how do i clean gravel?

[eja0913]

my boyfriend recently gave me some of his gravel that he used with one other fish. i rinsed it repeatedly in hot water and put it in with my betta. a few days later i noticed his water was smelly, and so i went to change it and discovered it was the gravel that smelled. is there a better way to clean it, or should i just toss it out and buy new stuff?

oh yeah and don't worry, my betta is currently dealing without his pretty rocks. don't want him to get sick!

 

[kgrehm]

Did you get the gravel from an established tank? If you rinsed it out it should be ok. Although if you want differnt gravel that is ok. Just make sure that you rinse it out before you put it in.HTH

 

[Dubby]

if your gravel has a fishy algae smell then your fish will love it I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[Nina7777]

I wouldn't worry about it as long as you rinsed it really well.....but you can always just buy some new stuff if you are worried about it that much....

 

[eja0913]

his tank was always clean, but he did the same as me: no filter or heater, with spring water. i'll just try rinsing it again today and see what happens. thanks everyone

 

[andieschweigert]

you could probaby buy a new bag of gravel its not that expensive