Rotten Egg smell

[bob965]

Bare bottom is fine. Makes me really wonder about the surfer smell though. Do you have any HUGE pieces of drift wood, or perhaps is the smell just icky and not actually sulfur?

I'm not a chemist, but is it possible it came from the Prime and Ammo-Lock he used? Since his ammonia was so high, maybe the sodium thiosulfate forms some kind of stinky sulfur compound after it reacts with the ammonia, and most of us never smell it because our ammonia doesn't get that high.

 

[kdrun76]

I'm not a chemist, but is it possible it came from the Prime and Ammo-Lock he used? Since his ammonia was so high, maybe the sodium thiosulfate forms some kind of stinky sulfur compound after it reacts with the ammonia, and most of us never smell it because our ammonia doesn't get that high.

I really don't have a better idea. That seems a stretch, but its better than anything I can think of.

 

[bob965]

Wait, I have a better theory. Maybe he has an intermittent fault in his filter, it turned off and he didn't notice it, built up all kinds of anaerobic bacteria, turned back on, and all that sulfurous gunk went in his tank. It could be because he took it apart recently, and the impeller is sticking, or an electrical problem.

 

[Allan01230]

Just open a bottle of Prime. You can smell that rotten-egg sulfur smell.

 

[kdrun76]

I prefer API tap water conditioner, it to has the sodium thiosulfate in it, but it doesn't stink of sulfer. Prime does? Yuck!

 

[Sab_Fan]

Just open a bottle of Prime. You can smell that rotten-egg sulfur smell.

glad someone said it . . . yes, Prime does have a sulfur smell . . . in fact, if you read the directions on a bottle of Prime, it actually says: "Sulfur order is normal" . . . the trick, if you wish to use Prime (I use it) is not to use too much at once

don't be concerned about using it, just make sure to follow the directions . . . and be aware that Prime won't remove ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, but it does claim to detoxify them, rendering them relatively safe until your beneficial bacteria builds up

 

[Enemyarms]

Bare bottom is fine. Makes me really wonder about the surfer smell though. Do you have any HUGE pieces of drift wood, or perhaps is the smell just icky and not actually sulfur?

Not sure, nope nothing in there, ****er keep darting across the tank at high speed so i dont want them to hurt there selves. Only thing in there is my 2 Filters, a power head, the Piranhas and one lonely nongold goldfish thats prob inch and a half long. I had feed them goldfish for a while, and did a good water change. The water NEVER got to be perfectly clear but i assumed it was from the goldfish and the tank setup hasnt been setup for over 2-3 months now, when i changed my carbon the water got cloudy so i guessed i reset my cycle. I wouldn't mind having something on the bottom to make it look nice, but this is so much faster to clean. I DID have 2 large pleco's one they ate month agro, all except a fin and a rib, the other they ate all bit his skull. I feed them Jumbo Freeze dried krill, they ate the majority of it, what they dont eat i fish out after a few hours. They get stage fright and wont eat if they see us watching. The apt has been open since 11am so the stink isn't that bad but like i said, it never came around tell after i added the chemicals.

 

[Enemyarms]

glad someone said it . . . yes, Prime does have a sulfur smell . . . in fact, if you read the directions on a bottle of Prime, it actually says: "Sulfur order is normal" . . . the trick, if you wish to use Prime (I use it) is not to use too much at once

don't be concerned about using it, just make sure to follow the directions . . . and be aware that Prime won't remove ammonia, nitrites or nitrates, but it does claim to detoxify them, rendering them relatively safe until your beneficial bacteria builds up

I seen something like that on the back of the bottle, about the sulfur, plus my gf is a chem major and when we walked in she said something about the sulfur smell. Does it go away on its own? I tested some water again today, its still past where it should be. Ill do a 50% water change soon as she goes to work. I hope. I work 5a-11a and 4-930p so i might need to crash soon and prob will crash on my break. I love my Piranhas but man they are hardy fish

 

[Citrinellus]

Try getting them off goldfish. Its unhealthy and they contain thiamine which would lead to a vitamin B deficiency. Try getting them to take market shrimp like the kind we eat. Its a few dollars for a lb and it last quite a long time. Also tilapia fillets work great too.

 

[therevolution]

LIke others already said, the sulfur smell most likely came from the chemicals. Usually a dirty tank just smells like Sh*** and not rotten eggs.

I have experienced the odor slightly while using amquel as dechlor.. It wasn't too bad for me but I have heard stories on other forums of it happening this bad to other people. I would suspect that the increased smell might come from and increased chemical activity.

Meaning that if there was ammonia in your water the chemical reaction of neutralizing the ammonia produces more of the sulfur smell. THis could explain why some people experience the sulfur smell more strongly because not everyone who uses the product is experiencing high ammonia levels.