even in the corners whenever you vacuum the tank.

 

[wataugachicken]

how deep is your gravel? reduce it to 1/4 inch, just enough to cover the bottom. or get rid of it altogether.

are there any decorations or driftwood that have been in the tank each time this smell occured? a badly processed piece of driftwood can stink up a small tank and foul the water.

it is likely that your pleco ate the guppies after death. saying that you were able to see guppy remains in the poop is a very bad sign. plecos have very very long digestive tracts, and for a guppy to still be identifiable after being 'passed' makes me think that the pleco, at least, had some kind of intestinal bacterial or parasitic infection that interfered with digestion.

do you do water changes on the tank?
how much and how often with the guppies?
how much and how often now?
you say you "added water to the tank" in post #4. . . do you only add water when a lot of it evaporates away?
do you regularly clean the gravel or only if it looks dirty or the tank starts to smell?
what kind of filter do you have, and how do you maintain it?

i would strongly recommend that you buy some test kits - API liquid kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. water parameters, along with answers to the above questions, can all help in pointing towards a diagnosis.

 

[Nabbig2]

I have no driftwood, only a rock that i bought from the pet store (it is safe, I have another one for my other tank). Maybe the gravel is too deep.
I think I said it in my post, but my pleco and guppies died long ago, now I have a convict in there. The smell has started again after I added some water, and I dechlorinated it. A lot of water had evaporated, maybe an inch or more. I have a penguin filter, and I maintain it by washing it in the sink.

This is a really weird problem....is it known? It's just very strange, there is something wrong. I have cleaned the tank totally a couple times in the past, and I also used completely new gravel. Has anybody else had a problem like this? Again, thanks for helping, this problem has been eating away at me for a long time.

 

[Nick660]

Like everyone else has pointed out, it sounds like lack of maintainence I'm afraid.
You should be doing water changes (dechlorinated) on a regular basis, at least 25% per week. Not just topping up water lost by evaporation!
Vacuum your gravel thoroughly when removing water during water changes.
Don't wash your filter out in the sink - chlorine from the tap will kill your beneficial bacteria - use tank water in a bucket.
Make sure you don't overfeed also.

 

[guppy]

Since this is an ongoing problem perhaps your local water contains a small excess of iron or sulfur compounds, both of which speed the establishment of anerobic bacterial colonies.
When gravel vaccing make sure that you go all the wat through the gravel, not just surface clean.
Another thing that you might consider is adding a UGF as when up and running it will prevent anerobic pockets from forming.