that is hydrogen sulfide. I treated the water with a bit of potassium permanganate,
altho aeration alone will get rid of the smell. shouldnt hurt the fish in small
water changes. Ingrid

"*muffin*" wrote:

ok, ok,
I'll re-check the ph & alkaline tomorrow morning.(with the regular aquarium
water testing kit)
I used a 'quick' dipstick test (this afternoon) & both the alkaline & PH are
over the high point which was 8.5
I figured I 'might' have a problem since we were using well water which
smelled 'sulphery'.