Terrible Smell

[canyon_rayne]

My boyfriend had blue gills, (not quite sure what they are..All I know is that he got them from a pond here in Utah...) in a 29 gallon tank. They all died when his roommate decided to put crawdads in the tank with them. The water is emptied out of the tank now but the tank still smells horrible!! It's so bad that at times the whole front rooms reeks with this terrible stench!! I don't know what to do about it!! Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get my tank smelling NORMAL?? I want to begin cycling it so I can add more fish.

 

[Chasing Puck]

Has the gravel been cleaned? If not, it's likely that there is a lot of waste sitting there decaying. Take the substrate and rinse it completely with clean water.

 

[canyon_rayne]

Would it be okay to rinse it with a bleach/water solution or would that harm any fish I may put in in the future??

 

[Chasing Puck]

I avoid using bleach with any item that is porous. For all my tank/ornament/equipment cleaning, I use Oxyclean. It rinses clean easily, and does not leave behind any toxic residue.

You can use a bleach solution, but make sure you run several gallons of freshwater through, or let it dry completely (for chlorine only) before using it again. The general rule of thumb is: If you can still smell bleach, there is still bleach present! So rinsing repeatedly, and using a chlorine removing product as well, would be your best bet.

 

[canyon_rayne]

Okay, thanx!! I'll give that a try!!