Fish smell

Question
We just moved 6 hours away and we have had our fish for a while and we have, we lost three in the move but after we set up the tank the next day it just smells like puppy breath and we took out 50% the water and it didn't smell anymore, but the next day it smells again. We have a 55 gallon tank, with 9 african cichlids and a good size Oscar and a little oscar and a sucker fish. but we are not sure what the levels are. When we moved them we had them in buckets with food and we just dumped in the water they were in back into the tank, and topped it off with new water. Is there a reason our tank smells when it never has before?

Answer
Hi Laura;

Just keep cleaning until it doesn't smell anymore. I would change 25% of the tank water every day for the next 4 or 5 days to gradually get it back in shape without adding to the fishes' stress. Vacuum the gravel at the same time so the excess food gets out of there too. Monitor the levels of ammonia and nitrite to make sure they don't get out of control. Moving a tank can disrupt the biological balance and cause those two toxins to rise. Make water changes as needed to keep them down if they are elevated at all. Adding the transport water to the tank added too much waste to the system at one time. The transport water also has stress hormones and and ammonia in it after the fish have been in it for a few hours. Just like when you bring home new fish to your tank, throw away the transport water and just net the fish into the tank.

While fish are being transported they really shouldn't be fed. It just pollutes the transport water and heightens their stress level. They probably don't want to eat much anyway and even if they do, traveling with full tummies will make them feel sick and sometimes regurgitate. Fish don't really need to eat every day anyway. It can take a couple of days or more after they go back in the tank for them to want to eat like they used to again but they will be okay eventually as long as the water is kept balanced. Fish can even go for more than two weeks with no food at all and be just fine.  

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins