Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I guess there really isn't any way to keep a turtle tank from smelling fishy. I just finished cleaning my tank and it still smells kinda bad. It's not an overpowering smell but it's still there. I keep them in my room and I don't want my room to start smelling like a pond. I know I should have got over my OCD before I put a tank in my room but I never got around to it. If anyone has any helpful hints it would be great.

What kind of filter do you have? How big is the tank? I have never noticed any odor from my tank, but I could have just gotten used to it I guess.
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My tank does not have an odor. What size is your tank? What kind, how many and how big are your turtles? What kind of filter do you have? I rarely change the water and there is no odor whatsoever, I think you can fix your stink.

I have a 50 gal tank with a fluval 404. I know I shouldn't be having any problem with it. Like I said before I have ocd when it comes to smells so it could just be my nose. My turtles are only 2 inches big and I have 2 of them. It could be because I leave the door of my room shut all the time. It could also be from the weather gettting warmer. It just smells kinda pondy. I didn't have a smell issue when I had them in a 10 gal tank with no filter (I changed the water every other day). I guess that's why I'm suprised with the problem I'm having now. Thanks for your help.

My tank used to smell when i had all these unnecessary items in there, i cleaned house and now i just keep it simple, and it dosent smell....also ive noticed, when i used to feed them veggies and green food in their tank, it would help algea to start growing after a short while and that gave off a "pond smell"

Keep changing the carbon in filtration system and use an ammonia absorbing chips too. THis will greatly reduce the smell. ALso how big are your turtles and how large a tank do you have them in.

N/P

This might not be a bad idea either. I know if animal has giardia it's feces can smell kinda funky.

Do you partial water changes every couple of weeks (like about 1/3)?

I do a water change every few weeks. I rinse the media in the filter too. I don't think they have any sickness and their poop doesn't smell bad. I had another post about a film on the top of the water and I thought it may be from that. It's kinda rainbowish like oil would be. It's not as bad since I changed the water a few days ago. I'm very careful about what goes into the water and I won't even put my hands in it without washing them first. Again I have a 50 gal tank with a fluval 404 and 2 RES that are 2 inches big. I also just got a pleco yesterday. Thanks again

If you change all the water and rinse the filter media in chlorinated water you may be killing/washing away all your beneficial bacteria. Don't clean everything at the same time, then your tank won't keep having to "cycle" itself.