# Help!! Smelly water/thick bubbles



## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

oh man this is all i need

.. my tank is 24"x12" and 15" high 12days old with 4 danios 1" and 4 albino catfish 1".. my ph is 7.5 and my nitrite high and not mature at moment although getting better slowly..

heres what my tank looks like before i added fish http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s14/reddragonuk_2007/100_0190.jpg the plants are taller now

i added fish on day 7 and had to water change on day 9 or 10 and fish were more lively after woulds, i only feed then once a day with flakes not much. And the sinking pellets i put in 1 day and i miss a day sometimes to...

I have many plants in there and have been every day taken of dead leaves and was going to do some trimming today.

Due to smelly water i started to vacum the gravel but after only 1ltr of water taken out into bucket, the bottom of bucket is covered in what looks like food flakes and plant matter along with some small black things that appear to be like poo...

Also the water line has a thick lining of bubble that appear to be slimey in touch...

Should i take out fish and put in bucket, trim plants and take them out to. And then empty the water and wash gravel and then add fresh water 100% and then replant and then after 3hrs add fish back to tank and put the filter start actually in the filter rather than adding to water as the instructions say to..

My fish do seem to be fine and very active at the moment but i am worried for them...

Hope i made myself clear and hope someone can help me out...


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

also i have just seen about 30 of these brown flea like things in the bucket to... i asked before about this on here and was told it is a sign of clean water !! i think there these Seeds shrimps.. just thought you should know


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

Ok well i have sorted out now...

i removed the fish, fish ,all water and washed gravel and my god did it stink of eggs..

I then put the gravel back and topped up the tank with warm dechlorinated water. Added plants and pump and filter start and also a little fertilizer. Added fish after 1hr and 20min floating in bag... and the fish were in a big big tub whilst out of the tank.

The fish did not mind at all even the albino catfish seemed to think a game... the danios just kept wanting to play with my fingers ...when the fish went back in to tank they just did what fish do and all seems well so far...

The water no longer smells and i reduced the amount of plants going back into the tank to and trimmed them all down...

All i got to do now is maintain adding the filter start .....


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I suspect you overfed the fish by so much the excess rotted in the substrate. Many years ago I had that experience and learned that fish don't eat much.


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

hmmm good point.... the dumb a** tubs of food said two or three times aday... and the sinking pellets two tabs once aday....

Why do they say that ??? after all these years they still tell people this rubbish....

i now feed one pinch of flack food crashed up to fish once every two days and one sinking tab once every three days... and the fish get bigger then i will add a little more food...

anyway all seems still to be good ....

cheers


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

I had that expirence when I first started, after trying different foods for fish I finally
feel comfortable saying I will never buy normal fish flakes again they're just too messy. I use Crisp flakes. As I feed, I turn off the HOB filter so it doesent force the food to the substrate and the crisp
will float intill the fish eat it all, no left over food or waste... No smelly water


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

hmm i do have the flakes and tbh they never seem to bother with them to much, as they wait till i give them blood worms or shrimp... but i will try turning of the pump in future and also a different food other than flakes...

I supose it is not a good idea to give them frozen blood worms etc every other day then due to the proten level they would be consuming..... 

Thanks for you help guys


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## Mr. Fish (Oct 24, 2007)

Oh no wonder why.... Blood worms and Shrimp is extremly messy.... as to the fish could never
get every single bite before hitting the substrate.... If your feeding shrimp and live foods that dont float then keepin the filter on while feeding is good becuase anything not eaten will get sucked up.... But see what you did is get your fish spoiled, now they only want that live food....its a bad habit but you gotta get them back into eating Crisp flakes. I never have left over food at the bottom which
keeps ammonia away from my tank which means less algae problems...


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## Zippin (Oct 27, 2007)

oppss  ok i cut them shrimp etc out of the diet and only give it to them once every two weeks... i am known for my over kindness.... but i will stop this. 

Might explain why i have like a skin on the surface of the water then... i am going to get rid of the skin this saturday...

Even though i mad some errors so far i am still keen, i like something where there is lots to learn and than some...

Thanks


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