How to Get a Fishy Smell Out of a New Goldfish Aquarium

Keeping goldfish is an exciting and interesting hobby, but the aquarium can begin to smell unless you take some precautions. Goldfish pass metabolic waste into their aquarium continually and unless this material is correctly converted, it will lower the water quality and your aquarium will have a fishy smell. This condition is most prevalent in new goldfish aquariums, because the colonies of beneficial bacteria have not had an opportunity to become established. Overstocked goldfish aquariums will also smell, as will new tanks to which excessive amounts of food has been added.

Things You'll Need

  • Aquarium chlorine neutralizer
  • Biological filter material from an established filter
  • Aquarium canister filter
  • Goldfish food
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Instructions

    • 1

      Add aquarium chlorine neutralizer to the tap water you use to fill your aquarium. The chlorine in tap water destroys microscopic bacteria. These bacteria are actually beneficial, as they colonise your biological filter material and convert the metabolic waste produced by the goldfish into harmless substances. Chlorine neutralizer will remove the chlorine and protect the new colonies of bacteria, which will keep your aquarium water clean and odor free.

    • 2

      Request your aquarium dealer to supply you with a small amount of biological filter material, such as a handful of bio-balls, from an established aquarium in the store. This material will contain huge numbers of the beneficial bacteria you require to populate your new filter.

    • 3

      Add the dealer̵7;s biological filter material to the new filter material in your canister filter and plug the filter into a power source. Once you have added a healthy bacteria colony to your filter, these bacteria can immediately begin to convert the waste products from your goldfish.

    • 4

      Cut down on the amount of food you are giving your goldfish. The more goldfish eat, the more metabolic waste they produce. Left over food will slowly decompose in the aquarium and cause the water quality to degrade, thereby causing a bad and fishy smell in the aquarium.

    • 5

      Remove one or two goldfish from your aquarium and place them in another tank or return them to your aquarium dealer if the tank remains cloudy and has a fishy smell to it. Goldfish are large bodied fish, growing up to 12-inches and apart from soiling the water with their waste products, they excrete carbon dioxide into the water through respiration. All these products lower the water quality, eventually causing a fishy smell.