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Tank smell

25 9:22:01

Question
I am a new aquarium enthusiast. After 2 weeks, my fish are doing fine, seemingly, but my tank has a pond/fishy smell, and I'm having trouble keeping my water nice and clear. My tank is 29-gallons. I have all the proper filtering, heater, etc. Can you help? Thanks.

Answer
Hi,

The smell is a result of your tank undergoing the nitrogen cycle.  It is too complicated and too long a discussion for here, so let me tell you this:  It takes a month for a tank to actually get set up biologically so it is completely safe for fish.

After two weeks the water in the tank reaches levels of ammonia that can be deadly to fish. The water will cloud and you will smell the "pond" odor.  After about a week to ten days the nitrites rise to dangerous levels and ammonia drops.  This lasts for another week to ten days.  During this time you should make no effort to clean your tank or add water.  Let this happen and hope your fish survive. DO NOT add chemicals of conditioners such as AMMO-LOCK or anything like that.

You can add an aerator to speed up the cycling process and restore oxygen to the water, which is choked out by the rising ammonia and nitrites.  If you do this your fish will have a decent chance of surviving.  When the water clears, wait about a week and do a 20% partial water change.  Make sure you add STRESSCOAT every time you do your regular bi-weekly water changes.  

Finally, feed sparingly during this time, about all they can eat in thirty seconds, once a day.  Remember, this is a tough time for your critters and there is little you can do for them except what I have already suggested, but about half make it through so we'll keep our fingers crossed together.  Keep me posted and good luck.

Michael J.