Tank water smelling very sour

[vtecintegra]

My tank water has developed a very putrid sour smell. It's nothing like a fishy, ocean, or algae smell. Wife isn't liking it at all. And even though I'm a lot more tolerant, it's getting to me. Tank is in the living room and I sit about four feet from the it. If you take a deep whiff, it's bad enough to make you gag. I read a lot of talk about fishy smells, but nothing on this sickening sour smell.

Tank has some brownish algae that I believe is chrysophytes and just a couple small spots of dinos, but overall the tank doesn't look bad. Most of the rock is pretty clear. I hooked up a carbon reactor today, ordered some carbon pads to sit on top of the skimmer lid, and some odor absorbers for in the stand, but something is really wrong with the water. Curious if anyone's ever dealt with "putrid sour" odors and what the heck is causing it. First time in over 10 years with a tank that's had this problem.

Fish and coral seem normal. Mostly hammers and frogspawn, few zoas, couple of very small stylos.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Running Carbon should get rid of it, can’t say I’ve ever had a tank smell as bad as that though.

 

[Lavey29]

Did a big snail die? They really smell. So do corals on their way out. I get some odor periodically but not that bad and usually clears up the next day.

 

[Rmckoy]

Maybe we can start with a little
Info of what’s in the tank ?
Has anything died ?
Has anything jumped and decaying behind the stand ?

where is the skimmer located and is it cleaned , emptied often ?

how old is the tank ?

With the presence of ammonia you will notice a odd smell .

 

[Uzidaisies]

Let’s see the tank? Cyanobacteria can produce some bad smelling compounds and toxins that could be a danger to your health.

 

[vtecintegra]

Update on this and answers to some questions.

Snails die? I've got 5 large mexican turbos, so possible. I can never see all 5 at the same time with the rock. However, it's not the infamous snail death smell. I know that one well.

Dead/jumped? Nothing dead or jumped. Everyone accounted for.

Skimmer cleaned? Not skimmer. It's regularly cleaned and not the infamous skimmate smell. Skimmer in sump.

Tank age/ammonia? 10 months. Cycle long completed. Ammonia not an issue.

Cyano? No cyano in tank.

So I hooked up a full canister of rox 0.8. In 48 hours the smell has dropped about 80%. I think I'll keep running carbon indefinitely since it also really has made the water crystal clear. I can smell the water without gagging, and the wife hasn't complained the last two days. She was wrinkling her nose every time she passed through the living room. That's stopped. I added an Arm & Hammer deodorizer in front of the stand ventilation fan, a box of Arm & Hammer in the stand, and a bowl of vinegar in the stand (internet says it's a good odor absorber). Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

Here is a photo. Tank is 48"w x 24"h x 29"w.

 

[Uzidaisies]

Very nice looking tank. Sounds like you got it under control.

 

[Auquanut]

Glad you got it under control. Just a couple of questions for my own piece of mind. How long did you have the sour smell? Did it appear suddenly, or gradually develop over time? Is it possible that something outside the water column caused the smell (rotting algae, snail, puddle under the stand, etc...), and running the carbon just coincidentally coincided with the smell dissipating on it's own?

It just seems like a contaminant inside the water itself that could cause that kind of smell, and be able to be removed with carbon would most likely have a very negative effect on the inhabitants. Seems like there would almost have to be a pretty high ammonia level.

Not doubting you at all. Your tank looks great! Just trying to wrap my brain around the problem, solution, and the fact that there never seemed to be any negative impact on the tank.

 

[vtecintegra]

Not sure how long it's been ramping up. My sense of smell is bad, but the wife's is excellent. I think she mentioned it about a week before she really started complaining. So I went smelling around and found the water was the problem. Almost made me gag. Definitely the water. I've was smelling about two inches off the surface.

Fish all seem fine, so I ruled out ammonia. Feel bad for them though having to live in it.

Carbon is working. 24 hrs later, about 50% better. Still strong. 48 hrs later able to sniff the water and not want to get sick. Odor is no longer drifting across the room. Seems 80% better, but I can still tell it's there. Hopefully in a few more days it will be gone.

Three theories. Dead snail (unlikely, different odor), the brown algae on the rocks, or the small amount of dinos I'm seeing. All seem unlikely, but who knows. I thought someone would say, yeah, I had a sour smell like that one time when ______________. Not sure if the mystery is going to be solved.

 

[Auquanut]

Yeah. I was kinda hoping someone would say "It's because of XXX. Happens all the time."

 

[kittenbritches]

Fish all seem fine, so I ruled out ammonia. Feel bad for them though having to live in it.

Did you rule out ammonia solely based on the fishes' behavior? Have you tested for ammonia? I battled the stench for a week and a half and my ammonia spiked as high as 1ppm. My fish were absolutely fine the entire time.

 

[helmsreef]

It’s most likely the dinos/ brown algae. It can smell pretty putrid at times if it’s not cleaned off often or using carbon. I went through a stage like that a couple years back and I recall it smelled pretty bad

 

[vtecintegra]

Did you rule out ammonia solely based on the fishes' behavior? Have you tested for ammonia? I battled the stench for a week and a half and my ammonia spiked as high as 1ppm. My fish were absolutely fine the entire time.

I don't have an ammonia test kit. I cured the rock with live sand out of the gulf for two months before setting the tank up, and it's getting close to a year now. So just going on the fish, I don't suspect an ammonia problem. Even if one of the turbos is dead, I would think the system could absorb a snail.

 

[Uzidaisies]

What about the algae though? What’s going on with that? I also suspect that could be the source of the odor.

 

[DrZoidburg]

Can't smell what your smelling. Algae does have a funky smell some times. Especially any rotting. Sulfur compounds can have a "sour smell", so can some bacteria. I'm with you on the snail smell it is unmistakable.