My tank stinks soooo bad

[sergiomcaro]

55 gal tank. i may have over fed them a tad. used api ph balance and all my plants started growing weird stuff on them. uv sterilizer didn't work. i moved the lotls out. emptied the tank and the substrate reeked of death and puke. all my ornaments stink. and my chiller stinks as well even after hosing everything off and out. will the smell leave if try to re cycle the tank. i have an 80 gal chiller, 90 gall eheim canister filter, weekly water changes stress coat declorinator. and i have a 30 gal bpa free container that i do full water changes with 2 times a day. the water stinks profusely every day as it runs through my chiller still. i feed them in separate containers now but still smells.

 

[qannp]

Throw the substrate away, start new. Do you still have the roots shown in the picture in your profile? They're not suitable as only hiding place for axolotl. Get some tubes instead.
Did you use fake plants? Throw them away, too and get some real plants (anubias are easy, even I don't kill them).
It sounds like you didn't clean your tank carefully enough. Try to find decoration that your axies like and that's easy to remove, so it's easier for you to keep the sand clean.

…that's why I don't like sand and pellets.

 

[sergiomcaro]

Thank you so much for the advice! I actually had added four hides to my tank the day after my axies all arrived. I went to an aquarium store and bought some decorative rock hides large enough for each axie to hide in comfort. and I will deff check out the anubias plants. Also to answer your other question all the plants in my tank were real hence the growth of a suspicious substance upon them. ( personally I hate decorative plants they seem so rough.) I'm currently feeding them live worms from my worm farm which has seemed to aid in not fouling up the water.

 

[layna]

I would also maybe swap out the API PH balance for maybe API stress coat.

Ive just had a quick read and it tried to balance your ph everytime you add it, id be a bit unsure of what chemicals it uses to do that.

The stress coat dechlorinates your water and adds a little aloe to protect your axies slime coat.

I second the above and just remove your substrate entirely and start from fresh.

Anubias is great as its a slow growing plant and doesnt need planting, i just tie it to aquarium plant pots and weight the pot down with a stone or tie it to my driftwood

I figure natural stuff will cause less problems, so i try to use as much as possible