Smelly quarantine tank!

[McNubbin]

Hey everyone. I recent purchased 5 siamese algae eaters and 5 Mollies for my 20 gallon and 75 gallon display tank, respectively. I set up my 15 gallon quarantine tank, dropped in the cycled sponge filter and some 5 gallonsish of water from the 75 gallon.

I've been doing 50% WC everyday (day 5 now). Nitrates are less than .25, nitrites are 0 and ammonia is under .25 before the water change I've been keeping the tank at about 80°f as thats what my other tanks are at for the Julies. I don't have a light on the tank, light reaching the tank is a small window shining into a small room indirectly. 

Why on earth does my tank smell like a swamp!? I had some API fungal guard in the tank previously with one of my Julies. After the treatment I tore the tank down, cleaned everything with hydrogen peroxide and let it all sit dry for over a week. Then I set it up with all the trimming and within a day the water started to tinge green and get a smell. I've been doing water changes and dosing with some starter bacteria. But always within a day it gets swampy again. 

My assumption is the the sponge filter alone isn't enough filtration for the current number of fish and some sort of algae or bacteria is starting to bloom.

The fish don't look any worse for wear at the moment. I drop an algae wafer in for food and they tend to eat most of it before I change the water. With no health issues and not crazy parameters, I assume it fine to drive on until the cycle starts in earnest?

 

[Cory]

Check the tank rim for rotting food. 

[McNubbin]

Not that I can see. The tank was well scrubbed before getting set back up and I've only been feeding algae wafers since setting it back up. I'll try to get a better look when I do the water change this afternoon. 

[McNubbin]

Can confirm. Nothing along the trim. Definitely still swampy. I've tried a splash of AquaVitro bacteria starter. Hopefully that will get a cycle going along enough to help the smell. If not, I may pull that fake log out, re-clean the tank and filter and start over.

[Dandy Pearl]

I'm not a big fan of decorations in hospital or quarantine tanks. It is to difficult to clean afterwards, gets in the way of netting fish, can make cleaning the tank more difficult and can get in the way of observing the fish being treated.

It's also a distraction from doing what the primary job is, to make fish healthy. In you situation you are fighting a smell instead of ensuring your fish are getting / staying healthy.

I feel you are doing the right thing with pulling out the fake log.

Good luck with tracking down the source.

[McNubbin]

Ok, so, I just got done cleaning the tank and pulling out the decorations, fingers crossed.

Instead of just peroxide, I also boiled my filter. In doing so, I found some snails that were a bit embedded in the sponge. My guess is they got in there at some point, then my cleaning killed them but didn't remove them. So once the filter was moved to an uncycled tank it caused bacteria to bloom, causing the smell. 

Hopefully this will take care of it. I definitely know by the end of the night.

[McNubbin]

Well, it didn't help. Not sure if its still the filter  or the tank itself. I pulled the fish and put them in a large Tupperware bowl for the time being with just a bubble stone and cycled water from the main tank. I am going to clean the tank, fill it will boiling water and do a very heavy dose of salt. Give it a day to see if it stinks up again and go from there. I am honestly at a total loss for whats going on here. Are ten fish really enough to cause such a load that it stinks this bad is less that 24 hours? With cycled water and a cycled filter?

[McNubbin]

I filled the tank, left if for 2 days now with no smell, so not the tank. I am certain now that there is something up with the sponge filter.

What is the best way to "factory reset" clean a sponge filter? I used hydrogen peroxide because it break down readily in water, as well as a boil but that didn't seem to work.  I'm hesitant to use bleach. I wouldn't want residual bleach leeching into my tank. 

[Daniel]

3 minutes ago, McNubbin said:

 I wouldn't want residual bleach leeching into my tank. 

A really nifty way to eliminate all traces of bleach is with dechlorinator.

[McNubbin]

I suppose I will need to get some then.... at least I'll know my filter will be good. 

[Dandy Pearl]

@Cory recommends that even for folks who use well or rain water to use water conditioner. It's cheap enough, and nice piece of mind that you are doing everything possible for your fish. It certainly can't hurt, unlike a lot of other 'chemical' treatments out there.

If for some reason you can't clean out the sponge filter, you could simply by a new one. The largest filter from the coop is under $10. This is well worth the expense to save the 'aggravation tax' of fighting with the filter.

I hope you get this worked out.

[McNubbin]

I've bought three from them. I prefer to participate as little as possible in a throwaway society. Cleaning the filter isn't impossible, so it will be done.

As for conditioner, I'm on well and I've not been using it since setting up my tanks. I've not had any issues with water quality whatsoever. My Julies and rainbow fish are doing quite well, even my oto's seem to not mind the hard, alkaline water.

Interstingly though, our rain water is around 7.6, 7.8. (To high for normal PH test, to low for high Ph test). But, I'm currently only collecting rain water to grow plants I bought that don't like my well water.