I went to get our 8 year up Sunday morning for church, and squish, squish, squish . . .BIG aquarium sprung a leak overnight, and about 15 gallons of water seeped out. I couldn't do a thing about it because of going to church, so soon as we got home, I started dipping fish and then emptying the tank . . .its an octogon, so it was about a two hour process getting that all done. I moved everything out of that area, which included three tanks of white mice (well, the boys fight, so they are loners and the girls can't be with the boys . . . that is how we got so many in the first place . . .so much for Petsmart and their sexing technique ) . . .I sucked up all the excess water I could, and then shampooed it and did it several times over and over trying to get as much water out as I could . . . but we were having warmish rainy weather, and now I have a smelly carpet. I am just sick about this, and does anyone have any remedy I could try. I think I might get a gallon of white vinegar and try that just plain with my shampooer and see if that will neutralize it . . .can't afford to rip it up yet, although I wish we had put tile down in his room, because he is an animal lover and this would have been so much easier to keep clean. . .any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
You might try one of those enzym cleaners like Nature's Miracle. They are designed to take out smelly odors. I use Natures' Miracle in the wash when one of my older sons wets his bed, and I use it for all kinds of carpet messes with the dogs and cat. It really does a good job of getting odors out of carpet and fabric and mattresses.
A vinegar/water mix will probably eliminate most of the smell. You'll need to try and get the carpet dried out as quickly as possible. Put a box fan blowing on it. A steam cleaner would probably work better than a shampooer if you have access to one for sucking up the excess water. I finally broke down and bought one. Now I don't know what I ever did without it.
If you can smell it, it has mold already. You will probably have to replace it, or bleach it but then it's ugly. If you can't afford to replace it right now, at LEAST strip it down to sub floor so that you can make sure the sub floor is getting totally dry. Much more expensive to repair sub floor and carpet!!!
I had the SAME thing happen with an octagon aquarium a few years ago! It was terrible! Somehow all the water was pumped out instead of back in! I would definitely try Nature's Miracle or the vinegar, sounds like a good plan!
Might need to get a professional carpet cleaner in there. They have the machines that can pull the water out. You may have to pull back the carpet to make sure it dries underneath. It will mold, and then you will have a bigger mess. Vinegar will also kill some mold spores. You can bleach the sub floor, but make sure you don't bleach the carpet or the pad. You may have to replace the carpet, but is worth the effort to try and save it.
