# Smelly tank water



## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

Hey everybody. My 125 gallon African cichlid tank stinks! I've triple checked all of my parameters, water change, new carbon...... There's no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. The ph is stable at 7.8. It's not overpowering but never had a tank smell like this in 20 years of keeping fish. Filtration on the tank is a aqua nova 2000 and an xp3. Temperature is a steady 78. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.


----------



## jobber (May 14, 2010)

What's the smelly water smell like?
-woody? 
-rotten eggs?
-fishy?


Sent from my mobile phone


----------



## MEDHBSI (Sep 4, 2011)

I had rotten egg smell come from mine and it was a huuuge ammonia spike. I'd say check your water at your local fish store to make sure its not yur test kit's


----------



## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

As odd as it may sound its kinda garlicy. Lol. Fish are fed only NLS.


----------



## shady280 (Oct 17, 2011)

Sounds kinda like a mini cycle or excess waste? I know I've had that a few times so I cleaned the filter and did a water change and it went away. Or a fish is hidden and dead somewhere. Had that too.


----------



## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

If it was my tank I'd do a water change every couple of days until the smell is gone. Normally I would suggest running carbon for a few weeks but you said you've already tried that. Africans are messy eaters. Might be time for a big tank cleaning. How often do you do water changes? How many fish are in the tank?


----------



## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

Jeebz said:


> As odd as it may sound its kinda garlicy. Lol. Fish are fed only NLS.


Garlicky? You feeding nls Thera A? Sounds like maybe you got too much food in the system. Clean out your canister lately?

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

There about 30 Africans, 2.5 - 3" and smaller. Feed them NLS med. fish formula, fed nightly 2 - 3 tbsp over the course of a minute to make sure all is eaten. I'll try a few water changes over the week and see if it helps. Thanks for the suggestions.


----------



## poiuy704 (Nov 6, 2010)

checked for half eaten carcasses? Had they same in my African tank and found a rotting half eaten one between a couple of rocks


----------



## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

You have cichlids and you don't have nitrates?....that smells fishy.


----------



## Jeebz (Sep 28, 2011)

Sorry. Didn't read the scale on the booklet. It's at it's lowest. Which is 5. Double checked just now to be sure.


----------



## mollyb (May 18, 2010)

I'm with Tony1928, I bet it is the food, I feed NLS as well, but find it is really messy after the fish have eaten it (as in poops are lots and smelly). Fish love the stuff, but I do try to limit it somewhat. The Thera A formula supposedly contains garlic. There may be garlic in the other ones as well, just not up to 'therapeutic' levels. Africans, hmm, does that mean many caves/rocks and gravel? Maybe time for a big gravel vacuum? remove all rocks, clean and replace?


----------

