Shrimp is starting to STINK!

[gemini9]

I've had a rotten shrimp in my tank for a few days now and it hasn't rotted up yet. It's a little funky looking... with strange hairs and bubbles and stuff.... but hasn't decayed yet. It's swollen, bloated and friggin STINKS. What's worse, is that this tank is in my bedroom haha oohhhh the horrors..... In all seriousness, it's starting to smell up the place. How long do I need to keep this shrimp in there? I'm assuming that after the tank cycles, the smell will go away... after all, there's a rotten shrimp in there.... does the smell go away? :crossedlips: urk.... and what's worse, I can't open the windows until it warms up! ah

 

[RocketCityReef]

Haha, yeah, the shrimp method smells awful. I started using ammonium chloride...no smell!

 

[gemini9]

I wish the thing would hurry up and rot. I have 2 filter medias in my penguin 350 with carbon and I thought that would help clear some of the smell but my goodness.....

 

[NanaReefer]

Toss a bag of carbon in a high flow area, works great. I do this whenever I cook my rock. You want stink? YUCK!

 

[mrcoffee2]

It made me throw up when I did it.

 

[gemini9]

My ammonia levels still havent spiked. Ammonia remains very low, nitrate and nitrite are still off the chart. Doesnt seem like anything is even happening

 

[DragKnee]

Well nitrite is after ammonia and nitrate eats up nitrite so I'd say you can remove the shrimp.

 

[gemini9]

So then after I remove the shrimp, the nitrite and nitrate should zero out? I havent seen any growth on any of my live or dry rocks yet

 

[Bad Company]

Nitrate will not zero out unless you export it or it gets tied up in algae.

 

[Dalmatia]

Just do a water change, add some ammonia and test to see what your ammonia is at. The next day do another ammonia test to see if it's getting consumed by the bacteria. Let us know what your parameters are before and after the ammonia

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I understand the process of getting the cycle to start but over the years I learned you do not necessarily need to have a rotting carcass in your tank to get it to start. Some live sand/live rock, and MB7 can easily and quickly initiate the cycle.

 

[Simply__J]

How much shrimp did you use? I'm curious b/c I will soon be cycling my tank.

 

[gemini9]

I just used one raw table shrimp. Im taking the smelly thing out tomorrow lol