What is that smell?

[Confetto]

1. New sponge filter in progress

2. Snail poop 

3. Fluctuating pH levels

With the addition of a mystery snail, there has been an influx of poop in my tank. To be honest I've never seen my betta void in the eight months that I have had him. In the 4 weeks that I've had my mystery snail, that's a completely different story. A weekly water change is a must rather than an option. (3gal)

Within the last two weeks, I have exchanged my sponge filter. The old sponge is still in the tank while the new sponge seeds. Also during this time I had a pH spike followed by a pH drop. I went from 7.4 to 8.2 to 6.2.

Last night I had to clean the poop out of my tank. The water that I siphoned out smelled like old milk/fart! Gag worthy! Awful doesn't even cover the smell that had engulfed my kitchen. What could possibly be going wrong and my nano tank?

Nitrate 20 ppm - Nitrite 0 - GH 75/soft - Chlorine 0 - KH 0-40 ppm - pH 6.2

As for Miso and Zamboni, no changes in their behaviors. I do my best to remove any uneaten food, but that's not to say some have slipped down in the gravel substrate. I don't know if I'm dealing with an out of balance tank or a bacteria bloom. All I know is that I am not looking forward to next Sunday when I have to vacuum the poop. 

 

 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hmm. I have 6 adult mysteries and a nerite in a 29 gallon planted tank. The tank has a smell but I would describe it as “earthy” from the plants, not like old milk, and I certainly wouldn’t say the smell engulfs a room. I have to get very close to the water to detect a smell. 

Is 3 gallons the size of your tank or the amount of water you are changing out?

Also does your tap water smell?  If you put it into a cup and smell it?  I’m wondering if your water source contains sulfur, because sulfur has a rotten egg smell.

Has the airline come loose from the sponge filter, and the water is not actually filtering?

Does the water look clear or kind of milky?

Is there a film on top of the water?

Are bubbles or a foam lingering on the surface without popping?

I would recommend adding carbon to your filter for a while as it will remove the odor and help clarify the water. You can place it into a mesh bag or pantyhose, and place that on top of your sponge filter. (Rinse the carbon first)

Another thing you can try is to add some bottled bacteria such as Fritz Zyme 7 so that there is more bacteria to consume waste and bring balance.

Edited January 30, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Confetto]

Three gallons is my tank size. When vacuuming, I swap about a gallon of water.

This morning I discovered a 'fog' has settled at the bottom of the tank. (photo below) 

[Confetto]

UPDATE

I believe the source of my problems is water mold. I took a water sample to my LFS and levels came back fine/safe. I showed them the picture of the mystery fog in my tank as well as talked about what's been going on: the new sponge filter, the pH spike & drop and the who & what is living in my tank.

It would seem Zamboni isn't eating as much as I thought as his food might be getting caught in the gravel substrate and rotting. (Miso is a little prince and gets hand-fed one pellet at a time) This could explain the funky awful stink of my fish water. I'm half tempted of putting a tiny ceramic dish in the tank to put Zamboni's food in to prevent anything from getting lost in the rocks in the future - spoiled boys!

For now, LFS suggested I put a nano Chemi-pure green activated carbon packet behind my sponge filter for a few days to handle the smell as well as picking up the debris as I vacuum over the next few days to remove anything that has sunk to the bottom of the gravel.

Brown algae on the anubius, detrous worms on the window, pH ping pong and now water mold. Someone please remind me about how fun fish keeping is.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 1/31/2023 at 4:35 PM, Confetto said:

I'm half tempted of putting a tiny ceramic dish

Some of us do this too. You must use one unglazed, you can find it in the garden section.

You may wish to consider going to a larger tank. The mystery snail has a massive bioload, and for a fish to be in there as well, it would require extra maintenance (more than once a week) or extra filtration. Otherwise their heath will suffer because it will be difficult to keep that small a volume of water of good quality. The betta will not tolerate the extra flow from a hang on back filter, and another sponge filter will take up space in the small tank. Fortunately a sponge filter is simple to move from one tank into another. Here’s what aqadvisor came up with for a 3 gallon with 1 betta and 1 mystery snail: stocking level 126%

Now aqadvisor isn’t gospel or anything. It will differ based on extra filtration or a large number of live plants, frequency of maintenance etc.

I recommend you go to at least a 10 gallon. It’s really doesn’t take up that much more space, and you will have an easier time maintaining it and have healthier water and creatures. Side note: the dice are cute. We still play tabletop pathfinder. But the resin is not fish safe like the resin used for store bought fish tank decorations. 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:06 PM, Confetto said:

Last night I had to clean the poop out of my tank. The water that I siphoned out smelled like old milk/fart! Gag worthy! Awful doesn't even cover the smell that had engulfed my kitchen. What could possibly be going wrong and my nano tank?

Nitrate 20 ppm - Nitrite 0 - GH 75/soft - Chlorine 0 - KH 0-40 ppm - pH 6.2

PH swings like that usually mean heavy bioload and very heavy organics.

On 1/31/2023 at 1:35 PM, Confetto said:

It would seem Zamboni isn't eating as much as I thought as his food might be getting caught in the gravel substrate and rotting.

Very likely not helping everything.

My assumption is that you have a situation where something is dead and that is causing some serious issues.  Not irreparable, but concerning and I think measures taken to try to fix things thoroughly are required.

I have had decor and rocks not intended for the aquarium cause some pretty extreme reactions.

I would take everything live out of the tank, move it to a bucket. Clean the sponge in a sink thoroughly as well as the air stone, airline, filter plastics and make sure that things are clean and everything is functional.

Keep everything in a 5G bucket right now, sponge at the base, or in a QT tub. I use a dark towel on the top to provide cover and act as a lid. Until we get the tank sorted out. I would recommend removing fish, filter, and plants.

I do have a gut type of feeling the gravel is causing issues. Can't explain it, but it could be some coating and it wasn't rinsed well enough or is contaminated. Second to that, decor hides fish and can easily hide a dead fish or snail. Take the tank to the sink and go through everything. Remove the gravel, keep it in a bucket or dry it completely on a towel. Same thing with any decor.  Look through all the little nooks and holes for a fish or snail that got stuck or got damaged.

Once you have that done and everything is removed you'd want to get a new sponge that hasn't been used before on anything and clean the tank. Rinse it well more than you think you need to. Make sure it's clean under the rim, the lid, everything. Run the tank bare bottom for right now.

This won't harm anything in the tank and you can isolate a lot of issues when it comes to the tank. The filter will have an easier time cleaning, the fish and snails will have an easier time eating, it will be easier to clean. Etc.

We do need to figure out what your PH is normally. Weather would explain the PH crash like that. So this means we need to also do an off gas test on the tap water that you're using. What is the water test results immediately after you pour the water from the tap? What are the parameters after 24 hours of aeration (using an air stone)?

On 1/31/2023 at 2:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Side note: the dice are cute. We still play tabletop pathfinder. But the resin is not fish safe like the resin used for store bought fish tank decorations. 

Definitely need to remove anything that isn't designed for an aquarium right now just to isolate those as issues. I've had it happen trying to put in a shell into an aquarium and it went real nasty.

Edited February 1, 2023 by nabokovfan87