Smells...

[Roseanne]

Just wondering about how to neutralize or prevent bad odors in your tanks... I've got a full grown pacman frog in a 20g tank and I use coco husk or plantation soil for substrate and I feed her earthworms mostly. The tank starts smelling in less than a week after i change out the substrate. By the time a week has passed, the smells starts seeping out into the room and its pretty unpleasant and embarassing. The smell is definitely her poop. I clean the poop out of her tank whenever I see it, but a lot of the time I don't see it and it gets kind of integrated with the soil... I change the substrate about once a month, sometimes longer so long as theres no mold or grossness besides the usual (though unpleasant) smell. Should I be changing it more? Its a bit stressful to do it often... My frog hates being removed from her tank and put in her temporary container, haha, and its a big mess, and its expensive....... and its just hard to motivate myself to change it more when I know it gets dirty so quickly.

i guess what i'm wondering is if anyone can recommend anything that can reduce/neutralize the smell in the tank like some sort of deodorizer that wont hurt my frog, or a kind of substrate that fights odors? also i'm wondering whether i need to change the substrate more often (maybe every 2 weeks...? hopefully not!). and also if anyone knows of cheaper/better/cleaner alternatives to coco husk or plantation soil or knows of a better way to buy it than from bags from the petstore that would be neat too, especially if it turns out i have to change it 2x as much :P

[GrifTheGreat]

You must remove the poop when you notice the odor or see poop. This will reduce the odor. earthworms cause their poop to smell bad, but that is normal. You just have to make sure you remove the poop right away. If you smell anything give your frog a Luke warm de-chlorinated soak while you check the frogs hole. Remove the substrate where the hole is if necessary. After performing this task toss the substrate(mix it up) mist it and then remake your frogs hole. The frog will return to its burrow that you reformed and the odor should be reduced.

if you want you can buy some that Zoo Med Eco Carpet and place it in the tank and place the substrate over it. This will help and also keep your frog from sitting in it urine. I do this and never have terrible smells at all after the feces are removed.

Always make sure you remove the feces immediately.

[Heatheranne]

I'd just like to mention that coco husk can cause intestinal impaction if accidentally swallowed when he eats. If he eats from down in the substrate I would remove it and use just the planation soil or coco fiber. It's fibers are much smaller and if swallowed can pass in their feces. Be sure to only use dechlorinated water to moisten it.