Tank smells like "sea-food"

[JDogg]

is this normal?

quick stats...
10 gallons
~12 pounds LR
Aqua clear "fug" with LR rubble
tank has been running since November, started adding critters in January
7 hermit crabs
5 Nassarius snails
2 peppermint shrimp (i think i never see them )
1 Amphiprion ocellaris

i am getting a brown algae (different then the cyno i had a couple weeks ago, which seem to be gone at the moment), maybe diatoms (that is what i would call it if i saw it in one of my fw tanks)

i did a pwc mid week (Wednesday) and i am running the heater in my bucket to warm it up for another pwc today.

but is the "sea-food", i don't know, slightly rancid crab meat smell "normal"? it does not stink up the room, but if i stick my nose close to the tank or fug i defiantly smell it.

thanks

 

[severum mama]

That doesn't seem too normal to me. My Biocube doesn't smell that way at all, it just smells faintly like the ocean if you open the lid and get up close to it. Have you done a water test lately?

 

[JDogg]

That doesn't seem too normal to me. My Biocube doesn't smell that way at all, it just smells faintly like the ocean if you open the lid and get up close to it. Have you done a water test lately?

everything was normal

forgive me but what does the ocean smell like?
i like in Minnesota the closest i have been to the ocean is Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America

 

[severum mama]

I dunno, I guess I can't really explain what the ocean smells like. But it doesn't smell like seafood, lol.

What are your "normal" levels testing out at? My ammo, trite, trate are consistently at 0. I haven't tested Ca, alk, phosphate, or anything like that yet so I can't advise there.

 

[MarineFlake]

Just a thought...Lost any stock? That is, any fish jumped or have some xenia or something similar growing at the surface. I pull xenia and trim the softies in my tank a couple times a month and they SMELL nasty. Not sure what else would cause a 'rancid seafood' smell, but as already stated, thats not normal. If its a sulfer like smell, then you have some serious circulation issues, but that won't smell anything like seafood.

GL

 

[marchmaxima]

forgive me but what does the ocean smell like?

On a bad day, not dissimilar to seafood.. Especially after a few stormy days when the seaweed has washed up.. Urgh...

On a nice day.. It just smells "salty-fresh". But will always be able to tell a good fishy/beach smell from a bad one.

I'm not helping, am I? Sorry. Best way I can describe it.

Good luck. I'm very sorry to hear about your troubles.

 

[JDogg]

What are your "normal" levels testing out at? My ammo, trite, trate are consistently at 0.

yeap 0s on all thoughs

might be a circulation problem i guess, but i have a powerhead blowing right to left across the back and the outflow from the "fug" blows left to right across the mid-front. don't know how to make it better i guess

no dead stock that i know of, but like i said have not seen the shrimp in a while, don't know if that is normal for them to hide all the time :?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

They'll hide for a day after they molt, normally. But they normally don't hide for long. A dead shrimp would definitely stink things up.

 

[JDogg]

They'll hide for a day after they molt, normally. But they normally don't hide for long. A dead shrimp would definitely stink things up.

that sucks, wouldn't the snails and crabs make short work of any bodies? that might explain why i have not seen dead bodies lying around

 

[mr86mister]

Well if the shrimp died and it smells because of a dead creature your ammonia levels should be up there? but this is an interesting situation. how clean is your filtration system? other than making sure the bacteria sticks around is there a clump of some sort of food or dead coral flesh? but then again that should raise ammonia levels too, so I'm not too sure either...hmmmm

 

[MarineFlake]

I was actually referring to a jumper. A fish that goes missing and ends up on the carpet in a spot you can't see will stink up the area around the tank for days. Its amazing how bad a small 6 line can smell after a couple days on the carpet. I also had a damsel ride down to the sump. Unfortunately for it, the sump has a plastic filter above the water line. Needless to say, it did not smell as bad, but could defintely be a source of some rank sea-food smells. Lesson learned, take note of anything missing at feeding time. If it died in the tank, stars, snails, crabs and other fish will most likely devour it before you even know. If it made it outside the tank, it may take a couple days to a week for the smell to go...Plus you really don't want that on the carpet...yuck!

GL!!

 

[JDogg]

I was actually referring to a jumper. A fish that goes missing and ends up on the carpet in a spot you can't see will stink up the area around the tank for days. Its amazing how bad a small 6 line can smell after a couple days on the carpet. I also had a damsel ride down to the sump. Unfortunately for it, the sump has a plastic filter above the water line. Needless to say, it did not smell as bad, but could defintely be a source of some rank sea-food smells. Lesson learned, take note of anything missing at feeding time. If it died in the tank, stars, snails, crabs and other fish will most likely devour it before you even know. If it made it outside the tank, it may take a couple days to a week for the smell to go...Plus you really don't want that on the carpet...yuck!

GL!!

"around" the tank is fine, i only smell it when i get my nose within a couple inches of the tank
i did a ~4 gallon pwc last night and i tested water again tonight ammonia trite and trate are all 0.

still no sign of shrimp

i do clean my glass off everyday (diatoms?) brownish film.

i observed my "fug" where the smell is the strongest, noticed couple things...

1. bubble, do not know the gas

2. the lr rubble in the fug is very dirty as i guess it is acting as my only mechanical filtration :?

3. some of the rubble has stringy clear "snot" on it i will try to get a pic

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Rinse out your LR rubble in salt water... not fresh water... and that should help out lots. You probably want to put a filter pad or something before the rubble that you can rinse out so your rock isn't trapping all the garbage.