Smelly Canister

[jaypeecee]

Hi @Tomp91

What can I do to encourage new bacteria? I have always used the bottled stuff (stress zyme or similar) but read somewhere on here that's usually already dead when you get it? Are there any good ones?

There are a lot of nitrifying bacteria products that are simply ineffective. Stress Zyme is not suitable for what you want - it's what would be called an organic waste remover. I, and many others that I know, have had great success with Tetra SafeStart. It is readily available. This is formulated with the types of bacteria that will deal with ammonia and nitrite. If you choose to get some, check the expiry date on the bottle as these types of live bacteria have a usable life of around 8 months. Also, and this is very important, give the bottle a good shake before adding the contents to your tank. The mixture should be cloudy, not clear.

JPC

 

[rubadudbdub]

The tank is overstocked with guppies

If the tank and water smell after a filter change it does sound like ammonia is most likely. Are the fish OK?

My only other thought to those offered above is uneaten food. Are you feeding the guppies a lot of food which is sitting around, or getting sucked into your more powerful external during feeding? The prefilter should stop the latter.

Regular water changes until this settles seem sensible.

 

[Tomp91]

If the tank and water smell after a filter change it does sound like ammonia is most likely. Are the fish OK?

My only other thought to those offered above is uneaten food. Are you feeding the guppies a lot of food which is sitting around, or getting sucked into your more powerful external during feeding? The prefilter should stop the latter.

Regular water changes until this settles seem sensible.

Adding the internal filter back in with mature media and good surface movement has got rid of the smell already.

Feedings difficult to judge as there arent any real guide lines. "What they can eat in two mins" doesn't really apply to guppies as they eat until they bloated round balls in that time, am very cautions with it probably to the point the poor guys go hungry. A decent feeding guide line would be useful. Any excess is picked off the pre filter pretty quickly

There were casualties yeah, lost my five biggest adult males and am not sure how may babies because there beyond counting but didn't see any dead. Females must be more hardy!

I think its getting a lot better but not sure I'll dare take my internal out for a while!