Stinky tank?!?

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tlindsey said:
How do you rinse the filter? Do you remove the media or do you rinse it as well? Also sometimes food will get on the rim of frame of the aquarium. Do you use Dechlorinator during wc's?
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I cleaned both the filter and rinsed the sponge inside in water I took out during water changes. There was quite a lot of slime in the filter, more than I ever find in other filters that I clean far less frequently. I assume its algae? Could this algal growth be due to a partial filter crash I had in this tank about two weeks ago? Because part of the bacteria died off, the algae were able to get a better foothold?
 
tlindsey said:
How do you rinse the filter? Do you remove the media or do you rinse it as well? Also sometimes food will get on the rim of frame of the aquarium. Do you use Dechlorinator during wc's?
Click to expand...

I cleaned both the filter and rinsed the sponge inside in water I took out during water changes. There was quite a lot of slime in the filter, more than I ever find in other filters that I clean far less frequently. I assume its algae? Could this algal growth be due to a partial filter crash I had in this tank about two weeks ago? Because part of the bacteria died off, the algae were able to get a better foothold?
 
duanes said:
Proteins tend to collect on the air water interface (surface of water) like oil on a puddle, but are mostly invisible, yet even a little can be noticeable to the nose.
It is such a tiny tank, so easy to foul, no matter what size filter you are running, and the smaller the tank, the faster water quality degrades.
I would suggest you do 30%-40% water changes every day, and take half water from the surface, and siphon the rest off the bottom. This will remove the proteins that collect on the air water interface, and vacuuming will remove and any rotting food, or feces.
If you are conscious about water overuse, use the 5 gallons of old water to flush a toilet, or water house plants, or part of the garden.
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Yes, I'm sure the small size of the tank is part of the problem but I've never had this happen before. I feel that there's something else that's causing this besides fish wastes because I've QT'd a polypterus in this same tank with no issues.
 
I also had an outbreak of white hairs on the tank glass a few days ago. Definitely not planaria or detritus worms. It looked very much like white hair algae but I believe those only occur in marine tanks? Anyway, that's part of the reason I decided to wash the entire tank. It hasn't come back since but I wonder if that, together with the partial filter crash before it, is part of this whole problem.
 
elbereth said:
I cleaned both the filter and rinsed the sponge inside in water I took out during water changes. There was quite a lot of slime in the filter, more than I ever find in other filters that I clean far less frequently. I assume its algae? Could this algal growth be due to a partial filter crash I had in this tank about two weeks ago? Because part of the bacteria died off, the algae were able to get a better foothold?
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The slime probably is from the fish waste and food that got pulled in.
 
It's probably bacterial in my opinion. You say you recently had a die-off, what caused it? Bacterial die-off can be stinky, maybe the problem is not fixed. Or you are still dealing with the first one.
 
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Gourami Swami said:
It's probably bacterial in my opinion. You say you recently had a die-off, what caused it? Bacterial die-off can be stinky, maybe the problem is not fixed. Or you are still dealing with the first one.
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Polyurethane fumes. I put carbon in the tank the same evening and did daily water changes until the filter recovered in a few days.
 
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