The main concern that people have when buying an aquarium is if it will smell or not? Nobody wants their home to be taken over by a funky smell that stretches into their home. However, after many people telling you that the aquarium won’t stink, it finally does release an odor. You may be very upset with the current circumstances, however, there are reasons to why the aquarium stinks.
What Causes my Aquarium to Smell?
Typically an aquarium won’t stink and take over your home. However, there may be a time where it eventually develops that odor. Just like everything else in your aquarium, there is a reason for the cause, and a solution present! In this article, we will be going over the reasons for that stink in your aquarium, followed by solutions on how to solve the problem. After reading this article, you won’t have to deal with why your aquarium is stinky!
Dead Fish
Having dead fish is the number one leading cause to a stinky aquarium. A home aquarium more than likely has a good amount of decor in the tank. This gives livestock the ability to hide more in your aquarium, and you may only see some fish once every couple of days. However, these hiding spots are a bit difficult to locate dead fish in your aquarium. On average, it usually takes several days for the home aquarium owner to even notice that a fish is missing, or to locate the dead body in the aquarium. The dead fish being in the aquarium for a while leads to that stinky smell in your home!
Dead fish may stink up your aquarium, however, they are an easy solution! If you find your aquarium starting to stink, conduct an analysis in your aquarium to see if any fish remains are present. After removing the dead fish, make sure to conduct a water change to ensure good health for your aquarium. Some dead fish release toxins that can be harmful for other aquarium fish in your system. It is very important to account for these factors! After removing the dead fish and conducting a 30 percent water change, your aquarium should be stink free in a couple of days.
Too Much Food
Overfeeding occurs for most beginner aquarium hobbyist. The extra food ends up falling to your gravel or sand and results in a bunch of uneaten food! This can lead to other problems in your aquarium like high nitrates, cloudy water, and other poor parameters. When the food falls to the bottom, poor bacteria grows and ends up taking over portions of your tank. This bacteria and waste can promote a terrible stink in your aquarium!
A solution to overfeeding can be implementing a huge clean up crew to assist with removing the food at the bottom of the aquarium. AquariumHow has a bunch of articles regarding the best clean up crews to follow. To cut back on feeding, an important aspect is remembering that a fish doesn’t have a huge belly. Typically their stomachs are the size of their eyeball! Keep that in mind when feeding your fish every day, you don’t want to risk overfeeding and harming the livestock in the aquarium. After properly adjusting the rate of food, make sure to conduct a water change for your aquarium. A proper water change will help answer your questions as to why your aquarium stinks!
Excessive Waste
Excessive waste correlates with overfeeding you’re fish. Too much waste in your aquarium can lead to a stinky smell in your home! Excessive waste can also occur from having too many fish in your aquarium! Certain sizes of aquariums can only house so many fish in the system without the filtration not being able to handle it. Therefore, having 20 fish in a 10 gallon tank isn’t the best idea for the health of the aquarium. Excessive decor can also be problematic when having too many fish!
To resolve the conflict of having excessive waste, take a proper inventory check! Make sure you don’t have too many fish in your aquarium for the overall benefit of the system. Having too many fish will create more problems than an aquarium that smells. After removing unwanted waste and fish, complete a larger water change to ensure all the bad bacteria is removed. For a large water change in your aquarium, around 35% of the water should be replaced to ensure health!
Dying Plants
Lastly, having dying plants release a stink that is quite unbearable in a home aquarium. These plants are relatively easy to find, look for browning and leaves being removed! If plants are dying, there is a cause to why this is happening. Take a water sample and show the lights that you have to your local fish store for a diagnosis. Plants that are dying also have a black appearance in color with the development of dirty water being present. Keep an eye out on these factors if you have a freshwater planted aquarium!
To resolve this issue, simply look for these signs of dead plants in your aquarium! A proper water change should be conducted to get rid of the stinky smell in your aquarium. After removing all of the dead plants and conducting the water change, make sure to implement new healthy plants in your aquarium. This will help with the fish not being too stressed out in the aquarium. Therefore, you should have an aquarium stink free!
