Here's a "simple" experiment for someone who has access to a lab and the proper equipment and apparatus. Perhaps it will end the "debate" regarding hormones or organics in the water.
The purpose of this experiment is to test the Total Organic Carbon or TOCin the water. I have access to a lab; however, we don't have the equipment to run TOC on site and send our samples off to a third-party lab for this particular analysis. I would get the equipment but cannot justify the purchase to management.
Take a BB tank with discus stocked at 1/10gal. So lets go with a 60gal with 5-6 adult discus. Perform a 75% water change initially. Feeding will have to be exactly the same quanity, type and frequency every day. If this test could be run on two seperate tanks one fed only live food vs. pellets/flakes, it would also answer the question as two whether live foods add less to the organic load on the tank which I tend to disagree against.
Take a 1L glass bottle and submerge it completely, making sure to remove all air bubbles from the bottle. Seperately record pH, Temp., TDS, Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates. This will be the baseline.
Day 2: 24hrs laters, Take another 1L sample. Record the same data. No water change.
Day 3: Same as day 2
Day 4: Same as day 3
Testing will have to be done in two parts, after day 2 sample collection and again after day 4 sample collection, as the sample must be analyzed as soon as possible; however, I believe 24hrs should not alter the results too much. Ideally you want to run the test as soon as pulling the sample.
So.. who can run this experiment?